Video: Women Soldiers at Spanish Fort - Mobile Campaign - 155th Anniversary

Today, March 26th, marks the 155th anniversary of the opening action that would culminate in the Siege of Spanish Fort and Battle of Fort Blakeley.  Also in this initial clash that occurred south of Spanish Fort, the Federals captured a Confederate woman soldier.  She was not the only female fighter involved in the Mobile Campaign.  On the Federal side was Jennie Hodgers, "Pvt. Albert Cashier," of the 95th Illinois Infantry.

In this video, fellow author Paul Brueske and I talk about the Mobile Campaign and these women soldiers.

Read previous blog posts I wrote about this topic [HERE] and [HERE].

Until next formation.....rest.

Spanish Fort: Two Women Soldiers Experience One of the Last Engagements of the War

In the spring of 1865, the Confederacy was in its final death throes.  Lee was being run into the ground by Grant in the east.  And then in the west, the Federals had turned their attention to capturing Mobile, which was one of the best fortified cities in the Confederacy.  Admiral David Farragut damned the torpedoes and, on August 5th, 1864, made a run past Forts Gaines and Morgan which guarded the the entrance to Mobile Bay.   This is ironic because Farragut spent his childhood on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, about 30 miles from Mobile.  He was born in Tennessee but moved with his family to the Gautier area.  You can pronounce it as either GO-shay or GO-chay.  Both will work.  But some sources say it wasn't Gautier anyway but Pascagoula.  My research points towards Gautier.  There is a Farragut Lake north of Gautier, and there are still descendants of the admiral's in the area.  Matter of fact, I have played tennis with/against one.

Battle of Fort Blakeley-150 Years Ago Today

Today, April 9th, marks the 150th anniversary of the capitulation of Fort Blakeley and the end of the Mobile Campaign. At least one of the soldiers present was a woman, Jennie Hodgers, alias "Albert Cashier," of the 95th Illinois Infantry, which was commanded by Colonel Leander Blanden.

Hodgers, an Irish immigrant, had seen action with the 95th from the beginning and was involved in the unit's last engagements of the war.