Tag Archives: Fort Morgan

LIDAR giving a great look at old coastal forts

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Capable of holding an amazing 450 cannon in its massive six-sided, double-tiered walls (although never even halfway armed), Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas required 16 million bricks to complete over 15 years and is the largest masonry structure in the Americas.

There were 42 principal masonry forts and dozens of smaller batteries built as part of the U.S. “Third System” of coastal defense between 1816 and 1867 to protect major harbors.

You know many of them as they are preserved as state or NPS parks. Forts Gaines and Morgan in Mobile Bay. Pickens and Barrancas in Pensacola. Massachusetts on Ship Island. Trumbull and Griswold in New London. Pulaski and Jackson in Savannah. Taylor in Key West. A dozen nearly forgotten forts around New Orleans. And so on, and so on.

Constructed using millions of bricks and likely billions of manhours of hard labor, many have been reclaimed by nature, abandoned in the 20th Century as relics made obsolete by better naval guns, aircraft carriers, and missiles.

The folks at LIDAR have been giving us a peek at what remains under the kudzu, pines, and centipede grass at some of these lost fortifications.

This is just a treat for fort lovers like myself.

Lidar Fort McAllister near Savannah, Georgia

Lidar Fort Sherman—Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Lidar Fort Trenholm, SC

Lidar Fort Morgan — Baldwin County, Alabama

Lidar Fort Clinch — Amelia Island, Florida

Lidar Fort Gadsden, Florida

Keep it up, LIDAR!

Hunley’s ‘Other Submarine’ Found (?)

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Known interchangeably as the Pioneer II or American Diver, a consortium of businessmen and engineers composed of Horace Lawson Hunley, James McClintock, and Baxter Watson constructed a small human-powered submersible in Mobile Bay during the Civil War on their way to producing the final warship (Hunley) which is much better known.

Built in late 1862, the 36-foot vessel was manned by a five-person crew but foundered off Fort Morgan in a sudden squall in February 1863 and was never recovered, leaving Hunley and company to try again.

Lost to time– and long presumed to be buried under tons of mud in the shifting sands of the Bay— a group now thinks they may have found it, just sitting out in the open.

Depths of History and Chaos Divers, in association with historian Shawn Holland– who has been chasing Pioneer II/American Diver as her own white whale for the past 30 years– has even released some images.

While it looks like an old nav buoy to me– and the Bay is surely full of such items after repeated hurricanes over the past few years– the Alabama Historical Commission is apparently getting involved to investigate further.

Update: 

It turned out to be a (surprise surprise) 19th-century bell buoy, which is neat, but not Civil War submarine neat.

‘Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead’

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“Map showing entrance to Mobile Bay and the course taken by Union fleet,” by Robert Knox Sneden, about 157 years ago today (click to big up):

1710×2200. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00200/.

The map shows Confederate fortifications (Forts Powell, Gaines, Morgan) and the location of Union fleet in Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico– barred by a line of infamous moored sea mines, then referred to as “torpedoes.”

On 5 August 1864, Union Rear Adm. David Farragut attempted to lead several ships into Mobile Bay, past the formidable Confederate forts and the ironclad CSS Tennessee. Despite the sinking by a mine (?) of the monitor USS Tecumseh, the Union fleet passed through the channel and engaged Tennessee, paving the way for Union land operations against the city of Mobile, Ala. Undermanned and damaged by Union rams, Tennessee surrendered.

Sneden, a skilled landscape painter and a map-maker for the Union Army during the American Civil War, died in 1918 and left behind a number of iconic maps that are part of the LOC– here.

Masonry fort problems

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This Hurricane Season has been surely one for the record books, with 26 storms logged– one of which, Delta (they have run out of names and are now using the Greek alphabet), is currently tracking for my location by the end of the week. It will be the fifth that has had my neighborhood in its sights this year.

Which brings us to an update on the old Third Period coastal forts in the Northern Gulf. Designed in the antebellum era just before the Civil War, in general, they sit on cypress rafts for foundations in the sand and climb above the dunes some 20-30 feet on layer after layer of locally-produced red brick, with walls up to five-feet thick at some points

Although most proved ultimately less than formidable during the War Between the States and were often given a second chance on life in the 1890s after being retrofitted with concrete batteries holding steel breechloaders, the Army finally abandoned them by the 1940s, at which point they were as obsolete as lines of pikemen.

Nonetheless, these old brick forts, none of which are newer than 1866, endure against everything mother nature can throw at them. We have already covered the damage from Hurricane Sally to Fort Gaines on Mobile Bay’s Dauphin Island.

