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Dauphin Island’s Fort Gaines, a Civil War battle site that spawned one of the most famous quotes in naval history, was named today as being among the country’s most endangered historical places.

Facing serious threats from land erosion and problems resulting from the Gulf oil spill, the fort could eventually “wash away,” the National Trust for Historic Preservation warned in a news release.

“Fort Gaines, a place of extraordinary national significance, is in a precarious position,” the group’s president, Stephanie Meeks, said in a written statement. “While we cannot stop the tide, we can stabilize the shoreline, serving to protect Fort Gaines and Mobile Bay from ever-increasing coastal storms.”

The Washington-based nonprofit named Fort Gaines in its annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. Also included were Jazz musician John Coltrane’s Long Island, N.Y., home; a Pennsylvania flour mill that dates to the 1880’s and a slave-holding Virginia plantation converted into schools for black and American Indian students.

The entire city of Charleston, S.C., was also placed on “watch status” by the group, which cited the threat that cruise ship tourism could pose to the city’s historic character.

In August 1864, a fleet under Union Admiral David Farragut’s command fought for the Confederate-held fort, facing a barrage of cannon fire and torpedoes.

As he watched one ship in his fleet sink from a torpedo strike, Farragut declared, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”

Farragut and the Union went on to capture the fort.

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