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(Fort Blakely)

Fort Blakely

April 2-9, 1865
Baldwin County, AL
Campaign: Invading Alabama

Maj. Gen. E.R.S. Canby, USA
Brig. Gen. St. John R. Liddell, CSA

The garrison was outnumbered perhaps 4:1 by the two Union corps present.

For the week losses were about 4,500; the day the Fort was stormed
losses were about 800 for the Union and over 3,000 for the South.

E.R.S. Canby's forces, the XVI and XIII Corps, moved along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, forcing the Confederates back into their defenses.  Canby then concentrated on reducing Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely.  Mobile had long been a Union objective, and the Confederates had built elaborate fortifications on the eastern shore.  Fort Blakely had 9 earthen redoubts, with outer defenses including rifle-pits, ditches, sharpened stakes, landmines, and telegraph wire strung among stumps to trip up attackers.

By April 1, Union forces had enveloped Spanish Fort.  Since it was less important than Blakely, they just screened it, thereby releasing more troops to focus on Fort Blakely.  Brig. Gen. St. John R. Liddell had about 4,000 men in Fort Blakely, enough that Canby couldn't storm the fort, but not strong enough to stave off a methodical siege.  His men came from all over the western Confederacy including troops from states that were now long under Union occupation, or had never even seceded, like the Missourians in the vital Redoubt #4.

Canby started a formal siege on April 2, digging what was called the First Parallel, since it was parallel to the defensive works.  Guns were also emplaced to shell Redoubt #4, and nearby Confederate defenses.  The guns were to do two things: inflict Confederate losses (and thus suppress fire on the Union troops), and break up the defenses - especially the trees and stakes, which snapped much more easily than earthworks.
During the next two days the Union troops dug further forward, and then dug the Second Parallel.  By April 6 Union guns had moved up to only 500 yards from Redoubt #4, but they hadn't done their job thoroughly enough: the Confederate guns in Redoubt #4 pounded the 15th Massachusetts Battery.  Union gunners had to abandon the guns for the day, until overnight they could thicken the earth walls of the battery position.  Also, overnight on April 6 and 7 the Confederates sortied.  They used blue flares to signal their rush, and tried to overwhelm the Union troops digging at night, and penetrate to the Union batteries and wreck the guns.  But the Union troops also had rifle pits in advance of their trenches - to protect against attacks just like this - and the Confederate attacks never broke through (though they did make the Yankees more cautious).

On April 8 Spanish Fort fell, allowing Canby to concentrate his whole force against Fort Blakely.  His troops had also completed their Third Parallel (three was the standard number in sieges, and many times a fortress surrendered when the Third Parallel was finished) only 100 yards from the Rebel line and were ready for the assault.  The next day the Union reinforcements marched north, and Canby delayed his assault until he had assembled his maximum force.

The key blow was at Redoubt #4, where the Third Brigade, Second Division, XIII Corps struck.  This was the 83rd and 114th Ohio, 20th and 34th Iowa, and 37th Illinois.  They were not the first blow - the attack had started further to the north, to pin down Confederate reserves.  The 83rd was the first wave, and the rest of the brigade would join the attack if the 83rd made good progress.  At the signal the 83rd jumped out of their trench and swept forward, despite taking fire before they went 20 yards.  The men in the Union rifle-pits joined the charge, and they pressed down into a shallow ravine separating Union and Confederate lines.  The rest of the brigade went forward then, since it was clear that the 83rd would make some progress, and the whole mass of Moore's Brigade was charging.  The Confederates resisted at first, but some of the men in the rifle pits fought, others surrendered, and some ran back.  Because their own comrades were retreating, the Confederates in the Redoubt didn't fire hard, and the Union force was able to push through the ditch and up the steep earthen banks.  1st Sergeant Joseph Stickels, Company A of the 83rd, captured a Confederate flag and received the Medal of Honor.

The first Union rush had broken the line, but the Rebels rallied in the woods, and Moore continued his assault.  His men smashed the continued resistance, moving down to the Tensaw River and cutting the defenders in two. 

The siege and storming of Fort Blakely was really the last major battle of the war.

Page 7

(Fort Blakely)