Fort San Jacinto

Fort San Jacinto (1898-1947) - An Endicott Period Coastal Fort first established in 1898. Named Fort San Jacinto, 21 Apr 1899, in commemoration of the 63rd anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto. Abandoned in 1947.

Endicott Period (1890-1910)

Part of the Harbor Defense of Galveston.

Construction began on the four Endicott Period gun batteries in 1897 and the fort was first garrisoned on 20 Apr 1898 by Battery G, 1st U.S. Artillery under the command of Capt. Clermont L. Best. The hurricane of 1900 severely damaged the island and the fort and it was not restored until 1906. In 1911 the Fort was re-garrisoned and the four refurbished gun batteries were accepted for service by the Coast Artillery, all on 21 Aug 1911.

Fort San Jacinto Endicott Period Battery (edit list)

Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Battery Cost	Notes
Battery Mercer	8	12"	Mortar	1897-1899-1899-1900 1901-1906-1911-1943	$ 293,523	See Note 1
Battery Heileman	2	10"	Disappearing	1897-1898-1899-1900 1901-1906-1911-1943	$ 184,218	See Note 1 Destroyed
Battery Hogan	2	4.7"	Armstrong	1898-1899-1899-1900 1901-1906-1911-1917	$ 47,269	See Note 1 Part destroyed
Battery Croghan	2	3"	Masking Parapet	1899-1900-1900-1900 1901-1906-1911-1946	$ 32,989	See Note 1
Source: CDSG

Fort San Jacinto Plan

World War I (1917-1918)

In 1917 the guns from Battery Hogan were dismounted and prepared for shipment overseas. World War I ended before the guns were actually shipped to Europe and they were returned, only to be scrapped in the 1920 disarmament program. All the other batteries remained active during the war.

World War II (1941-1945)

Two new gun batteries were built on Fort San Jacinto during World War II. Battery 235 was a rapid fire six inch gun battery designed to defend against small, fast mine layers and destroyers. Battery AMTB - Galveston Seawall had a dual defense mission against fast motor torpedo boats and aircraft.

Battery Mercer was converted into a combined HECP-HDCP complex housing all of the personell and equipment needed to provide control over ships entering and leaving the harbor. A two story observation tower was built on the top of the complex for the Harbor HDCP function. This complex was formally accepted for service 18 Jul 1944 but it was in use before that date.

Fort San Jacinto World War II Battery (edit list)

Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Battery Cost	Notes
Battery 235	2	6"	Shielded Long Range Barbette	1942-1944-1944-1946	$ 310,091
Battery 155 - Fort San Jacinto	4	155mm	Mobile Panama on Mounts	1942-1944	$ ?
Battery AMTB - Galveston Seawall	4	90mm	Fixed Pedestal	1942-1943-1943-1946	$ 17,039
Source: CDSG

Current Status

Most of the batteries are in a bad state or are inaccessible. No period guns or carriages in place.

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Location: Eastern End of Galveston Island, Texas. Maps & Images Lat: 29.3334284 Long: -94.769429 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: '

Recent Blog Posts:

• Galveston Harbor Defenses

Sources:

• Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 777
• Gaines, William, The Seacoast Defenses of Galveston, Texas, The Coast Defense Journal, Vol 21, Issue 4, Nov 2007, page 4
• U.S.Army, Supplement to the Harbor Defense Project of Galveston, (HD-G-ANN-45), 15 Mar 1944, CDSG

Links:

• North American Forts - Galveston
• CDSG

Visited: 12 Nov 2009

Fort San Jacinto Picture Gallery

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