Fort Pulaski

The damage can still be seen on the southeast angle which was totally breached during the 10-11 April 1862 bombardment of the Confederate held fort by Union gun batteries. The angle was breach and the powder magazine exposed, forcing the surrender of the fort. You can still see the shell holes and some actual shells. You can see the large repaired area and you totally understand why the Third System Forts were suddenly obsolete.

Fort Pulaski Southeastern Angle Damage

Fort Pulaski is a must see fort if you are in the Savannah area, it is well maintained, well interpreted and just a gorgeous example of a Third System fort. It does only have a single tier of casemates but you can see examples of all the classic fort features and they do have a good number of mounted and dismounted cannons. One of the more interesting features is the large demilune that protects the single sallyport entrance. This demilune evolved over several decades to become what it is today with earthworks magazines and batteries. The moat is a fine example of a restored to operation moat and it is a beautiful example.

The internal parade is surrounded by casemates replete with displays of equipment and mounted arms. On our visit we were treated to a musket firing demonstration along with a guided tour. No shortage of interesting things to see.

Fort Pulaski Battery Hambright

There is also a Endicott Period gun battery, Battery Hambright, to the north of the fort. This was a small two gun, 3″ rapid fire battery that appears to never have been armed.

Fort Worden Panorama from Artillery Hill Viewpoint

Puget Sound has some great coastal fortifications in absolutely beautiful settings. The jewels of the Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound are Fort Worden with it’s Artillery Hill, Fort Casey with it’s panoramic view of the straights of Juan De Fuca and Fort Flagler with it’s central view of the straights. Fort Casey is especially noteworthy because of the two mounted 10″ disappearing guns in Battery Worth and two 3″ guns mounted in Battery Trevor. You can see the #1 gun of Battery Worth in the masthead of this blog.

The current schedule for the conference includes Fort Worden, Fort Casey, Fort Flagler and the outlying posts at Fort Ebey, Fort Whitman and Camp Hayden. There is also a post conference tour to Victoria BC, Canada, to view the Canadian side of the Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound. The detailed schedule for the Canadian trip is not out yet but it will probably include Fort Rodd Hill as the show piece of the Canadian side with lots more to see in and around Victoria, BC. See the official website for Canadian lodging information

If you have an interest in Coastal Fortifications you should consider membership in this fine organization and sign up for the yearly conferences, they are a real learning experience. Be sure to check out their great website at CDSG.org.

See the Official CDSG Conference Website. For Conference related questions, contact Alfred Chiswell at AGChiswel@aol.com or Steven Kobylk sjkobylk@aol.com

John

Fort Taylor South Curtain

Visited 27 Dec 2009 - 8 Jan 2010 - Fort Zachary Taylor is a Third System fort, used during the U.S. Civil War, converted and expanded for Endicott Period batteries and further modified and expanded for World War II use. There were a total of ten Endicott batteries built on the Fort Taylor Reservation but only two were built inside the old fort itself. The old fort conversion for the two Endicott Period batteries in the 1890’s was particularly destructive because the top level of casemates was removed to reduce the profile of the fort down to the height of the Endicott Period batteries and the barracks were reduced to a single level.

Fort Taylor Battery Osceola

Of the two Endicott Period batteries inside the old fort, only parts of Battery Osceola are open to the public and access to the parapet level is limited to a small area above emplacement #1. Battery Adair is not open to the public at all and you cannot get a good view of the emplacements from any angle. I particularly wanted access to emplacement #2 to check out what should be a WWII Battery AMTB #5 mount but I couldn’t get a clear shot even with a telephoto lens.

U.S. Civil War Guns in Concrete Fill

The remaining Third System casemates and armament displays are great, they have some great Parrot rifles and Rodman cannons and restored 10 position latrines. A real high point is the partially uncovered Rodman cannons and Parrot rifles still in the fill used to fill the voids when Battery Osceola was built. The one story barracks look like they are being restored, but I saw no activity during my visits.

