Fort Gaines, constructed in the 1850's, was designed by Joseph G. Totten. Totten was, along with Simon Bernard, one of the original members of the board of engineers placed in charge of fortifications. Totten designed many of the later fortifications of the Third System, and was the foremost fortification engineer in the United States during this time. Fort Gaines shows a different design philosophy than many of the earlier fortifications, and is much simpler than many of the Third System forts. This is because the Fort Gaines defended a minor channel into Mobile Bay, while Fort Morgan was located very close to the main channel.
Much like Fort Morgan, Fort Gaines has two distinct eras of fortification, the orginal Third System fort, and later Endicott period gun batteries. These will be covered together, since the Endicott batteries are not very extensive. If you would like to see the location of Fort Gaines in relation to Mobile Bay and the southern U.S., click here.
This plan of Fort Gaines shows the general shape and outline of the fort. You can also see the outline of the tip of the island where the fort is located as it was when the fort was constructed.
In the foreground are the mounts for the barbette cannon, and in the distance, a cannon mounted on the bastion. On the left, the rampart on which the guns were mounted slopes downward exposing some of the inner wall. This allowed the wall to be loopholed for rifle embrasures, which can be seen near the soil level on the wall.
Originally, the rifle embrasures were designed to be near shoulder height to the soldiers standing inside the wall. Over time, most areas along the inside of the walls of Fort Gaines have filled in, however, in a few areas, the rifle embrasures are still nearly at shoulder height.
The bastion, which contained a magazine, and provided bombproof shelter for the troops, can be accessed from the area around the walls by this structure, which links a tunnel through the rampart with the bastion itself.Continue
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