Named for American Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan, it was built on the site of the earlier Fort Bowyer, an earthen and stockade-type fortification involved in the final land battles of the War of 1812.

Fort Morgan is at the tip of Mobile Point at the western terminus of State Route 180 (Alabama).

After the departure of the Spanish from Mobile in April 1813, the United States built an earth and wood redoubt on Mobile Point, ultimately naming it Fort Bowyer after Col. John Bowyer, who completed the construction before leaving in 1814.

Before the British could continue their attack towards Mobile, Alabama, they received word that the Treaty of Ghent, ending the war, had been signed on Christmas Eve, 1814.

As part of this program, in 1818, the U.S. Army contracted with Benjamin Hopkins of Vermont to build a large masonry fort on Mobile Point after a design by Simon Bernard, who had been a military engineer for Napoleon.

Using enslaved laborers, De Russy made some progress before he became sick in 1825 and turned the work over to his deputy, Lieutenant Cornelius Ogden.

This unit remained at the fort for about a year and a half before its transfer to Florida to assist in the Second Seminole War.

Multiple concrete arches have been embedded into the walls of Fort Morgan from the beginning of the American Civil War to today.

The key point was the Main Ship Channel opposite Fort Morgan, as this was the only approach where the water was deep enough to permit major warships to pass.

Lastly, they complemented the land defenses with a small flotilla consisting of the ram Tennessee, and three gunboats, Morgan, Gaines and Selma, all under the command of Admiral Franklin Buchanan.

This freed U.S. Army units under U.S. Major General Gordon Granger to besiege Fort Morgan.

Between 1895 and 1900, Fort Morgan received five concrete batteries with fire control, electricity, and communications.

At the beginning of the Spanish–American War, Fort Morgan also received eight 10-inch smooth-bore muzzle-loading Rodman cannons, converted to 8-inch rifles with the insertion of a barrel sleeve.

The battery's role was to prevent smaller enemy vessels from passing through the ship's channel in front of the fort.

Hurricanes in 1906 and in July 1916 caused great damage to the wooden houses at Fort Morgan along Officer's Row.

After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, the fort trained CAC soldiers in modern weapons.

During World War I, the Army established a radio transmitting and receiving station at Fort Morgan as a part of a nationwide Morse-code communication network.

[11] [failed verification] Initially, the CAC brought five Model 1918 155mm (6.1-inch) guns to equip the fort.