Fort Taylor Casemated Rodman Cannon

The real tragedy of Fort Taylor is the missed opportunity to preserve some really significant batteries outside the old Fort Taylor and to make them accessible to the public. Mortar Battery Seminole and WWII Battery 231 are now on the grounds of the Trueman Annex of NAS Key West and not open to the public.

Fort Taylor Battery Seminole Goats

Battery 232 is intact but being used by the airport as a storage area and not open to the public. Both the East and West Martello towers are in private hands and accessible for a fee, but the West tower has been repurposed as a garden exhibit by the Key West Garden Club. The East tower is operated as a combination museum and pop art gallery. The two AMTB #6 gun pads are still on the beach West of the West Martello Tower but they have been converted to gazebos. Six other batteries have been completely destroyed with no traces left. The old Key West Barracks is now a modern Navy housing area with only the grounds of the old cemetery to remind people of it’s historic past.

WWII Battery 232 in 1945

I made my way to the Monroe County Library, Florida History Section, in Key West to get more information on the batteries that no longer exist and to see if any photos existed of the WWII batteries. The Florida History guy is Tom Hambright and he knew exactly where to find what I wanted. We managed to find a 1945 aerial photo of Battery 232 fully armed with the BC/CRF tower in view and many other gems. While researching at the library, another patron happened to mention that he had movies of the Fort Taylor batteries actually being fired in the 1920’s. Tom now has the VHS copy of this film and will convert it to DVD. I hope to be able to show this at the CDSG meeting in April.  Many thanks to Tom for all his help.

John

Fort Crockett, Battery Laval on the Seawall

Fort Crockett was first on our list because it was closest to our hotel and in some ways the most visible post. Fort Crockett is right in town along the Galveston seawall and in some cases is part of the seawall. Fort Crockett was built as an Endicott Period fort with three Endicott Period batteries and one World War I battery. Of the Endicott Period batteries only Battery Laval is still visible, Battery Hampton and Battery Izard became part of the seawall and while you can see where they were, you cannot see any identifiable part of them.

Fort Crockett, Battery Hoskins Casemate #1

The most visible battery is the WWI battery, Battery Hoskins. This 12″ gun battery was casemated during WWII and the massive concrete casemates are still visible as a part of the San Luis Hotel and Conference Center. The #1 casemate now has a swimming pool on top of it and the #2 casemate is visible if you know where to look. Many of the post buildings remain, including barracks and officer quarters. Some buildings still house federal agencies, some have been re-purposed and most of the officer quarters are unoccupied and deteriorating.

Fort San Jacinto Battery Croghan

Our next stop was Fort San Jacinto which sits at the tip of Galveston Island and has been ravaged by man and hurricanes. Of the four Endicott Period batteries only Battery Croghan is readily accessible, two others can be seen from the seawall road but are half buried in dredged material, the third battery has been destroyed. The WWII Battery 235 is visible but half buried in dredged material. We did not go to the half buried batteries, not so much because they were buried but because of the mosquitos swarming the area. Even though we were completely covered with clothing and mosquito repellant the mosquitos covered us, turning our clothing black.

Fort Travis Battery 236

Our trip to Fort Travis had a similar result, it was late in the day and the mosquitoes seemed to grow even more aggressive. The two Endicott Period Batteries are accessible as is the WWII Battery 236. The WWI Battery Kimble is one of the very few open 12″ batteries of it’s kind that remained un-casemated during WWII. The light was fading so we quickly took pictures and retired to a more comfortable seafood restaurant for a great meal. It was a great trip.

