Fort Caswell
Fort Caswell (1826-1865) (1894-1926) (1941-1946) - Originally built as a masonry Third System Fort named for the first Governor of North Carolina, Richard Caswell. Used during the U.S. Civil War by the Confederates, outfitted with Endicott Period reinforced concrete batteries at the turn of the 19th century and used as a Navy Depot during World War II. Declared surplus in 1946.
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Fort Caswell History
Part of the Harbor Defense of Cape Fear River.
U.S. Civil War
Fort Caswell was captured by Confederate forces 8 Jan 1861 just before the start of the U.S. Civil War. The fort was heavily fortified and remained in Confederate hands until abandoned and blown up by it's own garrison on 17 Jan 1865 as Admiral David D. Porter's North Atlantic Squadron lay off the island. The citadel and the barracks structures were burned out and heavy damage done by the magazine explosion to the north and west walls. Admiral Ported documented the captured guns at Fort Caswell as follows: "ten 10-inch, two 9-inch, one Armstrong, four 32's, smooth, three 8-inch, one Parrot 20-pounder, three rifled field pieces, three guns buried - 29 guns".
Post U.S. Civil War
After the U.S. Civil War Fort Caswell was in caretaker status and remained that way until it was selected for reactivation as a part of the Endicott Board's recommendations for rebuilding coastal defenses. The consensus among the inspectors who visited the post in the 1870s and 1880s was that it had neither the armament or the quarters for a garrison.
Endicott Period
The Endicott Board recommended that Fort Caswell be armed with seven modern reinforced concrete coastal batteries. These batteries were built between 1895 and 1907. Two batteries (Battery Caswell and Battery Swift) were armed with a mix of large caliber and smaller caliber armament that apparently proved to be inadvisable and the small caliber, rapid fire guns were removed and placed in new separate batteries (Battery Shipp and Battery Madison (2)). Battery Caswell was built into the structure of Old Fort Caswell and, as a result, much of the old fort was destroyed including the outer perimeter, the citadel shell, the moat and the river facing walls and casemates.
| Battery Click on Battery links below |
No. | Caliber | Type Mount | Service Years | Battery Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Bagley | 8 | 12" | Mortar | 1898-1899-1903-1926 | $ 115,788 | 3 sets of mortars, 1 gun replaced 1903 |
| Battery Caswell | 2 | 12" | Barbette | 1898-1899-1899-1926 | $ 125,993 | |
| Battery Swift | 8 | 8" | Disappearing | 1896-1898-1898-1917 | $ 121,171 | |
| Battery Madison (2) | 2 | 6" | Disappearing | 1906-1907-1907-1917 | $ 44,972 | |
| Battery McDonough (1) | 1 | 5" | Balanced Pillar | 1901-1902-1903-1905 | $ ? | Gun to Battery Shipp |
| Battery Shipp | 1 1 |
5" 5" |
Balanced Pillar Balanced Pillar |
1905-1907-1907-1917 1898-1901-1901-1917 |
$ 21,500 | Gun from Battery McDonough (1) |
| Battery Madison (1) | 1 | 4.7" | Pedestal | 1898-1899-1899-1904 | $ 6,510 | Gun to Battery Backus, Fort Screven |
| Battery McKavett | 2 | 3" | Masking Pedestal | 1901-1902-1903-1920 | $ 14,489 | |
| Battery McDonough (2) | 2 | 3" | Pedestal | 1903-1904-1906-1924 | $ 15,450 | |
| Source: CDSG | ||||||
World War I
With the declaration of war in 1917, all six North Carolina National Guard companies that had trained at Fort Caswell were federalized and ordered to Fort Caswell. The activated troops were retrained at Fort Caswell and sent to the European front. Temporary barracks and tent complexes sprung up to house the federalized troops and the many new enlistees at Fort Caswell. Few of these temporary structures remain today.
Three of the seven active coastal gun batteries (Battery Swift, Battery Madison (2) and Battery Shipp) had their weapons dismounted for the war effort and shipped off to be modified for ground combat. None of the disarmed batteries was rearmed after the war even though all of the guns shipped to France were returned to the U.S. in 1919.
Caretaker Status
In 1924 Fort Caswell was placed in caretaker status and the final disarmament of the gun batteries began. By 1926 the remaining three batteries (Battery McDonough (2), Battery Caswell and Battery Bagley) were disarmed and the Fort was sold to private interests.
World War II
Fort Caswell was reacquired by the U.S. Government in 1941, at the beginning of World War II and became a U.S. Navy depot. At the end of the war, the Fort Was declared surplus and sold to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina in 1949.
Current Status
Purchased by the Baptist State Convention in 1949 who then established the North Carolina Baptist Assembly on the property.
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Location: Oak Island, North Carolina Maps & Images Lat: 33.8928968 Long: -78.0172634 |
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 611
Links:
Visited: 27 Jan 2010
Fort Caswell Picture Gallery
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