In the summer of 1864, the fighting once again came to Alabama. Since the early years of the war, Alabamians had been preoccupied with protecting the port of Mobile. After New Orleans fell, the Alabama Legislature determined that “the City of Mobile shall never be surrendered; that it should be defended from street to street, from house to house, and inch by inch, until if taken, the victors’ spoils shall be alone a heap of ashes.” Attempting to protect the city and its port against Union attack, the Confederate military had braced the existing Forts—Morgan and Gaines—while building an additional stronghold, Fort Powell.
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Becoming Alabama:
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