On Sunday, August 7, 1864 Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island, guarding the western approaches to Mobile Bay but sieged by Union troops, surrendered after a Union bombardment. Gaines’ commander, Colonel Charles Anderson, would be censured by his Confederate superiors at Mobile for raising the white flag of surrender. They believed that Fort Gaines should have continued to resist and disavowed Anderson’s decision to surrender. Taken prisoner for the remainder of the war, Anderson—the first Texan to attend West Point—would return to Texas to rebuild the state’s railroads. Years later, on his deathbed Union Admiral Farragut asked that the sword Anderson presented to him at Fort Gaines’ surrender be returned, noting that in his opinion Anderson had shown more gallantry than his Confederate superiors during the battle for Mobile, Alabama.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.