ALABAMA

When Alabama seceded from the Union on January 11, 1861, the population of the state was over 950,000. Of the total population, just over 526,000 were whites and of that 106, 500 were males between the ages of 15 and 39. There were 435,000 slaves and a population 2,700 free blacks.

In 1862, Union forces occupied Decatur, Athens, Huntsville, and Tuscumbia in north Alabama, but raids by Union soldiers provided much of the military action in the early years of the war. Federal Cavalry Colonel A. D. Streight led a raid through North Alabama in 1863. In 1864, General L. H. Rousseau led a raid against Opelika, Alabama and the Montgomery and West Point Railroad. The winter of 1864-1865 saw yet another raid from Union troops, this one led by General J. H. Wilson, which was the most successful.

The most famous battle in Alabama did not take place on land, but at the mouth of Mobile Bay. In August 1864, the United States Navy, led by Admiral Farragut, fought its way into Mobile Bay. They captured Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan on the opposite shore defending the eastern approaches to the bay. It was at the Battle of Mobile Bay that Admiral Farragut uttered his famous command: "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead."

Fort Blakely fell on April 9, 1965 and three days later the city of Mobile surrendered. Confederates forces officially surrendered at Citronelle on May 4, 1865.

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