As mentioned in an earlier "Running the Blockade," June 26th, a shell was found earlier this summer at Fort Morgan, guarding the entrance to Mobile Bay. This past February, I walked the fort's papapets after driving for what seemed to be forever to get there. It was a chilly and windy day so I was walking rather fast. Perhaps I might even have stood on this very shell. I could see the headlines now, "Dazed man Blown Up at Fort morgan."
From the June 23rd Press-Register.
A ninety pound shell fired at Fort Morgan was found buried after 144 years in the sand of the east wall. It had been underfoot of soldiers and tourists (including the old B-Runner) for all these years and was pointing north.
WHO FIRED IT?
On July 4, 1864, four Union ships opened fire on the fort, and three of them, the Hartford, Richmond and Brooklyn carriued guns capable of firing it. Six weeks later came the siege and passing Fort Morgan by the Union fleet. There were 100-pounder Parrots on eleven Union vessels at that time, so it could have been fired by one of them.
It is rusted, but the slots to fit thecannon grooves are still there on the 18 inch long, 6.4 inch diameter shell.
After disarming, it will go back to the fort's museum.
For Gosh Sake, Watch Where You Walk on a Civil War Battlefield. --Old B-Runner
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
