Historedia
AmericasEvent

Mobile, Alabama ordnance depot magazine explosion

When
1865
Where
Beauregard Street
Episodes
1

On May 25, 1865, a catastrophic explosion occurred at a federal ammunition depot in Mobile, Alabama, resulting in approximately 300 deaths. The incident happened shortly after the city's surrender to Federal forces in April 1865. The blast created a significant crater, sank ships on the Mobile River, and destroyed the northern portion of the city through resulting fires.

Episodes

  1. 1865-05-25 · Beauregard StreetMagazine Explosion

    A federal ammunition depot on Beauregard Street exploded, killing roughly 300 people and causing significant structural damage.

Background and detail

Background. Mobile, Alabama, surrendered to Federal forces in April 1865, following Union victories at two forts protecting the city. Union forces had earlier taken control of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, in one of the war's most famous naval engagements. The explosion occurred in the weeks after the city's capture.

Incident Details. The explosion took place on May 25, 1865, at a federal ammunition depot located on Beauregard Street. Approximately three hundred people died as a result of the blast. The explosion left a 30-foot deep hole at the depot's location. Ships docked on the Mobile River were sunk, and fires resulting from the explosion destroyed the northern portion of the city.

Sources

  1. Mobile, Alabama Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-17

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.