GULF SHORES, Ala. — The Fort Morgan State Historic Site will present the Battle of Mobile Bay 146th Anniversary Commemoration Aug. 7. Activities will begin at 8:30 a.m., and continue until 4:30 p.m.

Reenactors from across the South will represent the Confederate and Federal forces that fought to control Mobile Bay.

Confederate and Federal artillery and infantry will trade fire throughout the day, beginning at 9:30.

Between 11 and noon, and again from 1:15 to 2:30, sailboats of the Fairhope Yacht Club will represent U.S. Navy Admiral David Farragut’s West Gulf Blockading Squadron as they fight their way through the artillery fire of Fort Morgan’s water battery.

A Civil War medical display in the fort can be seen by the public.

Tommie Thompson, author of “A Taste of Freedom,” an historic novel of slaves who fought for the Confederacy, will be in the fort during the day discussing his book, and will give a special presentation of his work between 2:30 and 3:30.

Thompson, who is originally from Baltimore, Md., migrated to Jackson County, Miss. in 1982, where he served as an addiction treatment specialist.

After retiring in 2002, his keen interest in the human condition led him to become a writer.

His first book, “A Taste of Freedom,” is based on two years of historical research, and a sequel is in the works.