Mobile Point, Alabama
Harbour Lights #344

The United States took control of this strategic Gulf Coast Bay at the onset of the War of 1812.

The Mobile Point Lighthouse was built on land acquired from Spain, in 1821. The US Government immediately developed Fort Morgan, named for General Daniel Morgan, a Revolutionary War hero, as a strategic defense of Mobile Bay.

In September 1822, a 40’ brick tower was lit with a light that offered little to the mariners who found they could not get any closer than within 10 miles due to the shoals.

Famed Lighthouse Engineer, Winslow Lewis, was brought in to find the solution of the poor lighting problem. The solution, a more powerful lamp with a rotating reflector provided mariners the marker needed for safe passage into Mobile Bay.

The Confederate Army took control of Fort Morgan at the beginning of the Civil War. The lens was removed and the Light darkened. Admiral David Farragut of the Union captured Fort Morgan in August 1864 after a fierce battle that resulted in the lighthouse being hit by a barrage of cannon fire. In rallying his men to victory Farragut shouted those immortal words: “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” The tower so seriously damaged that after the war what remained was torn down.

After the Civil War, a wooden tower replaced the original brick light, housing a sixth order Fresnel lens. The wooden tower was replaced in 1963 with an iron tower that was later sent to the scrap pile. Some years later, the iron tower was restored and returned to Fort Morgan.