New Orleans' Historical Destination: Fort Jackson

Celine Geeurickx/ Unsplash

NEW ORLEANS, LA- Fort Jackson is one of the forgotten places in New Orleans. Nevertheless, it has served in many capacities in its history, dating back to the Civil War era.

Situated 32 nautical miles from the Gulf of Mexico, Fort Jackson is roughly located 65 miles in a southeasterly direction from New Orleans in the Plaquemines Parish. It is officially located in Section 50 of Township 20 South, Range 30 East, Southeastern District of Louisiana, not pretty far from Plaquemines' historical town, Pointe à la Hache.

One unique characteristic of Fort Jackson is its walls were built 25 feet above the waterline of the wet ditch, or moat, in a regular star-shaped pentagon. The walls were constructed from red brick and were 20 feet thick, presumably deterrent from big naval guns.

The fort's foundations were reinforced by an 8-gun casemate on two curtains built with red and gray granite. There were a diagonal-shaped defensive barracks in the center of the fort, which was intended as a bomb-proof shelter accommodating 500 men.

The fort itself was built in 1822 at General Andrew Jackson's recommendation on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Its position, which opposites the east bank's existing Fort St. Philip, was to give better protection to the river's mouth from invading armies by naval invasion.

Nonetheless, it was mostly used by Confederate armies during the Civil War. After several days of battling Union troops, Confederate soldiers garrisoned at Fort Jackson staged a mutiny on April 28, 1862.

This mutiny allowed Union Navy's fleet, led by Admiral David Farragut, to win the battle and continue upriver to seize New Orleans, thus initiating the Siege of Port Hudson from May to June 1862.

Later it was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

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