Review:

Construction on Fort Morgan in Gulf Shores by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began in 1819. Fort Morgan State Historic Site Museum was completed in 1834 and seized by troops of the State of Alabama on January 4, 1861.

Starting in 1895, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided to build a new fortification system at the fort. The brick fort was replaced by reinforced concrete batteries as the main means of protecting Mobile Bay.

During war time, underwater mines protected Mobile Bay and for 23 years Fort Morgan was the state’s biggest permanent military base; in fact, 2,000 troops were stationed here during World War II. At the war’s end, Fort Morgan's garrison was reduced, but the its role as a coastal defense post was not over: In November 1941 the U.S. Navy retook the fort and in 1942 the 50th Coast Artillery Regiment renewed the fort's coastal defense mission. In July 1944, Fort Morgan was permanently abandoned.

Fort Morgan State Historic Site, 110 State Highway 180, Gulf Shores, Alabama 36542, Phone: 251-540-5257

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