John

Fort Bowie Site

The post was originally constructed in 1862 to protect the strategic pass against hostile Chiricahua Apache Indians led by Chochise and  Geronimo. The pass was originally the “most dangerous” stop along the Butterfield Stage route which operated between St. Louis and San Francisco from 1858 to 1861. During the U.S. Civil War two engagements with Hostile Apache Indians, the Battle of Apache Pass (1862) and the Bascom Affair (1861) caused the Army to establish Fort Bowie on 28 Jul 1862. The fort grew to be a modern army post with about 38 buildings by the time it became unnecessary and was abandoned in 1894. When the Fort was abandoned much of the movable property was removed by local residents and what remains today is adobe and rock ruins.

Fort Bowie Cavalry Barracks Ruins

The site is a National Historic Site staffed and administered by the National Park Service who maintains a field office and a visitor center at the site. Access to the site is by a 1.5 mile trail (one way) from an unmanned trail head. Getting to the trailhead involves travel along some twisting gravel roads. The easiest access is from the town of Bowie on I10 (12 miles) and you can also access it from the town of Wilcox also on I10 (30 Miles) but the road from Wilcox involves a long stretch of gravel road through the pass. We were not comfortable with leaving the car at the unmanned trailhead and opted for the handicapped access to the site. Our discomfort with the unmanned trailhead came from the remoteness and the warning signs regarding UDA’s (UnDocumented Aliens).

Fort Bowie On Site Visitor Center

Once at the site we were treated to a grand view of the fort ruins. The setting is beautiful and enough of the fort remains to give you a sense of what it was. It also helps that the post flag pole has been restored and flies the U.S flag. The Visitor Center is large and contains a lot of information about the post. The ranger was very knowledgeable and gave me some great photo location tips. The site brochure is one of the best I have seen with a large depiction of the fort in the 1890’s as viewed from the overlook hill behind the fort. You can climb to the crest of the overlook hill with the brochure in hand and visualize all of the remains below.

I took many photos and you can see some of them on the Fort Bowie page at FortWiki.com.

Original Fort Boise Marker

The first Fort Boise was built in 1834 along the Snake River by Thomas McKay as a fur trading post. It later became a part of the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading system. It was a major supply stop on the main route of the Oregon Trail but it only lasted until 1854-55 when Indian attacks and a major flood forced it to close. Today, all that remains is a marker along the east bank of the Snake River. The marker is kind of unique because it is capped with a huge beaver head. Getting to this location is a challenge because the marker sits within the Fort Boise Wildlife Management Area (WMA) along the Old Fort Boise Road. Old Fort Boise Road enters the Wildlife Management Area from Idaho Highway 20 and turns into a gravel road as it enters the WMA. The signage at the entry point seems to prohibit vehicle entry but it does not, the signage actually prohibits vehicles from straying off the gravel road. You follow the gravel road past two parking areas and the marker is located on the left of a circular pull out. Great view of the Snake River and you can imagine the wagon trains crossing here into Oregon.

Fort Boise Replica in Parma, Idaho

To get a view of what the Fort actually looked like you just need to travel 5 miles south on Hwy 20 to the town of Parma, Idaho. In Parma there is a replica of the original fort in Fort Boise Park. The replica has pretty restrictive hours and none at all in the off season. Check this website for the current hours. I was not able to get inside the replica on this visit. We did have a great lunch at “Boy’s Better Burgers” by the park.

Fort Boise Main Gate

The second Fort Boise is located in the City of Boise and was established by the U.S. Army and Major Pinkney Lugenbeel in 1863. The new fort was also major stop along the route of the Oregon Trail. The fort remains are hard to find because the post was divided up among several owners after it closed in 1913. There are several of the original 1863 buildings still to be found on the grounds of the VA Hospital and on the hill just behind it. Many other later period buildings are still there, as is the main gate to the Fort.

It took us a full day to check out all three locations and we could have spent more time at the last Fort Boise hunting down the old fort buildings.