A similar update has been posted last week by its larger companion fortification across the Bay, Alabama Point’s Fort Morgan.

“Due to the damages and flooding sustained in hurricane Sally, Fort Morgan State Historic Site is closed to all visitors until further notice,” says the Fort.
“Hurricane Sally was the fourth tropical system to hit Ship Island this year. Tropical Storm Cristobal damaged the ferry pier in June and Laura and Marco buried the cross-island boardwalk in several feet of sand in August. Following damage assessments, it is clear the island’s facilities will not be able to reopen this season,” says the Gulf Islands National Seashore of Fort Massachusetts, on Ship Island off of Gulfport, MS.
“After the storm, there were several inches of standing water in Fort Pickens. The water has since receded, and National Park Service archeologists are assessing the fort for damage,” says the GINS of Fort Pickens in Pensacola’s Santa Rosa Island.

Meanwhile, the Friends of Fort Pike, in coastal Lousiana near the Rigolets pass off Lake Borgne, have recently posted a drone overflight. After Hurricane Isaac in 2012, the fort was closed indefinitely pending repairs and debris cleanup. The fort was re-opened to visitors following Isaac but closed again in February 2015 due to state budget cuts. It has since been battered by several storms this year.

Getting the creeps at Fort Morgan

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Every year the good folks at Fort Morgan run a historic nighttime tour around Halloween focusing on the more morbid side of things there. As the fort is 200 years old (construction began in 1819) and was the centerpiece in the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864 as well as being garrisoned off and on from the 1830s through 1945, there is a lot to hear and see. As a bonus, these tours often open up sometimes closed areas of the fort, which is always a treat.

Besides, as I made the Fort central to the plot of my 2013 zombie novel (shameless plug), it just made sense.

I caught these images during the tour, which was very worthwhile, so if you can take advantage of the event or others like it, please find the time to do so.

Inside the casemates before sunset

The handprints inside the usually sealed magazine of Battery Duportail, a reinforced concrete, Endicott Period M1888MII 12-inch disappearing gun battery at Fort Morgan. These are about 12 feet off the ground and were made by gunners moving around about stacks of 268-pound shells and tons of bagged powder with their sweaty, chemical-laden hands forever staining the salt and calcium of the walls. The battery was decommissioned in 1931.

Dylan Tucker, Cultural Resource Specialist, Fort Morgan, portraying Confederate B. Gen. Richard Lucian Page, the Virginia-born former U.S. Navy officer who resigned his commission in 1861 to join the Confederate Navy, only to be saddled with an Army command that was on the receiving end of 3,000 shells from the USN!

Overlooking the Endicott-era Portland concrete battery towards Mobile Bay at dusk

Now to try to get to Fort Pickens, who has a similar program, next October…

Battery Langdon, Fort Pickens, NPS photo

Panama Mount surfaces…in Panama City

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At the outbreak of WWII, the Army had 979 Great War-era French 155mm GPFs still on hand although they were being replaced by the new and much more modern M114 155 mm howitzer (many of the latter are still in use in the Third World today).

With the relegation of the old GPF to the reserve, when the balloon went up and German and Japanese subs started crawling just off the U.S. coastline, these vintage guns were pressed into service on what were termed “Panama Mounts,” a semi-fixed installation atop a circular concrete mount that allowed the gun to revolve and rotate in place.

155mm GPF gun on a Panama mount. Notice the concrete inner and outer rings.

Capable of sending a 95-pound shell out to 17,700-yards every 15-seconds with a well-trained crew, they could shatter the hull of a U-boat with ease or give a surface raider far from home at least a moment of pause. The mounts were so named because they had been first used in the Canal Zone.

Taken in 1943, this picture shows one of two 155 GPF guns that were mounted on top of the fort. Placed on Panama mounts Fort Morgan (Fort Morgan Collection)

Well, it appears that a long lost Panama Mount, manned by the 166th Infantry Rgt of the Ohio National Guard in 1942-43, was exposed after it had been buried in the sand along St. Andrews State Park, uncovered by Hurricane Michael last summer.

That’s the funny thing about history. It never really stays buried forever.

The GPF of Gulf Shores

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Here we see a U.S. Model 1918M1 155mm gun, the famous French GPF (Canon de 155mm Grande Puissance Filloux, a direct copy of the C modèle 1917 Schneider) of the Great War, which equipped U.S. forces overseas and– when upgraded with air brakes, new metal wheels, and pneumatic tires to allow for high-speed towing– remained the mainstay of the interwar Army throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

Note the unmodified 1918-series profile, with hard rubber wheels and no air brake, in other words, in its original WWI-era mode, suitable for being pulled by slow tractors or horses. (Photo: Chris Eger)

By the outbreak of WWII, the Army had 979 GPFs still on hand although they were being replaced by the new and much more modern M114 155 mm howitzer (many of the latter are still in use in the Third World today).

