Historic Blakeley State Park

Historic Blakeley State Park occupies ground where layers of settlement, commerce, and conflict intersect along the Tensaw River delta. The site once held the town of Blakeley, an early county seat and river port, now largely erased except for scattered markers and traces of industry such as a former brick kiln. For military historians, the terrain is most significant as the battlefield of Fort Blakeley, recognized by Congress as a Class A Civil War site and incorporated into the Civil War Discovery Trail. Here, in April 1865, Confederate defenses faced a much larger Federal force in what is widely regarded as the final major battle of the war, fought within hours of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. Surviving Confederate breastworks still run through the woods, offering a rare chance to study how earthworks were adapted to the broken ground of the delta. Ongoing preservation and partial reconstruction of both Confederate and Union positions highlight the challenges of stabilizing earthen fortifications in a humid, riverine environment while maintaining the battlefield’s integrity as a landscape of study rather than a re-created set piece.