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FORTRESS STUDY GROUP
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Casemate 77 |
The 2005 hurricane season along the U S Gulf of Mexico caused serious damage to a number of coastal defense forts and other historic structures, among which was Fort Travis at Galveston, Texas. Galveston was protected by three forts; from south to north these were forts Crockett, San Jacinto and Travis. These names recalled events of the Texas War of Independence. Both Travis and Crockett died defending the Alamo and San Jacinto was the final battle of the war in which the Mexican Army was defeated and its commanding general Santa Anna captured. Little remains of Forts Crockett and San Jacinto but Fort Travis is preserved within a park setting, located on the southern end of Bolivar Peninsula and defending the east side of the channel leading into Galveston Bay. Today Fort Travis is reached by a three mile ferry ride from Galveston.
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Bolivar Peninsula was first fortified by the Republic of Texas in 1836 when Camp Travis was established to defend Galveston. The camp was abandoned after the war was won, but the area was again garrisoned by both Confederate and Federal troops who manned earthworks in the area during the Civil War. After the Civil War the earthworks were abandoned and the land reverted to private individuals. In 1898 with war against Spain looming, the site was purchased by the Federal government to build a modern coast defense fort; construction started that year and in 1899 the post was open as an active fort. As completed Fort Travis housed Battery Ernst, which mounted three 3-in guns, 1x3 (1900 -1946).
Battery Ernst.
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In 1900 the fort was devastated by the 'Galveston Hurricane' in which over 6000 people died and the City of Galveston was destroyed. To prevent a future storm surge from sweeping over the city, a 17ft seawall was built around Galveston and the fort. During this period an additional gun battery was built at Fort Travis; Battery Davis mounting two 8-in guns, 1x2, (1910 -1918), whose guns were removed during WWI for conversion into heavy artillery for use on the Western Front.
Following WWI, Congress made money available to upgrade the defense of Galveston and in 1922 Battery Kimble (of two 12-in guns) was built, 1x2, (1922-1943); these guns were moved to Fort Moultrie, Charleston, South Carolina, during WWII, when construction started on Battery #236 to house two 6-in guns, 1x2, but construction was terminated before the battery was completed.
Battery #236, pit for No 1 gun in foreground.
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Following WWII Fort Travis was declared surplus by the War Department and sold to a private company. In 1973 the undeveloped site was bought by Galveston County for use as a park. The County did minimum development to the fort limiting itself to providing camping and fishing areas. It was these auxiliary buildings which suffered moderate to severe damage during the 2005 hurricane season. Fort Travis Park is currently open to visitors and all four gun batteries can be viewed from the outside, but their entrances are all sealed up.
November 2005; follow up to hurricane Katrina impact:
Fort Pickens at Pensacola Beach, Florida, remains closed. Access to the fort is only by boat and at present only National Park employees are allowed on site. There are apparently a large number of health and safety issues that have to be addressed before visitors can return. The road that connected the fort to the Pensacola Beach Causeway will not be rebuilt.
Pensacola, Ft Barrancas and Water Battery. Image (c) 2006 DigitalGlobe, (c)2005 Google) |
It is thought that access to the fort in the future will be by tour boat. Some of the National Park Service documents located at the fort have been recovered and have been sent off for stabilization and restoration. Fort Morgan at Mobile, Alabama, remains closed and it is doubtful if it will reopen under state oversight. Cost of repairs is said to be beyond local and state resources. A bill is being drafted for introduction into the US Congress for the fort to be turned over to the National Park Service.
Fort Massachusetts, Gulfport, Mississippi remains closed to all visitors as does Ship Island. Indications are that funding to rebuild the infrastructure to support visitors to Ship Island is a decade or so off.