With the relegation of the old GPF to the reserve, when the balloon went up and German and Japanese subs started crawling just off the U.S. coastline, these vintage guns were pressed into service on what was termed “Panama Mounts,” a semi-fixed installation atop a circular concrete mount that allowed the gun to revolve and rotate in place. Capable of sending a 95-pound shell out to 17,700 yards every 15 seconds with a well-trained crew, they could shatter the hull of a U-boat with ease or give a surface raider far from home at least a moment of pause.

One such gun (pictured above) remains at Fort Morgan, Alabama, controlling the entrance to Mobile Bay.

In 1942 the fort received four GPFs, two of which (Nos. 176 and 802) were used on Panama Mounts on top of the old Civil War-era bastions while two others were left mobile.

A soldier sitting on top of an M1918 155mm GPF, 1942. The gun position would be located on top of Bastion 3 of the fort. Note the camouflage, sandbag revetments, and Panama Mount (Fort Morgan Collection)

Taken in 1943, this picture shows one of two 155 GPF guns that were mounted on top of the fort. Maximum elevation was 35 degrees, which is close to what this tube is (Fort Morgan Collection)

These were manned by men of Battery F, 50th Coast Artillery throughout the War. It should be noted that, while Fort Morgan was an active U.S./Confederate base from 1819 through WWI, by 1931 it had been disarmed and abandoned, with the visiting 155s of Battery F her last hurrah.

The French 155 was used by many CA units at the time and was somewhat road-mobile.

Oakland Tribune-press photo of an M1918 Canon de 155mm GPF repurposed as a mobile seacoast gun belonging to San Francisco’s Battery E, 250th Coast Artillery Regiment, California National Guard, being pulled by a pre-1932 Indiana Truck Corporation 115 3-ton truck en route to the 1940 Fourth Army Maneuvers in Monterey County. Later that year, the 250th Coast Artillery Regiment would mobilize and deploy to reinforce the Harbor Defenses of Sitka, Alaska. California Military Department Historical Collection No. 2022.1.843.

Established at Camp Pendleton, Virginia 1 February 1942, the 50th Coast Artillery was a tractor-drawn heavy artillery regiment. After just two months of training, Battery F was entrained for Fort Barrancas (Pensacola) Florida. Arriving there on 7 April 1942, the unit left in a (slow) motor convoy to Fort Morgan to establish Temporary Harbor Defenses (THD) of Mobile and remained there until 1944.

Battery E went down the coast another several miles to my hometown of Pascagoula to defend Ingalls Shipyard from a point on Beach Boulevard, but that is another story…

Morgan’s remaining GPF, head on. Yes, double solid rubber wheels on each side. (Photo: Chris Eger)

The gun still at Morgan is on M1918 carriage No. 429, one of the 626 U.S.-made produced under a license from Schneider/Puteaux. Another 577 were purchased from the French directly. All U.S.-made carriages were manufactured by Minneapolis Steel from a built-up steel alloy. (Photo: Chris Eger)

Her tube is No. 1073, Watervliet Arsenal production. All gun tubes for U.S.-made M1917/18s were made by either Watervliet or Bullard Engineering Works and marked as such on the muzzle. (Photo: Chris Eger)

Technically a 155mm/38 caliber piece, the tube is almost 10 feet long (232.87 inches) with the weight of the gun and carriage topping 19,860 pounds, or right at 10 tons. The muzzle velocity on the 95-pound shell was 2,411fps– which translates to a whole lot of energy. 

Their use in Coastal Artillery was nearly the last hurrah of the GPF in U.S. service.

By May 1941, the M1917/18 was a Lend-Lease item, and much of those stocks not used to guard the various beaches soon were on their way to the British, where they made an appearance in North Africa against Rommel and Co. The GPF also served in the Pacific, with at least 60 of the models captured by the Japanese in the Philippines.

Late in 1942, some 100 GPFs that remained in storage were mounted on the turretless chassis of the obsolete M3 Lee tank to form the M12 Gun Motor Carriage as a form of early self-propelled artillery. When teamed up with the companion Cargo Carrier M30 (also a turretless M3), which allowed them to go into the line with 40 rounds of 155mm ready, they proved popular in a niche role.

