Battle of Fort Charlotte

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Battle of Fort Charlotte Part of American Revolutionary War Date February 20 - March 9, 1780 Location Mobile, Alabama Result Spanish victory Combatants Spain Britain Commanders Bernardo de Gálvez Elias Durnford Strength 754 regulars and militia 98 regulars 169 militia Casualties Unknown 267 dead, wounded, or captured

Gulf Coast campaigns Fort Bute – Baton Rouge – Fort Charlotte – San Fernando – Fort San Juan – St. Louis – Mobile – Pensacola

The Battle of Fort Charlotte was a two-week siege conducted by Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez against the British fortifications guarding present-day Mobile, Alabama during the American Revolutionary War. Fort Charlotte was the last remaining British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans in Spain's neighboring Louisiana colony, and its fall drove the British from the western reaches of West Florida.

Gálvez' army sailed from New Orleans aboard a small fleet of transports on January 28. On February 10, the Spaniards landed near Fort Charlotte. The outnumbered British garrison resisted stubbornly until the sight of several hundred regular infantry and artillerymen rowing ashore to bolster Gálvez' army broke their resolve on March 9 (the garrison commander, Captain Elias Durnford, had expected relief from Pensacola which never arrived). Their capitulation secured the west shore of Mobile Bay from the British and opened the path for operations against Pensacola.