Breech End View of 6" Gun Replica

Jack Buckmeir told me that he has had the gun apart and back together a half a dozen times since last fall and that his next move is to mount the retraction gears and cable drums.  The gun looks great right now and it’s only on close inspection that you can see how much work remains to be done.  Jack listed the things that needed to be finished, a retraction motor, the recoil mechanism, the traversing mechanism and the counterweight mechanism, all hard stuff.  All of this involves taking the gun apart and putting it back together many more times in the coming months and the good weather will be gone soon.

Battery Pratt Gun & Carriage Side View

I’ve included a picture of the original gun and carriage so you can see how close Jack’s replica is (click on the thumbnails to see the full picture), it should look just like the original.  If you get down and inside the carriage you can see where the work will be done.

Underside of the Gun and Carriage

Battery Pratt Original Gun 1943

We also had a chance to look at the scale model of the Battery Russell 10″ gun and to see it operate in the Fort Stevens State Park Military Museum.

It really works well and I took a short video to show it off a bit. It takes a quarter to operate the gun and that keeps the number of cycles down and produces a bit of income for the improvements.  Jack says that this is first version and that he plans to beef up the display and the mechanism.  The display will expand to show a full 1/6th scale gun crew and have Plexiglas around the model. A faster motor to speed up the display a bit is also in the plan.

Astoria Column

Fort Stevens is always a great place to visit, always something going on and they do great guided tours, don’t miss the Battery Mishler guided tour (guided only) and take a really heavy duty flashlight with you (no wimpy led models). See my earlier post on Battery Mishler.

While you are in the area don’t miss the Astoria Column, the observation platform has just reopened and the view of mouth of the Columbia is spectacular.  The Astoria Column sits atop Coxcomb Hill at an altitude of 600 feet so you can see everything, a full 360 degree view.  You do have to walk up a spiral staircase (164 steps) to get to the top but there are several landings where you can rest.

Columbia River View from Astoria Column

California Military Museum

The museum is located in Old Town Sacramento amongst lots of period buildings and wooden sidewalks. I had a devil of a time with my GPS, she kept trying to take me over the Sacramento River Bridge and the turn for Old Town is just before you cross it. Once in Old Town, the Museum is easy to find with a big sign and U.S. and California flags.

California Military Museum Exhibits

Inside the museum, I was greeted by a very friendly and knowledgeable volunteer who collects the entrance fee (free for those with Mil ID cards) and gives you the overview. He explained that there were three floors with exhibits and that one of them, the basement, was also a research library and archive. I did the tour of the museum exhibits and was very impressed, lots of great artifacts and excellent interpretation but the archive really caught my eye.

Dan Sebby, Director

Upstairs I asked after Dan Sebbey, whose name I remembered from the CDSG Forum, just to introduce myself. Dan greeted me warmly and ended up giving me a great tour of the archive and especially the Coastal Fortification resources. I was out of time for that day so I resolved to return the next day and check out the Archive.

I still had limited time the next day but I wanted to spend a couple of hours just to determine what the archive held and how it might help my research. I started with a file cabinet that held a coastal fortification collection and that is as far as I got, there was so much good info in that file cabinet that the time got away from me. Clearly, it would take a lot more time than I had to even understand the scope of the collections. I’ll have to go back on another trip.

Museum Archives

The Museum is operated for the California State Military Department by the California State Military Museum Foundation, an IRS Code 501c(3) non-profit public benefit corporation, and supported by the California Center for Military History. The museum is also part of the United States Army Museum System .

The Museum has some great programs for people interested in historic things military in California, the email newsletter “Flash Traffic” is really well done and full of good info. You can subscribe here. There are also two book signings next month on Saturday the 17th of October, 2009.

The museum has a FaceBook page that you can become a fan of and get instant updates, just search for “California Military Museum” in FaceBook and click the “Become a Fan” button. I’m gad to see that the museum understands the raw power of Social Media, if they would just get a Twitter account and start up a Wiki…

Great facility and great folks!

