Gen. Thomas was captured with his brigade at Blakely by troops belonging to Gen. Garrard's division. Yniestre was the Lt. Col. of the 1st Alabama reserve/62nd Alabama regiment. I would love to read the first-hand account to which you refer. could you post it? Thanks!

The treadway did not extend from Spanish Fort to Blakely, but only to a point opposite Ft. Tracy. I wonder if any of it could still be seen today! When the siege at Spanish Fort began, Gibson's division included his old Louisiana brigade and Gen. Thomas Alabama reserve brigade. Thomas brigade was shipped to Blakely in exchange for Gen. Holtzclaw's Alabama and Gen. Ector's Texas brigades. This exchange was accomplished by transport. On March 28th, the 1st Alabama reserve/62nd Alabama regiment was transferred to Blakely. On the night of the 30th, the 2nd Alabama reserve/63rd Alabama regiment was transferred to Blakely. Note that the army was operating transports, including 4 British-built blockade runners: Virgin, Mary, Heroine, Red Gauntlet.

On April 8, 1865, under cover of darkness, Gen. Gibson's division marched along the treadway to a point where transports bound for Mobile awaited them. All ships, including Com. Farrand's Mobile squadron, had been ordered to a point between Fts. Tracy and Huger. All of Gibson's division could not be accommodated by the available transports, resulting in much of Gen. Holtzclaw's Alabama brigade being forced to march an additional 5 miles during the night through the swamp to Ft. Blakely, to which point they arrived at daylight the morning of the 9th. Rather than put Holtzclaw's exhausted brigade in the fortifications, Gen. Maury ordered them embarked on transports and returned to Mobile. Federal lookouts observed the troops boarding ships that morning and assumed that Ft. Blakely was being abandoned, just as Spanish Fort had been the night before. This assumption by Federal troops, and their desire not to let the garrison escape, precipitated their assault that afternoon.