|
 Fort Manhassett Posted by:  TeamBPL
N 29° 44.000 W 093° 52.470
15R E 415430 N 3289557
A Texas historical marker at the Sabine Pass Battleground State Historical Park
Waymark Code: WMNNN8
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/09/2015
Views: 5
This is the central marker of three Texas historical markers mounted in concrete at the Sabine Pass Battleground SHP. According to an article by W.T. Block ( link), who discovered a letter amongst a 128 volume compilation of official records regarding Confederate and Union armies, the existence of Fort Manhassett would never have been known had it not been for his discovery.
Marker Number: 10526
Marker Text:
(7.5 Miles West)
To protect Texas against Federal invasion during the Civil War, Confederate General John B. Magruder ordered the construction of a fort at this site on September 4, 1863, four days before the famous Confederate victory won by Dick Dowling and his small company against Union ships and gunboats at Sabine Pass (7 mi. NE). After the Federal retreat, the Confederate Coastal Defense program continued, since Federal blockading vessels still patrolled Gulf waters and the threat of more invasions was feared.
A storm on September 28 and 29, 1863 drove ashore a Federal ship, the "Manhasset", which was carrying 300 tons of coal. Confederate troops seized the ship along with its cargo.
Col. Valery Sulakowski, formerly of the Austrian Army, designed Fort Manhassett, whose name evidently was adapted from that of the captured ship. Major Getulius Kellersberger, a Swiss-born engineer who had settled in America some years earlier, oversaw the construction. By October 1863, five companies garrisoned the five redoubts of the new fort and manned its ten cannons. Fort Manhassett soldiers participated in the capture of two Union ironclad ships at Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana on May 6, 1864. (1991, 1996)
|
Visit Instructions:
Please include a picture in your log. You and your GPS receiver do not need to be in the picture. We encourage additional information about your visit (comments about the surrounding area, how you ended up near the marker, etc.) in the log.
|