Today in military history: Siege of Fort Morgan

Team Mighty
Updated onAug 18, 2022 11:09 AM PDT
1 minute read
fort morgan

Fort Morgan, Mobile Point, Alabama, 1864, showing damage to the south side of the fort.

SUMMARY

On Aug. 23, 1864, Fort Morgan fell to Union forces. Mobile Bay fell into the control of the North two weeks before. Fort Morgan held strong.

On Aug. 23, 1864, Fort Morgan fell to Union forces.

Mobile Bay, the Confederacy’s largest port on the Gulf of Mexico, fell into the control of the North two weeks before, with Fort Gaines surrendering shortly thereafter.

Fort Morgan, however, held strong. 

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On Aug. 9, the Union turned its guns on the fort and maintained heavy and consistent artillery fire, siege mortars, and a 30-pound rifled gun barrage until August 23rd, when Confederate General Richard L. Page finally surrendered unconditionally. 

Indignant, Page then allegedly broke his sword over his knee rather than relinquish it to the Union. 

Whatever ya gotta do to feel better, bruh.

The Civil War continued for another year and a half, killing more American troops than any other war. The number one cause of death for troops in the Civil War was disease, claiming more than two-thirds of those killed. The most prevalent were dysentery, typhoid fever, malaria, pneumonia and simple childhood troubles like measles and mumps. Flies, mosquitoes, ticks, lice, maggots and fleas were rampant and germ theory was not yet accepted in medical practice.

An estimated 625,000 people were killed in the Civil War, and that number only includes those who died fighting. There are an estimated 225,000 civilian casualties, which would set the total as high as 850,000.

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