Blaasterz just keep having to remember that it was a different time in the early 1860s -- people had different sensibilities about archaeology, native peoples, ancient cultures, and the like.
Fort Pickering was established originally in 1799 as a fortified trading post on the site of a Chickashaw Indian village, with the support and cooperation of the Chickashaws. After the Chicksahaw Indians were removed on the Trail of Tears in 1832, the cultural significance of this place, to the white residents of Memphis who remained, diminished.
In 1860, Tennessee seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. Fort Pickering, which was in a state of extreme disrepair, was nevertheless located at a very strategic point on the Mississippi River.
After the fall of Mmephis in 1862, Federal forces dug into Fort Pickering's ancient Indian mound earthworks to create a powder magazine for their impressive array of artillery which protected the city from Confederate attacks.
By the end of the Civil War the Union army had turned Fort Pickering into a mile long fortress containing 10,000 soldiers manning many different kinds of cannon. During the Civil War, Fort Pickering was the strongest military installation on the Mississippi River.
Today, most of what used to comprise Fort Pickering is gone. All that is left are the ancient Indian mounds with the entrance into the mound/powder magazine built by the Federal soldiers.
For more on Fort Pickering see here: (
visit link)
"Fort Pickering was built as a strategic command post for the Union army during the Civil War, and stretched nearly 2 miles along the south Memphis bluffs from where DeSoto Park (Chicasaw Heritage Park) is located, all the way to Beale Street. It was outfitted with 55 guns and included structures needed to serve the large number of troops living in Memphis and those passing through. The Indian mounds were hollowed out and artillery was placed there, along with an ammunition bunker which was dug into the side of the mound. Buildings included a hospital, rail depot, water works and a saw mill. The fort was decommissioned and demolished in 1866.
n June of 1862, a fleet of Union gunboats quickly defeated the Confederate fleet in the Battle of Memphis. From then on, Memphis became an occupied city during the Civil War. As such, the first order of business for the Union army was the construction of a new Fort Pickering on the Memphis bluffs. It was a major fortification which included a number of structures needed to serve the large number of troops who would be passing through. However Fort Pickering defenses were never put to the test and the Union army held Memphis throughout the war. After Fort Pickering was demolished in 1866, all traces of the fort were removed and Memphis forgot about it - until 2007, when there was interest about the possibility of finding Civil War remnants still around. Trenches were excavated and archaeologists were able to identify two cisterns, brick foundation piers, and particularly, evidence of the defensive parapet and ditch. Further excavations found very few actual Civil War items. They had been thorough in the demolition of 1866. The items that were found were mostly evidence of an earlier residential area of a young Memphis."