Fort James Jackson
Savannah, Georgia, USA

When Oglethorpe and his seasick band of brothers landed at what would become Savannah, he was met by the Tomochichi and Yamicraw Indians. I mention this only because I really like the word Yamicraw.

The spot at which Fort James Jackson would be built was identified as a strategic point during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), as it commanded an unusually deep part of the Savannah River called Five Fathom Hole, just a wee bit downstream of the city itself. Oceangoing ships frequently anchored at this "hole" until the tide came in, making it possible to proceed to the city's docks.

By 1778 it became necessary to build a defensive position to keep the British out of Savannah, which was the southernmost port of America's thirteen colonies. An earthen battery with the undistinguished name of Mud Fort was pattycaked into existence at Five Fathom Hole at the beginning of 1778, under the command of a Captain Thomas Lee, who immediately perished from malaria in February of 1778. Apparently Lee had been the only thing holding this battery together, because once he was gone it was abandoned, and the British fleet sailed sublimely past the deserted pile of mud, likely unaware of its existence, later that year. Savannah fell to the British on December 29, 1778.

Henry Dearborn (1751-1829), Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury, wrote that Savannah needed a regular enclosed work, with six heavy cannon. Work on those forts deemed necessary to defend Georgia and South Carolina was begun in 1808, under the direction of Major Alexander Macomb (1782-1841). Macomb would be the hero of the Battle of Plattsburgh (September 11, 1814) in the upcoming War of 1812 (1812-1815), but more importantly was the namesake of awesome starfort Fort Macomb, built in 1822 just outside New Orleans.

The Republican and Savannah Ledger first published the name of the fort of our current interest as Fort Jackson on January 4, 1809. "Leased slaves" were used for the grunt work of the fort's construction. The demonstrable presence of this group did not please Savannah's genteel residents, but they wouldn't dirty their feathery paws and make themselves a fort. You can't have it both ways, Savannah. But you sure can complain about it.

The Fort James Jackson that was completed in the summer of 1813 wasn't the masonry powerhouse that it is today: A wooden palisade protected the rear of the fort, which was primarily a stout, raised gun platform, two barrack buildings and a hot shot furnace. It was noted with some dismay that the fort's guns couldn't reach all the way across the river, falling at most 20 to 30 feet from the opposite shore.

Which didn't matter, because the British never came anywhere near Savannah during the war. More of a threat to the fort's garrison than Royal Marines was the environment. As an 1819 newspaper article put it, Fort Jackson (is) one of the most distempered spots on earth, in the midst of fogs and poisons of a putrid marsh. And a marsh of course also means mosquitoes-a-plenty. Desertions of troops serving at Fort James Jackson were common in the years after the war.

The Bernard Board noted that between Fort James Jackson and Tybee Tower, a martello tower built in 1815 on Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River, Fort Jackson would most definitely be the one deserving of further development. Repairs and some modernization were carried out at the fort in 1823, but by 1826 there were again concerns about its dilapidated state, plus men stationed there tended to become sick and die.

Work on Fort Pulaski began in 1829, and suddenly nobody had any interest in Fort James Jackson any longer. Except vandals! A local newspaper reported in 1833 that Fort Jackson's buildings had been burned. By vandals.

The newly-buildingless Fort Jackson was left to wither on the vine for 15 years, but by the time work on Fort Pulaski was being wrapped up in the 1840's, the thought that it might be nice if Savannah had a second line of defense had come into play. A new effort to whip Fort James Jackson back into shape progressed through the 1850's, with most of the work being done by Irish immigrants. It became necessary to stop work through the "fever season," which was generally June through November, but even with this precaution the death rate from varying wasting diseases was notable.

While the first shot fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 was supposedly lit off by Virginia firebrand and secession advocate Edmund Ruffin (1794-1865) (which I mention chiefly because I live just down the street from the dude's home), the last shot fired in that bombardment was just as supposedly lit off by a Savannah resident and member of the Republican Blues, a local military unit that had garrisoned Fort James Jackson for a time. The bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, officially began the US Civil War.

Around the time Union forces were capturing Hilton Head Island, Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) was assigned to oversee the defenses of South Carolina and Georgia. By November of 1862, Fort James Jackson was armed with one 32 pounder rifled navy gun, five 32 pounder navy guns and three 18 pounders. There was at least one battery ("Alligator Battery") on the Savannah River a little east of the fort, and the river had been littered with underwater obstacles two miles downstream. These "torpedoes, brick piers and iron-tipped obstructions" kept Union gunboats from approaching Fort James Jackson and/or Savannah.

Following the war, plans were made to upgrade Fort James Jackson, including strengthening its walls and mounting massive 15" guns. The city was much more interested in clearing the obstructions from the river, however, so Savannah could resume commercial activity. Some halfhearted work was initiated on the fort in the 1870's, but Congress pulled the plug on all fortification projects in 1877. Fort James Jackson was primarily used to store equipment used in the river-clearing effort.

There is of course another Fort Jackson, on the Mississippi south of New Orleans. Although Fort James Jackson beat Fort Jackson into existence by 14 years, New Orleans' fort was named after Andrew Jackson, whom American history remembers much better than James Jackson. Fearing massive, bowel-emptying confusion if there continued to be two Forts Jackson, Fort James Jackson was officially renamed Fort Oglethorpe in 1884.

A single Fort Keeper stayed at "Fort Oglethorpe" through the end of the 19th century, battling mosquitoes and drunken sailors. The fort was finally removed from US Army rolls in 1905. Its guns were removed, Keeper dismissed, and the fort was abandoned.

The Georgia Historical Commission built a road to Fort James Jackson, commenced archaeological endeavors and reconfigured its insides to house exhibits. The fort was open as a maritime museum until 1975, when budget cuts forced its closure. Happily, the Coastal Heritage Society took over and reopened the fort the following year.

Finally, Fort James Jackson was named a National Historical Landmark in 2000. It is Georgia's oldest standing brick structure, and one of only eight Second System fortifications still in existence today. and, I visited it in April of 2014! If you've gotten this far, won't you investigate Fort James Jackson in the Starforts I've Visited section?

2023 addendum: In the AMC-TV series Fear the Walking Dead, which aired from 2015 until 2023, there was, within the zombie apocalypse world that this series depicted, a safe haven known as PADRE. Our heroes fought and died to protect, claim, capture and seek out this mysterious location, which wasn't revealed until the very last episode. And somewhat unsurprisingly, Fort James Jackson was used as the location for PADRE. Because really, what would be a better place in which to survive during a zombie apocalypse, than a starfort?