Fort Jackson, Louisiana

On to the main fort, starting with the sally port. As you can see in the picture above, the sally port was flanked by two howitzer embrasures, and the picture below shows a howitzer position in the flank of the each bastion. That means four howitzers would guard the causeway and drawbridge leading to the sally port, as well as rifle and gun positions on the ramparts.
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In addition to breaching the drawbridge in the "up" position, an attacker would be faced with two sets of wooden doors within the sally port. Both sets would have been three-ply doors, all three plies made of hard wood - in this case I believe them to be cypress. The outer layer would have the grain of the wood running diagonally, the middle layer on the opposite diagonal, and the inner layer the same as the outer layer. This way, someone attempting to breach the door with an axe would be able to split the outer layer with the grain, but would then be chopping cross-grain on the middle layer. In addition, every six inches in all directions would be iron studs. If the axe struck one of these studs, one of two things would happen. Best case (for the attacker) is that his back teeth would ring for hours! Worst case is that his axe head would shatter, and he'd be left with an axe handle to attempt to breach the door!
Once through the first set of doors, the attacker would find himself fired upon through loopholes in the sides of the sally port. These loopholes opened into two guard rooms, one on either side. With the brick walls and confined space, missed shots would ricochet around the area until they hit someone or their energy was expended.
View attachment 389098
Finally, when the second set of doors were breached the attackers would most likely be looking into the muzzle of a field piece standing on the parade, loaded with cannister shot.
One of the unique features of Fort Jackson is the design of the bastions and the use of cavaliers. A cavalier is a wall that completes the polygon shape of a fort as if the bastion is not there, and overlooks the bastion. This means that if the terreplein of the bastion would fall, the attacker would be fired upon from the cavalier - an elevated position looking down on the bastion terreplein. The following sketches show this concept in plan and in section.
15-35 Jackson Cavalier Sketch.jpg

25-8 Jackson Bastion Terreplein.jpg

This is the passageway that allows one soldier at a time to move from the cavalier to the bastion and back.
15-36 Jackson cavalier entry passageway.jpg

The mass of the bastions were casemated on the flanks and earth-filled at the salients. Each had a service magazine, and the casemated area was entered from the parade. The picture below shows the entrances to the casemates in two flanks of a bastion.
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Two of the fronts of the fort face the Mississippi River, and those are the only two fronts that are casemated. They open to the parade in the rear, and with embrasures facing the river.
Jackson Interior Casemates.jpg

The large earthen mound to the left of the picture is the earthen fill around the Endicott Period battery that was poured on the parade of the fort.
Jackson arches.jpg

Jackson embrasure.jpg

Jackson Exterior Casemates.jpg


In addition to the guns of the fort, there was a salient place d'armes designed into the downstream coverface that held a water battery.
25-14 Salient Place d'Armes Battery.jpg

In 1858, P. G. T. Beauregard upgraded the defenses of Fort Jackson. One of the principle upgrades was the construction of an external water battery upstream of the outer ditch.
27-1 1858 External Battery Colorized smaller.jpg


This was the fort that Porter and Farragut were able to run past when they attacked New Orleans. As a result of them running past Fort Jackson, and a similar run-past at Fort Morgan on Mobile Point, the post-war Corps of Engineers decided to reevaluate how to stop warships from entering a harbor. The result was recorded in a treatise by John Gross Barnard, who stated that 15-inch and larger Rodman guns were needed to stop a steam-powered ironclad. The problem - these guns would not fit in the casemates of Fort Jackson or of many other Third System forts. With a limited budget after the war, it was decided that masonry-revetted earthworks were the best solution. The doctrine established was two gun positions, a traverse containing a ready magazine, then two more gun positions, and so on. This program, called the 1870s Modernization, was implemented at a number of Third System locations, including Fort Jackson.
The Beauregard external battery was replaced with a series of gun emplacements and traverse magazines. In addition, the two salient places d'armes were emplaced with larger guns, and the cavalier of the bastion centered on the river was used for another battery. The sketch below shows these locations.
27-2 Jackson 1870s Modernization Smaller.jpg

The photo below shows the entrance to an 1870s magazine. There were two-gun emplacements on each side of the magazine. These are quite easy to see in the remains of the 1870s battery.
50-11870s Magazine.JPG

In the 1880s, the development of breechloading, steel artillery launched the Endicott Period of concrete fortifications. At Fort Jackson, a battery was poured on the parade of the old fort and another on the upstream salient place d'armes. The drawing below shows these modifications.
27-3 Endicott Period Additions smaller.jpg
 
Anyway, I'm glad to know Plaquemines Parish is working to preserve and reopen Fort Jackson.

The Parish is doing what they can, but are having limited success. I testified before three Federal Magistrates in a FEMA hearing regarding funding for damage from Hurricane Katrina. The Parish received only 10% of the requested amount. They are trying, but there are safety issues that must be addressed. The biggest issue is salt infiltration into the mortar; that's expensive to remedy.

Now, if something could be done to un-bury Fort St. Phillip. Of course that'd be a heck of a job. I once got invited to go out to it, (with the landowner being a friend of who invited me), but I was told a pump, or preferable semi-auto shotgun was required for safety from all the Water Moccasins.

A lot of Louisiana historic sites got hit hard, I know one fort the State pretty much gave back to its former owners.
 
