Fort Ninety-Six
Fort Ninety-Six (1759-1775, 1780-1781) - A colonial fortification complex first established in 1759 by Governor William Henry Lyttleton in present day Greenwood County, South Carolina. Taken over by British forces and expanded in 1780, abandoned by the British in 1781.
Fort Ninety-Six History
The British returned in 1780 and established a military complex that came to be known as Fort Ninety-Six. This complex included a stockade around the whole town, an earthen Star Fort or Star Redoubt and a Stockade Fort guarding the town spring. Both the Star Fort and the Stockade Fort were connected to the stockaded town with covered ways.
The Star Fort was a 14' tall earthworks structure protecting the approach to the town stockade. The earthworks was in the shape of a eight sided star surrounded by a ditch. Within the Star Fort was a three cannon artillery battery, a powder magazine and a protective traverse.
The Stockade Fort also known as Fort Holmes was a stockaded structure with four bastions and two blockhouses built to protect the town water supply, a spring and stream running between the town stockade and the Stockade Fort.
Patriot forces under General Nathanael Green attacked and laid siege to this complex starting 22 May 1781 and by 17 Jun 1781 he had advanced a ditch system up to the Star Fort . A final assault on the Star Fort was mounted by the patriots but they were driven back with heavy losses. General Green abandoned the siege on the 19th of June and withdrew. The British commander realized that he could not hold the fort and he abandoned the complex destroying it as he departed.
Current Status
Ninety-Six National Historic Site, Greenwood County, South Carolina. Recreations of Revolutionary War fortifications and the remains of the original Star Fort.
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Location: National Historic Site, Greenwood County, South Carolina. Maps & Images Lat: 34.1447581 Long: -82.0198274 |
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 717-718
Links:
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Fort Ninety-Six Picture Gallery
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