Fort St. Philip

USA / Louisiana / Empire /
 fort, historic landmark
This fort was built by Governor Carondelet in 1793. It was an irregular brick work and was acquired in 1803 in poor repair. It was rebuilt as an inclosed work of masonry and wood, mounting twenty guns.
The fort was modernized under the Third System beginning in 1841.
As of 1851, it was intended to be armed with twenty-eight 24-pounder guns, thirteen 18-pounder guns, fifteen 12-pounder guns, three field pieces, fifty-five 8" heavy seacoast howizters, one 13" mortar, two 10" heavy mortars, two 8" light mortars and five coehorn mortars, for a total of 124 guns.
Fort St Philip took the brunt of Farragut's attack, as the ships remained on the North side of the Mississippi, and avoiding the gunfire of Fort Jackson. Fort St Philip took the brunt of the naval attack, and the old bombproof remains from the Civil War era, along with an 1898/World War I battery. Most of the Fort area has been flooded, due to a broken dam. The site is on private property, and if one ventures across the river, there are lots of Cottonmouth snakes at the site, as well as quicksand and lots of undetonated ammunition from the Naval barrage. Also the site of a battle during the War of 1812 fought from Jan 9 to the 17th of 1815.The second picture above is a post Katrina flood survey picture.
pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/66000380.pdf
March 23 1921 "Defenses of New Orleans, Fort ST.Philip" map www.cdsg.org/mapspdf/HDMR1921.pdf

Unlike Fort Jackson on the westbank, Fort St Philip is accessible only by boat.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_St._Philip
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   29°21'41"N   89°27'54"W

Comments

  • I found the fort n Mapquest directly across from Fort Jackson (northeast from this site)
  • too bad you cant see it
  • The larger of the outlines is the protectice levee built around the fort proper.It also provided a stand-off distance for any attack from the north.
This article was last modified 9 years ago