M12 Gun Motor Carriage 155mm self-propelled gun with the US 987th Field Artillery Battalion near Bayeux Normandy June 10, 1944. IWM – Laing (Sgt) Photographer. IWM B 541

155mm M12 Gun Motor Carriage sniping strongpoints along the German Siegfried Line, late 1944/early 1945. At its core, it is a French 155 from the Great War

These tracked GPFs earned the nicknames “Doorknocker” and “King Kong” in service due to their ability to pierce up to seven feet of reinforced concrete and turn pillboxes into a smokey hole in the ground– a useful thing in Northeastern Europe in 1944.

Like this:

M12 Gun Motor carriage used in direct firing mode against a fortified German position during the Battle of Aachen in October 1944.

If visiting Fort Morgan, be sure to check out the small museum just a few hundred yards from where the surviving GPF sits.

Inside the museum they have the guidon of Battery A, 104th Coastal Artillery, an Alabama National Guard unit mobilized for federal service 10 months before Pearl Harbor and then shipped to the Pacific in 1942, only returning home in January 1946.

104th Artillery patch

As well as the typical WWII Coastal Artillery uniform of sun hat, olive coveralls tucked into canvas leggings, gas mask, and cartridge belt:

Of note, interwar Coastal Artillery coveralls were blue denim. Still, they were often worn by National Guard units operating 155mm GPFs in WWII, such as one of these big guns going boom, shown in the late 1930s Kodachrome below.

Time heals (some) wounds

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Here we see the eastern curtains of the old and once Confederate-held masonry fortification, Fort Morgan near Gulf Shores, Alabama, shown after damage to from U.S. Major-General Granger’s heavy artillery brigade composed of the 21st Indiana and 6th Michigan Heavy Artillery in 1864 during the Battle of Mobile Bay. Compared is a shot by Dylan Tucker, Site Historian at Fort Morgan, of the present day wall.

Equipped with four 10-inch mortars and four 8-inch howitzers, the 6th Michigan (formerly an infantry unit) was rushed all over the south and had a specialty in reducing masonry forts. They pounded Forts St. Phillip and Jackson downriver from New Orleans in 1862 and served at the Siege of Port Hudson.

The Carbine of Mr. James H. Merrill

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During the Civil War, the 2-million man Union Army needed modern firearms and they needed them yesterday. Besides buying up German, British and French designs in Europe, they let it be known that they would take (just about) anything from domestic producers that had rifling .

They could fire relatively rapidly for a breechloading rifled musket

Thats when Baltimore gunsmith James Merrill came about with a design for a handy little .54-caliber breechloader (this in itself made it pretty sweet as almost everything else was a front-stuffer) that used a nice tilting-block action.

Although he had designed the gun before the war, nobody wanted it.

However in 1863 he hit pay-dirt and managed to get some 14,500 of various models produced and sold before the end of the war. In all about a dozen bluecoat regiments marched or rode off  to war with Mr. Merrill’s little gun.

They are exceptionally rare today.

Here is a Merrril Second Model Carbine on exhibit at the Fort Morgan Museum, Gulf Shores, Alabama. You can tell its a 2nd model due to the fact that it doesnt have a patch box in the stock, which earlier editions did. Photo by Chris Eger but anyone can use it feel free!. Click to very much big up

Here is a Merrril Second Model Carbine on exhibit at the Fort Morgan Museum, Gulf Shores, Alabama. You can tell its a 2nd model due to the fact that it doesnt have a patch box in the stock, which earlier editions did. Photo by Chris Eger but anyone can use it feel free!. Click to very much big up

 

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You dont know Schenkl

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Here we see a 4.2-inch U.S. Army Schenkl shell from the Civil War period. This specific one was fired into the grounds of Confederate held Fort Morgan on the Gulf Shores Peninsula at the Eastern shore of Mobile Bay in 1864 while that installation, one of the last rebel forts, was under joint Army-Navy siege. Note the fuze and internal shrapnel balls.

(Click to greatly big up)

(Click to greatly big up)

According to Inert Ord.net:

The Schenkl is one of the most easily recognized Civil War era projectiles due to its unique shape. A cylindrical PapierMaché sabot was wrapped around the tapered cone base. When fired the sabot was forced forward and was expanded into the rifling by the cone. There are vertical raised ribs on the tapered cone to insure rotary motion was imparted to the projectile.

The paper sabot disintegrated as the shell left the muzzle which made this type safer than metal sabot types when firing over the heads of friendly troops, as there was no danger of injuries from separated sabot fragments. On the negative side, the PapierMaché was very sensitive to moisture. Too damp and the sabot would swell, interfering with loading. Too dry and the paper would crumble before it performed its function, often causing the shell to tumble as it left the gun.

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