Mobile , Alabama in the American Civil War Mobile , Alabama , during the American Civil War was an important port city on the Gulf of Mexico for the Confederate States of America . Mobile fell to the Union army late in the war following successful attacks on the defenses of Mobile Bay by the Union Navy . Early war years . Mobile had grown substantially in the period leading up to the Civil War when the Confederates heavily fortified it . The 1860 U . S . Census reported that Mobile had 29 , 258 residents , making it the 27th largest city in the country . When the Confederacy was formed after the secession of eleven Southern slave - holding states , Mobile became the 4th largest city in the breakaway nation . Statistically , Mobile in 1860 was 69 percent whites , 3 percent free blacks and 28 percent slaves . One observer described the city in 1861 , " With a population of thirty thousand the city contains many pleasant residences , embowered in shade trees , and surrounded by generous grounds . It is rendered attractive by its tall pines , live oak , and Pride - of - China trees . " Military activities . As war erupted , military fervor in Mobile was high , and hundreds of able - bodied men responded to recruitment drives and signed up for service in the Confederate army . In addition , several antebellum militia companies formally volunteered their services and enrolled . The Creole Guard and the Southern Guard were among those new troops that manned Mobile ' s defenses , as did the Mobile Cadets ( Co A of the 21st Alabama became part of the 3rd Alabama Infantry , while Co K , Mobile Cadets , remained with the 21st Alabama ) . The Pelham Cadets ( 1st Battalion Alabama Cadets ) served at Mobile and in various parts of Alabama in 1864 and 1865 . With secession and the creation of the Confederate States Navy came the need for warships . Mobile ' s shipmakers responded by hastily constructing a series of vessels for naval usage , among them the CSS " Gaines " and the CSS " Morgan " , both partially armored wooden ships with 2 - inch armor plating over unseasoned wood . Early in the war , Union naval forces established a blockade under the command of Admiral David Farragut . The Confederates countered the blockade by constructing " blockade runners ; " fast , shallow - draft , low - slung ships that could either outrun or evade the blockaders , maintaining a trickle of trade in and out of Mobile . The " CSS Hunley " , the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel in combat , was built and tested in Mobile before being shipped to Charleston , South Carolina . " Hunley " was ready for a demonstration by July 1863 . Supervised by Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan , The innovative boat successfully attacked a coal flatboat in Mobile Bay , suggesting that the relatively new concept of submarine warfare might be viable . Mobile was the site of several Civil War hospitals for wounded and ill soldiers . Mobile City Hospital treated a significant number of civilians who became sick during the war from yellow fever and other diseases . The Marine Hospital cared for Confederate soldiers , and later in the war , for Union troops as well . The civilian front . Food and others shortages were common in Mobile as the blockade tightened and cut the city off from external sources of raw materials , cloth , and other sundries . In April 1863 , a riot erupted as angry citizens demanded bread to feed their families . The outbreak was short - lived , but lingering discontent and anger simmered through the spring and summer , finally boiling over in September . More than 100 frustrated women gathered on Spring Hill Road , some carrying banners that read " Bread or Blood " on one side and " Bread and Peace " on the other . Several had brought brooms and even a few axes as weapons . They stormed up Dauphin Street , demanding satisfaction for their bread shortage . A local militia force was mobilzed with orders to stop the mob , but they refused to march out of sympathy with the women ' s cause . The rioters reached the office of Mayor R . H . Slough and demanded relief from the food shortage . When Slough promised to get them food , the mob broke up and the ladies returned to their homes . The fall of Mobile . In August 1864 , Union Navy Admiral David Farragut ' s warships fought their way past the two forts ( Gaines and Morgan ) guarding the mouth of Mobile Bay and defeated a small force of Confederate gunboat s and one ironclad , the " CSS Tennessee " , in the Battle of Mobile Bay . It is here that Farragut is alleged to have uttered his famous " Damn the torpedoes , full speed ahead " quote . The Union action did not force the surrender of the city of Mobile , but it did effectively close off the city ' s access to Mobile Bay and eliminate the residual traffic of the local blockade runner s . On April 12 , 1865 , three days after the surrender of Robert E . Lee at Appomattox Courthouse , the city of Mobile surrendered to the Union army to avoid destruction following the Union victories at the Battle of Spanish Fort and the Battle of Fort Blakely . Ironically , on May 25 , 1865 , the city suffered loss when some three hundred people died as a result of an explosion at a federal ammunition depot on Beauregard Street . The explosion left a deep hole at the depot ' s location , sunk ships docked on the Mobile River , and the resulting fires destroyed the northern portion of the city . Notable leaders from Mobile . Among the more notable Civil War personalities from Mobile were Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes ( an antebellum attorney in Mobile following his U . S . Navy service ) and Brig . Gen . Zachariah C . Deas ( a Mobile merchant and cotton broker whose brigade fought at the Battle of Chickamauga , where they routed the Union division of Philip H . Sheridan and killed Brig . Gen . William H . Lytle ) . Mobile resident Augusta Jane Evans was a staunch states ' rights activist who became a leading pro - Confederacy propagandist during the war . The novelist nursed sick and wounded Confederate soldiers at Fort Morgan on Mobile Bay . She also sowed sandbanks for the defense of the community , wrote patriotic addresses , and set up a hospital , Camp Beulah , near her residence . Augusta ’ s propaganda masterpiece was " Macaria " , a novel that promoted national desire for an independent national culture and reflected Southern values as they were at that time . Robert H . Slough served as the Mayor of Mobile throughout most of the Civil War , serving from 1862 until the war ' s end in 1865 . He tenure was wrapped by that of former U . S . Minister to Mexico and Alabama state legislator John Forsyth , Jr . , who preceded Slough in 1861 and then succeeded him in 1865 . Dr . Josiah C . Nott of Mobile was a leading researcher into the causes of yellow fever . During the war , he was a surgeon and staff officer in the Confederate Army , and in charge of inspecting the military hospitals in Mobile . Two of his sons died in the war while serving in Alabama regiments .