While looking for information of Fort Huger, I came across mention of a Naval Battery that participated in the Union attack on Spanish Fort, Mobile Bay, Alabama.
Of interest, it was commanded by Lt.-Cmdr. James H. Gillis and his sailors from the monitor USS Milwaukee which had sunk a few days earlier after it struck a mine in the Blakely River.
Today, the site of the battery is located between two private homes on a deadend street of a Spanish Fort subdivision. The land rises at this point which makes it an ideal location for a battery. There is a Spanish Fort Battle marker at the site.
I have written about the USS Milwaukee before. Of interest to me since I'm also a roadie, is that after the war, the ship was raised and its iron used for the construction of St. Louis' Eads Bridge across the Mississippi.
From the Civil War Album.com. The marker reads:
"Manned work by sailors and commanded by Lt. Cmdr. Gillis of the USS Milwaukee, sunk by a Confederate torpedo in the Blakely River. Armed with two 4.2-inch Parrott rifled cannons firing projectiles weighing 30 lbs., these guns fired on Confederate Batteries Red Fort and Slocomb during the Battle of Spanish Fort March 26-April 8, 1865."
The USS Milwaukee sank March 28, 1865.
Lt.-Cmdr. Gillis also commanded the USS Commodore Morris when it was commissioned Nov. 19, 1862.
Finding Something Else for a Crew to Do After Their Ship Was Sunk. --Old B-R'er
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