The Monticello was a Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 blockade runner

Blockade runner

A blockade runner is usually a lighter weight ship used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait, as opposed to confronting the blockaders to break the blockade. Very often blockade running is done in order to transport cargo, for example to bring food or arms to a blockaded city...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. She was a two-masted schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 out of Havana, Cuba and of unknown nationality. She ran ashore about 6 to 8 miles east of Fort Morgan and the main inlet to Mobile Bay

Mobile Bay

Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the...

 in Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 on June 26, 1862, after sailing from Havana, and was then set on fire by the crew to prevent her capture. A landing party from the USS Kanawha

USS Kanawha (1861)

USS Kanawha was a built for the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.- Commissioned at New York City :...

 attempted to board the vessel, but were driven off by Confederate soldiers firing from nearby on the shore. Her length was 136 feet. She was likely cruising just off shore along the Swash Channel when she ran aground.

Some experts believe that a wreck uncovered by Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...

 on Fort Morgan Road in Fort Morgan, Alabama

Fort Morgan, Alabama

Fort Morgan is a historic masonry star fort at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama, United States. Some scholars regard it as "one of the finest examples of military architecture in the New World." The post was named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan...

may be the Monticello.