View from Battery Spencer on the Marin Headlands

When you get to Conzelman Road follow it until you get to Battery 129, this was a 16″ gun battery on Fort Barry that was built during World War II but never actually armed. You can spend an hour here easy. Go all the way through both tunnels until you reach the gun pits and make sure you climb up to the top of the battery.

Continue to follow Conzelman Road even though it narrows and becomes very twisty until you reach Battery Rathbone-McIndoe and then on to Battery Wallace. Battery Wallace was a 12″ casemated gun battery built during World War I.

Battery 129 Gun Pit

You should go through both entrances to the gun pits. If you want some details about the batteries in book form, I suggest “Harbor Defenses of San Francisco - A Field Guide 1890-1950″ by Matt Kent, available online from Blurb.com. It is a bit pricey, $65, but worth every penny.

Past Battery Wallace the road gets better and becomes two way and you have choices. I would park close to Mortar Battery Alexander, see it first, and then go on foot up and to the right to get to batteries Smith-Guthrie and on to Battery O’Rorke hit Battery Mendell as you leave. The mine casemate and many fire control/observation stations are in this area so don’t miss them. You are looking at about two hours to see it all.

Inside a Nike Misssile

Battery Townsley Gun Emplacement

Head out via the Bunker Road and don’t miss the Nike missile site SF-88L, it has a great display of Nike equipment and some of it actually works. The Visitor Center is along this same route and you should stop there also. As you continue down Bunker Road you can choose to go left onto Fort Cronkhite and up to Battery Townsley or you can head back to U.S. 101. If you have time you should see Battery Townsley, it is a bit of a climb but well worth it.

View from Battery Kirby

On your way back, if you have time, you should stop at Battery Spencer and hike down to Battery Wagner and Battery Kirby. Battery Kirby is a great picture spot. Fort Baker is also well worth seeing and it has a couple of batteries on the east side of the bridge.

A note of caution, the weather is a great variable here and the wind is always blowing, Matt tells me that the best time of year is September-October and I found that it was not advisable to start any earlier than 11am, lots of fog when I was there in the last half of August.

Fort Umpqua Bagpiper

Visited 6 Sep 2009 - In celebration of the 173rd birthday of the HBC Fort Umpqua Jerry Winterbotham, author of several books on Fort Umpqua, cut a symbolic rope and opened the gates to the reconstructed fort. The cutting of the rope marked the completion of the outer stockage walls and the two corner bastions. A large gathering of Fort Umpqua supporters looked on as Jerry cut the rope and the new gates were swung open to reveal a lone bagpiper. The rope cutting was preceded by remarks from Carol Beckley, Don Guentner, Merrel Smith and Keith Carr, all instrumental in the great success of the reconstruction of Fort Umpqua.

Jerry Cutting the Rope to Open the Gates

Following the gate opening ceremony a raffle was held for an elaborate quilt depicting pioneer quilting squares placed on a huge map of the early Oregon trails. Robin, the quilt raffle winner, donated the quilt to the new library in exchange for a replacement offered by Joanne Smith, the fort’s chief fund raiser. A flutter of butterflies was released at the gate and proceeded to inaugurate the passageway, except for a couple that didn’t want to to leave. A round of musket fire by period reenactors livened up the festivities and the birthday cake was served. Copies of Jerry’s book, “Hudson’s Bay Fort at Elkton, Oregon: A short History” were offered for sale and Jerry generously signed them.

The Quilt Winner Was Robin

Tepee Pitched by the Northeast Bastion

This was a great way to mark what has been a tremendous community effort to reach this milestone. Lots of work remains to complete the three interior structures but this group of dedicated volunteers has done a great job getting to this important milestone. This fort will be a great historical asset to Elkton and to the State of Oregon, shedding light on an almost forgotten era of our history.

The trip down to Elkton was marked by some rain showers but, as always, it is a beautiful drive and takes only about two hours from Salem. If you haven’t yet seen the reconstructed Fort Umpqua, it is ready for visitors.