Qualla: The Battle of Spanish Fort: Twelve Days That Ended the War on Mobile Bay https://qualla.com/battle-of-spanish-fort en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/3/q/battle-of-spanish-fort-wp/blakeley-battleground-spanish-.jpg Qualla: The Battle of Spanish Fort: Twelve Days That Ended the War on Mobile Bay https://qualla.com/battle-of-spanish-fort The Battle of Spanish Fort: Twelve Days That Ended the War on Mobile Bay: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-spanish-fort/ Photo credit Kevin King from Pensacola, FL, US of A, CC BY 2.0. The war was already lost by the time the shooting started at Spanish Fort. Lee would surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, but on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, nobody had received that memo. From March 27 to April 8, roughly 2,000 Confederate soldiers under Brigadier General Randall L. Gibson held a network of earthworks and batteries against Major General E.R.S. Canby's 32,000 Union troops. The odds were fifteen to one. The defenders held for twelve days anyway, making Spanish Fort one of the last significant engagements of the American Civil War and the key that finally unlocked Mobile, the Confederacy's last major Gulf Coast port.

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Image: Kevin King from Pensacola, FL, US of A | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/3/q/battle-of-spanish-fort-wp/dj3q-the-battle-of-spanish-fort-twelve-days-that-ended--intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Battle of Spanish Fort: Twelve Days That Ended the War on Mobile Bay: The Last Port Standing https://qualla.com/battle-of-spanish-fort/ Photo credit Kevin King from Pensacola, FL, US of A, CC BY 2.0. By early 1865, Mobile was the only significant Gulf port still in Confederate hands. Admiral David Farragut's fleet had won the Battle of Mobile Bay the previous August, famously damning the torpedoes on its way through the harbor defenses. But controlling the bay was not the sam...

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Image: Kevin King from Pensacola, FL, US of A | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/3/q/battle-of-spanish-fort-wp/dj3q-the-battle-of-spanish-fort-twelve-days-that-ended--the-last-port-standing.mp3 0:06 2 full The Battle of Spanish Fort: Twelve Days That Ended the War on Mobile Bay: Canby's March Through the Marshes https://qualla.com/battle-of-spanish-fort/ Photo credit Kevin King from Pensacola, FL, US of A, CC BY 2.0. General Canby assembled a massive force for the campaign. His XIII and XVI Corps crossed the Fish River at Marlow Ferry and advanced north along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, pushing Confederate skirmishers back into their prepared defenses. A second column of around 13,000 me...

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Image: Kevin King from Pensacola, FL, US of A | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/3/q/battle-of-spanish-fort-wp/dj3q-the-battle-of-spanish-fort-twelve-days-that-ended--canbys-march-through-the-marshes.mp3 0:06 3 full The Battle of Spanish Fort: Twelve Days That Ended the War on Mobile Bay: Twelve Days in the Trenches https://qualla.com/battle-of-spanish-fort/ Photo credit American Battlefield Protection Program, Public domain. What followed was a grinding siege rather than a dramatic assault. Union forces gradually enveloped Spanish Fort, completing the encirclement by April 1. Confederate defenders fought from their entrenchments, knowing that every day they held was another day Mobile remained in Sou...

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Image: American Battlefield Protection Program | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/3/q/battle-of-spanish-fort-wp/dj3q-the-battle-of-spanish-fort-twelve-days-that-ended--twelve-days-in-the-trenches.mp3 0:06 4 full The Battle of Spanish Fort: Twelve Days That Ended the War on Mobile Bay: Dominoes to Surrender https://qualla.com/battle-of-spanish-fort/ Photo credit Kevin King from Pensacola, FL, US of A, CC BY 2.0. Spanish Fort's fall triggered a rapid chain of events. Five miles to the north, Fort Blakeley was already under pressure; Union troops had begun shifting northward as early as April 1, when Spanish Fort's fate became clear. Fort Blakeley fell on April 9, the same day Lee surrende...

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Image: Kevin King from Pensacola, FL, US of A | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/3/q/battle-of-spanish-fort-wp/dj3q-the-battle-of-spanish-fort-twelve-days-that-ended--dominoes-to-surrender.mp3 0:06 5 full