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Fort Adams (3) (1798-1810) - A U.S. military post first established in 1798 by General James Wilkinson in present day Wilkinson County, Mississippi. Named after President John Adams. Abandoned in 1810.
History
Established on 5 Oct 1798 and built out in 1798 and 1789 as an earthworks fort with barracks and magazine. The post was built after the Spanish abandoned the area and it helped to define and defend the southern border with Spain. The nearby Cantonment Columbian Spring was established in 1807 to house troops assigned to the fort. Both the fort and the cantonment were abandoned in 1810.
Cuming visited the fort in 1808 and says (Tour to the West, Chapter 51, in Thwaites, Early Western Travels):
"Fort Adams or Wilkinsonburg is a poor little village of a dozen houses, most of them in decay, hemmed in between the heights and the river. The fort from which it derives its first name is situated on a bluff overhanging the river, at the extremity of the ridge of Loftus Heights. It is about one hundred feet above the ordinary level of the Mississippi, which is not more than three hundred feet wide here, so that the fort completely commands it, with several small brass canon (sic) and two small brass howitzers mounted en barbette. The fort which is faced with brick has only a level superfices (sic) large enough for one bastion, with a small barrack inside, the whole of which is commanded by a block-house a hundred and fifty feet higher, on the sharp peak of a very steep hill, which in time of war might serve as a lookout, as well as a post, as it commands a most extensive view over the surrounding wilderness of the forest, as well as the meanders of the river for several miles."
Current Status
On private property in Wilkinson County, Mississippi
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Location: On private property in the town of Fort Adams
in Wilkinson County, Mississippi.
Maps & Images
Lat: 31.08667 Long: -91.54806
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GPS Locations:
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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 441
- Tripod - Fort Adams
Links:
Visited: No
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