Fort Gaines Historic Site

09/01/2026

Fort Gaines 1934

08/24/2026

Sunset Concert at historic Fort Gaines Sunday, September 6 (530pm) featuring The Modern Eldorados! Admission $5. Don’t miss it.

08/06/2026

She Sank Three Times and Killed 21 Men in the Process
The H.L. Hunley was a converted iron boiler, 39 feet long and just under four feet wide inside, propelled by seven men sitting shoulder to shoulder turning a hand crank connected to the propeller while an eighth worked the diving planes and ballast pumps. A single candle gave them light and doubled as their oxygen gauge, dimming as the air ran out. She killed her crews twice before she ever saw combat. In August 1863 she swamped and went down in Charleston Harbor, drowning five men while three escaped. That October she sank again during a test dive, and this time all eight died, including Horace Lawson Hunley himself, the financier who had backed her and whose name she carried.
They raised her both times, cleaned her out, and found more volunteers. On the evening of February 17, 1864, Lieutenant George Dixon took her out with seven men behind him, cranked six kilometres through freezing black water, and drove a spar torpedo carrying 60 kilograms of black powder into the Union warship USS Housatonic. She became the first submarine in history to sink an enemy ship in combat. A lookout on the sinking Housatonic reported a blue light on the water afterwards, the crew's prearranged signal that the mission had succeeded. Then she vanished with all eight men. When she was finally raised in 2000, all of them were still at their stations along the crank, no scramble for the hatches, no sign of panic. A 2017 study concluded the blast wave from their own torpedo, detonating roughly sixteen feet from where they sat, killed them instantly. Twenty-one men died inside her across three sinkings, and the last eight never knew they had won.

Check out Naval Nostalgia

08/05/2026

Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!

08/01/2026

We want to thank Bruce Pate and his group, CSMC Co. D for volunteering today and firing the cannons for the 162nd Battle of Mobile Bay Commemorative. We know it's the hottest time of the year and you all show up faithfully to help every year. Thank you!

07/29/2026

The Battle of Mobile Bay (August 5–23, 1864) was a major Union naval victory led by Admiral David Farragut, whose fleet defeated Confederate forces and sealed off Mobile, Alabama, one of the last major Confederate ports. During August 5–23, 1864 on Mobile Bay, Alabama.

Rear Adm. David G. Farragut, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger & Adm. Franklin Buchanan, Brig. Gen. Richard L. Page Decisive Union victory; closure of Mobile Bay to Confederate blockade runners.

Farragut’s fleet advanced past Fort Morgan, Fort Gaines, and Fort Powell, which guarded the bay. The Union ironclad USS Tecumseh struck a mine (“torpedo”) and sank, prompting Farragut’s famous command: “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” The Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee fought fiercely but was eventually overpowered and captured. After naval defeat, the forts surrendered, giving the Union full control of the bay. Mobile Bay was one of the last major Confederate ports on the Gulf of Mexico. Its loss tightened the Union blockade.

The victory, along with the fall of Atlanta, boosted Northern morale and helped Abraham Lincoln’s 1864 re‑election campaign.

It was the last major naval engagement in Alabama during the Civil War. Union: 12 wooden ships, 2 gunboats, 4 monitors; ~5,500 men 151 killed, 177 wounded Lost USS Tecumseh
Confederacy: 3 gunboats, 1 ironclad; ~1,500 men, 13 killed, 22 wounded; 1,587 captured, CSS Tennessee captured

The Battle of Mobile Bay remains one of the most decisive naval actions of the American Civil War. Admiral Farragut "Damn the Torpedoes.

Our Battle of Mobile Bay page includes battle maps, history articles, photos, expert video, preservation news, and other resources for this great 1864 Civil War battle in Alabama.

07/28/2026

Awesome history!

07/17/2026

Add July 26th to your calendar to come hangout at the Fort and listen to music!

07/11/2026

We will fire one of the original cannons! Fire in the hole!

07/09/2026

One of America’s best-known naval commanders was Admiral David Farragut, who commanded a portion of the Union Navy that conducted operations along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River during the Civil War. His many victories inspired Congress on three different occasions to create new ranks so Farragut could be promoted further -- to rear admiral, vice admiral and finally to full admiral.

Farragut as a rear admiral during the Civil War
The most famous incident of Farragut’s naval career came at the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. When one of his ships was sunk by a naval mine (called a torpedo), other ships began slowing. Farragut told two of his officers, “Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed. ” The quote has been simplified over the years to, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”

His determination spurred the Union fleet to victory, depriving the Confederacy of an important port in the Gulf of Mexico.

Farragut was promoted to full admiral in 1866, becoming the first person in American history to reach that rank. He remained on active duty for the rest of his life. He died in 1870, ending a naval career that began when he was a boy and had lasted nearly 60 years.