April 9, 1865

About 16,000 Union troops, including 5,000 former slaves and free blacks, attacked 3,500 Confederate forces at the Battle of Fort Blakeley in the last major battle of the Civil War. Fort Blakeley represented the last Confederate fortification near Mobile after the fall of Spanish Fort the day prior. After laying siege to the fort for more than a week, the Union attacked on April 9 and overwhelmed the fort, capturing it in less than 30 minutes. Unbeknownst to both sides, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia only hours earlier, effectively ending the war. The mayor of Mobile surrendered the city to Union forces on April 12.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Rebel line of works at Blakely. Captured by the Army of West Mississippi, April 9, 1865. Position and approaches by the Union Forces. Accompanying report of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army to the Secretary of War, dated October 30, 1865. (Julius Bien & Co. ; Asmussen, Charles W. ; French, Samuel G., U.S. War Department, David Rumsey, Wikimedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.