Forgotten Forts Series - Fort Livingston

NFB22

Sergeant Major
Joined
Jun 21, 2012
Location
Louisville, KY
After a little bit of a break for the holidays I'm back to continue the "Forgotten Forts Series"

Fort Livingston 3.jpg

In just surfing the net I came across Fort Livingston located on Grand Terre Island in Louisiana. Construction was originally begun on the island in 1835 however construction of the masonry fort itself did not begin until 1841 under the direction of then US Army Major P.G.T. Beaureguard. Fort Livingston was named after Louisiana native Edward Livingston who served as Sec. of State under President Andrew Jackson. The fort was designed to protect the approaches to Barataria Pass which gave access to New Orleans. For this reason a lighthouse was also built near the fort.
Fort Livingston 1.jpg

When the American Civil War began the fort was not completed however it was garrisoned by Louisiana militia rather quickly. For being unfinished the fort was well armed and equipped with a garrison numbering between 300 and 400 men. The fort's guns offered a safehaven to Confederate blockade runners early in the war. A small detachment of United States Marines occupied New Orleans on April 26, 1862 and the next day Confederate forces abandoned Fort Livingston to support the war effort elsewhere and the fort would remain abandoned for a year until Union forces would reoccupy its walls. Fort Livingston would never see combat during the war and following the war it would be placed under caretaker status.


Following the war mother nature began to take its toll on Fort Livingston and the fort was permanently abandoned in early 1889 when all of its stores and guns were removed. The United States government gave control of the land to the state of Louisiana in 1923 following heavy damage to the fort sustained in a 1915 hurricane. In 1974 the fort was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today the fort can be accessed by boat however there are no guides or museums and navigating the deserted fort may be hazardous by the look of things. As you can tell from the pictures nature has taken its toll on the location, most notably Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and I have not read of any major preservation efforts. I have not visited this fort nor do I have any friends that have either but by the look of things it might be an interesting place to visit if you have the time and resources to do so.

http://www.fortwiki.com/Fort_Livingston
http://ncptt.nps.gov/ft-livingston-grand-terre-island-field-report-2010-03/all/1/

Links to the other "Forgotten Forts Series" threads.
http://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/forgotten-forts-series-fort-mcallister.78469/
http://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/forgotten-forts-series-fort-caswell.78408/
http://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/forgotten-forts-series-fort-wool.78325/
http://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/forgotten-forts-series-fort-mackinac.77950/
http://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/forgotten-forts-series-fort-norfolk.77859/
http://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/forgotten-forts-series-fort-clinch.77816/
http://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/forgotten-forts-series-fort-adams.77979/
http://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/fort-warren.77775/
http://www.civilwartalk.com/threads/fort-alcatraz.77732/
 
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missed this one the first time around this fort looks like its in pretty bad shape. hopefully someone can do something to save whats left.

Sadly I dont think this one will pass the test of time. From what I've read the most attention it got was for cleanup after the BP oil spill down in the Gulf of Mexico. For the most part no major action is taking place to preserve what is left of this fort.

If they would come in and put sand along the shoreline like they have for Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island that would certainly help. Then all you would need is some volunteers to come in and sweep out sand and cut down the growth on and in the fort and it would be a pretty cool site to visit. The downside is Fort Mass is part of the Gulf Shores Nat'l Seashore and this one is not.
 
Nate,
Have you been able to find any photos of how it originally looked?

I can remember trolling the internet for quite sometime when doing this post and could not find any period photographs of the fort or even its original plans. The serious damage you see on the seaward face of the fort was caused in the earlier part of the 1900s. Maybe one of the forums more experienced researchers may be able to come up with something?
 
Fort Livingston was (Louisiana is allowing their Third System Forts to fall into the Gulf) a kite shaped fort. Same as Fort Barrancas in Pensacola. Fort Massachusetts, on Ship Island, is two thirds of a circle.

If you are looking for a great book on these forts look for "A Legacy In Brick And Stone" American Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System, 1816-1867 by John R. Weaver
 
Unlike Fort Massachusetts Fort Livingston has landward defenses including a deep ditch and counterscarp galleries. American mid century polygonal forts were somewhat ahead of their time in usually using counterscarp galleries rather than caponiers for ditch control; for instance some French polygonal forts were built originally with caponiers that were later removed and replaced by counterscarp galleries.
 
Fort Livingston was (Louisiana is allowing their Third System Forts to fall into the Gulf) a kite shaped fort. Same as Fort Barrancas in Pensacola. Fort Massachusetts, on Ship Island, is two thirds of a circle.

If you are looking for a great book on these forts look for "A Legacy In Brick And Stone" American Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System, 1816-1867 by John R. Weaver

Does that mean that if Livingston had survived intact it would look like the current restored Massachussetts?

upload_2017-2-20_11-12-47.jpeg
 
Still looking around on the internet tonight on Fort Livingston since I hadnt heard of it before today. Found some of the progress reports and pictures dealing with the BP oil spill and its cleanup.

http://ncptt.nps.gov/field-report-fort-livingston-grand-terre-island/
http://healthygulf.org/201202071801...-the-gulf-of-mexico/return-to-fort-livingston
http://www.rsairphoto.com/gallery.php?gal=29&p=2[/QUOT


is there something wrong with my laptop? all these links show up broken....


is there something wrong with my laptop? all these links are showing up as broken....
 
Here is GPS coordinates so you can check it out on Google Maps: 29.272962, -89.945277

One change from what I can see in your first photo is they seem to have reinforced this point with gravel boulder to keep the point from washing away.
To the North of the fort are two rows of some square formations. I wonder what those might have been? Could it have been related to the fort. I tought it might be foundations for barracks but they are butted up to each other. Maybe some kind of commercial fishery business.
 
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