Siege of Fort Morgan
| Siege of Fort Morgan | |||||||
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| Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
 Fort Morgan, Mobile Point, Alabama, 1864, showing damage to the south side of the fort. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States
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 Confederate States of America
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Gordon Granger | Richard L. Page | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 5,500 | 618 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 killed 7 wounded |
3 killed 15 wounded 600 surrendered |
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The Siege of Fort Morgan occurred during the American Civil War as part of the battle for Mobile Bay in 1864. Union ground forces led by General Gordon Granger conducted a short siege of the Confederate garrison at the mouth of Mobile Bay under the command of General Richard L. Page. The Confederate surrender helped shut down Mobile as an effective Confederate port city.
Admiral David Farragut had defeated the Confederate navy in Mobile Bay on August 5 and Fort Gaines, guarding the western approach to the bay, had surrendered to the cooperating Union land forces under Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger. Granger and Farragut next turned their full attention to Fort Morgan on Mobile Point east of Fort Gaines. The fort was a powerful but outdated fortification garrisoned by 600 men under the command of Robert E. Lee's cousin, Brig. Gen. Richard L. Page.
Granger's soldiers landed at Pilot Town on August 9 and began moving siege artillery within range. The Union fleet also turned their guns on the fort. For the next two weeks Union forces kept up a heavy and consistent artillery fire. On August 16 the Confederates abandoned two batteries of the outer defenses and Granger moved his siege mortars within 500 yards of the fort and his 30-pounder rifled guns to within 1,200 yards.
On August 23 General Page unconditionally surrendered the fort. Indignant, he broke his sword over his knee instead of surrendering it to the Federals. Page's situation was further worsened when he was suspected of destroying munitions and works within the fort after the surrender agreement. For this he was arrested by the Federal authorities and imprisoned.
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