The Spanish River is a

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel is a stream channel that branches off and flows a main stream channel. It is the opposite of a ''tributary'', a stream that flows another stream or river. Distributaries are a result of river bifurc ...

river that forms part of the border between Baldwin and Mobile counties in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. It is approximately long and is influenced by tides. It begins at the northernmost tip of Blakeley Island, where it diverges from the

Mobile River The Mobile River is located in southern Alabama in the United States. Formed out of the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers, the approximately river drains an area of of Alabama, with a watershed extending into Mississippi, Georg ...

, at . From there it flows along the eastern edge of Blakeley and Pinto islands, and discharges into

Mobile Bay Mobile Bay ( ) is a shallow 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. T ...

south of Pinto Island, at . It contains two significant shipwrecks that date to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

period. The Confederate

ironclad An ironclad was a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by iron armour, steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or ince ...

s, CSS ''Tuscaloosa'' and CSS ''Huntsville'', were both scuttled in the river on April 12, 1865, to prevent their capture following the surrender of the city of Mobile.

References

Rivers of Mobile County, Alabama Rivers of Baldwin County, Alabama Rivers of Alabama Tributaries of Mobile Bay {{Alabama-river-stub

See also

References