Original Mobile Point Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

The history of Fort Morgan and the three Mobile Point Lighthouses are tightly coupled. The first lighthouse was completed on the point by June of 1822 at an expense of $9,995. When attracting a keeper to this remote location proved difficult, a soldier from the fort was assigned to tend the light. The lamps in the lantern room atop the forty-foot brick tower were finally lit for the first time on September 29, 1822.

The Mobile Point Light was visible from ten miles at sea, but shoals kept ships about the same distance offshore, making it difficult to detect this landfall light. Noted lighthouse contractor Winslow Lewis was tapped to increase the range of the light. Lewis prescribed larger reflectors and improved lamps that together would be mounted in a revolving chandelier to produce a powerful flashing light.

Mariners were not notified of the change in the light’s signature from fixed to flashing, and several sailors confused the Mobile Point Light with the Pensacola Light, located several miles to the east. Although both lights now had a flashing characteristic, their flash rate was different. Lewis placed the blame on the mariners, remarking that “to mistake one for the other, would be like taking a star for the moon.”

In 1858, a 200-foot-tall seacoast light was built on Sand Island, three miles offshore from Mobile Point. No longer needed as a landfall light, the Mobile Point Lighthouse was downgraded to a harbor light and outfitted with the smallest lens available. A pair of range lights was also established near the Mobile Point Light to guide vessels through the shoals and into the bay.

Following the outbreak of the War Between the States, Confederate forces took control of the fort, and the Mobile Point Light was deactivated. The lighthouse stood on a bluff near the southwest corner of the star-shaped fort, adjacent to a hotshot furnace. Cannon balls could be heated in the furnace until they were white hot and then fired at invading wooden ships to set their hulls afire. The lighthouse would definitely have a front row seat for any battle for control of the bay that might come … and come it did.

At dawn on August 5, 1864, a fleet of eighteen Union ships commanded by Admiral David Farragut approached the entrance to Mobile Bay. A fierce exchange of cannon fire ensued at 7:30 a.m., during which the Tecumseh, a Union vessel, struck a mine (known as a torpedo at the time) and sank. The incident threw the Union fleet into disarray. It was at this critical juncture that Farragut gave his famous order “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” The remaining vessels sailed into the bay and succeeded in capturing the fort on August 23. During the battle for the fort, the lighthouse was struck multiple times, severely damaging one side of the tower.

Mobile Point Lighthouse Photograph courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

After the war, a temporary wooden tower was placed near the crippled lighthouse, and the old brick tower was demolished. The new structure, with its sixth-order lens, guided vessels into the bay until a more permanent lighthouse was built. The second Mobile Point Lighthouse was a 30-foot iron tower. The red light from the tower’s fourth-order Fresnel lens was first exhibited on February 15, 1873. A new dwelling was also built for the keeper at this time.

After some of the military personnel were found to make unreliable light keepers, a civilian keeper was assigned to the lighthouse. The keepers and soldiers did not always make the best of neighbors. On several occasions the keepers complained of being harassed by the military. One such conflict is documented in a December 1887 letter from A.N. Damrel, Chief Engineer in Mobile, to the fort's ordnance Sergeant:

"I have been officially informed that you have now living with you in your quarters at Fort Morgan, the wife of the Lightkeeper. I do not know whether the charge is true or not and I have neither the time nor the opportunity to investigate it. It is of course unnecessary for me to instruct you that such conduct will not be permitted."

A modern steel skeletal tower, seen in a photograph to the left, was erected at the point in 1963, and the small iron tower was abandoned. The old tower was cut from its foundation and ended up at a scrap metal company. For years, the tower slowly deteriorated in the scrap yard, but fortuitously remained intact. Eventually, the lighthouse was refurbished and returned to Fort Morgan, where it is now on display.

Visitors to the fort can see several other pieces associated with the Mobile Point Lighthouses. The fort’s visitor center has on exhibit the fourth-order Fresnel used in the Mobile Point Lighthouse, along with the second–order Fresnel lens from the Sand Island Lighthouse and other lighthouse artifacts. Visitors can walk around the fort and view the modern skeletal tower, the site of the earlier lighthouses, and the 1872 keeper’s dwelling.

The tower was removed from the grounds in September of 2003 for restoration by Robinson Iron, and it is not known when it will be returned to the fort.

References

1. Lighthouses, Lightships, and the Gulf of Mexico, Cipra, 1997.
2. Fort Morgan Self-Guided Tour, pamphlet.

The fort is open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., November through March; 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., April through October. The museum is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily, but is closed between noon and 1 p.m. The site is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. A small admission fee is charged. For more information on the fort, call (251) 540-7127. The Mobile Point Lighthouse was removed from the fort in September of 2003 and is in storage at Robinson Iron awaiting funding for restoration. As of 2008, there was still no schedule for restoration.