A little off topic but since were on Fort Jackson, any detailed plans of the original Fort St. Philip? I know you have a couple images/sketches in your book but didn't know if you had worked on any others.
 
Now, if something could be done to un-bury Fort St. Phillip. Of course that'd be a heck of a job. I once got invited to go out to it, (with the landowner being a friend of who invited me), but I was told a pump, or preferable semi-auto shotgun was required for safety from all the Water Moccasins.

A lot of Louisiana historic sites got hit hard, I know one fort the State pretty much gave back to its former owners.
I've been there, and it's pretty rough! CDSG is planning on going across in 2022, and we'll be taking at least one wildlife officer, armed, with us.
 
A little off topic but since were on Fort Jackson, any detailed plans of the original Fort St. Philip? I know you have a couple images/sketches in your book but didn't know if you had worked on any others.
I found three great drawings at Library of Congress after publishing Legacy:
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I also have a bunch of pictures from my visit there quite a few years ago. Here are a couple. Is there anything in particular that you'd like to see?
St Philip gun positions.jpg

St Philip Scarp.jpg

St Philip March 2002 019.jpg

St Philipt March 2002 020.jpg
 
I found three great drawings at Library of Congress after publishing Legacy:

I also have a bunch of pictures from my visit there quite a few years ago. Here are a couple. Is there anything in particular that you'd like to see?
Excellent. The post-Civil War fortifications encompass so much more ground along the riverfront, it's hard to get a picture of the original ACW-era fort.
 
It would be almost impossible to rehabilitate what remains of Fort St. Phillip.
You're lucky to have access !

Yeeeaaaahhhh, about that....

The friend that had encouraged me to go out there and could've arranged it, passed away last year.

I never did get out there, I was younger at the time of the invitation with great impediments to any idea of running off out of the blue to that part of the country. We kind of lost touch when he retired from reenacting.
 
Yeeeaaaahhhh, about that....

The friend that had encouraged me to go out there and could've arranged it, passed away last year.

I never did get out there, I was younger at the time of the invitation with great impediments to any idea of running off out of the blue to that part of the country. We kind of lost touch when he retired from reenacting.
I think this is similar to our interest in Battery Bienvenue. Naturally @jrweaver knows how to get out there and navigate the area since he's the expert when it comes to this stuff.
 
Yeeeaaaahhhh, about that....

The friend that had encouraged me to go out there and could've arranged it, passed away last year.

I never did get out there, I was younger at the time of the invitation with great impediments to any idea of running off out of the blue to that part of the country. We kind of lost touch when he retired from reenacting.
The CDSG has plans in 2022. You would have to join for insurance reasons, but it is an opportunity to see ALL the New Orleans forts! Go to cdsg.org for the details, or let me know and I'll be glad to give you the information. I'm really looking forward to it!
I think this is similar to our interest in Battery Bienvenue. Naturally @jrweaver knows how to get out there and navigate the area since he's the expert when it comes to this stuff.
X is the mathematical term for the unknown, and a spurt is a drip under pressure. Therefore an expert is an unknown drip, under pressure. I resemble that description! LOL
 
Looking at all these photos of different fort constructions, I notice that while most were constructed of brick, there are several that are built entirely with stone. Any significance or reasons for this?
 
Looking at all these photos of different fort constructions, I notice that while most were constructed of brick, there are several that are built entirely with stone. Any significance or reasons for this?
There are two reasons. First is the availability of materials. The forts in the northeast, where there are granite quarries, there are a lot of stone or stone-and-brick forts. In the south, virtually all the forts are brick.
Second, later in the Third System forts were built of stone, as it had a better resistance to the larger artillery developed later in the period. The last forts in the system were primarily built of stone.
 
The CDSG has plans in 2022. You would have to join for insurance reasons, but it is an opportunity to see ALL the New Orleans forts! Go to cdsg.org for the details, or let me know and I'll be glad to give you the information. I'm really looking forward to it!

I'll think about it. I'm not much on costal fortifications but more of an inland river fort guy.
 
Excellent thread. Didn't know about this fort. Thanks so much for sharing.
It and its "partner" Fort St. Philip were the prime obstacles protecting New Orleans from attack by sea and up the Mississippi River. Built between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, they were already obsolete when Farragut simply bypassed them in April, 1862.

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It and its "partner" Fort St. Philip were the prime obstacles protecting New Orleans from attack by sea and up the Mississippi River. Built between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, they were already obsolete when Farragut simply bypassed them in April, 1862.

View attachment 389268
Bypassing them was anything but simple, and certainly did not open up the Mississippi River. Farragut hung chains over the sides of his ships for armor, he had a crew cut the obstacles free, and Porter bombarded the forts relentlessly with his camouflaged mortar boats. Since the fort was lower than the level of the river, he targeted the dike and let in the river water to flood the fort. This, of course, flooded the latrines and caused the defenders to walk around in knee-deep to waist-deep sewage water!
Farragut managed to pass the forts, with some losses, and reach the river upstream, but merchant or cargo ships could not manage to pass the forts. The Mississippi was still closed to Union transports. It wasn't until later when the Confederate defenders mutinied and surrendered the forts that the Mississippi was opened.
The "obsolete" myth has been pushed by a number of people, but the real obsolescence of these forts wasn't until the 1880s when steel cannon were developed. At that point, all masonry forts became obsolete in terms of their defensive capability. Even then, many were used long after that - even into the 21st Century!
 
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