Western Kentucky

Last Update: 12/FEBRUARY/2018

Compiled by Pete Payette - Š2018 American Forts Network

Fort Duffield (Park and Historic Site)
(1861 - 1862), West Point FORT WIKI
A Union fort located on Pearman Hill at US 31W and Salt River Drive, near the modern-day Fort Knox Army Reservation. Sporadically used after 1862, the wooden quarters were burned down by Confederates in 1864. The site was once a part of the modern military reservation, but was transferred to the city in 1978. This is the state's largest and probably best preserved Civil War earthwork fort.

Camp Holman (at Kulmer Beach ?) and Camp Hazard were also nearby.

Camp Young
(1903), West Point
A Regular Army and National Guard regional summer training camp and maneuver area.

Fort Knox (U.S. Military Reservation)
(1918 - present), Fort Knox FORT WIKI
An Army field artillery training encampment, originally named Camp Knox (2). The post was de-activated in 1921, and was used for National Guard, Army Reserve, and Civilian Military Training Corps (CMTC) activities until 1932. Designated Camp Knox National Forest from 1925 to 1928. Became a permanent post in 1932 and was renamed. Became an Army Armored Force, or Mechanized Cavalry, training area at that time also. The Armored Force Headquarters and Armored Force School opened in 1940. The U.S. Treasury Department's Gold Bullion Depository was established on post in 1936 (no public admittance). A German and Italian POW camp was established here in 1944-46. In 2011 the Armor Force Center and School was relocated to Fort Benning, Georgia. The new tenant commands here now include the Human Resources Command, Army Accessions Command, and Cadet Command to join Recruiting Command of the Human Resource Center of Excellence. Additional units relocating to Fort Knox include the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division; Army Reserve Readiness Training Center; 100th Division Headquarters; and the 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). Located at Keyes Park is the General George Patton Museum of Leadership. See also Military Yearbook Project by Richard Morgan || PHOTOS from 2000 by Milton McKinney

Fort Jones
(1862 - 1865), near Booth
A Union stockade fort protecting the railroad bridge over the Rolling Fork River. Originally named Fort McAlester until 1863. Attacked by Confederates in February 1865. No remains.

Fort Boyle
(1862 - 1865), near Colesburg
A Union stockade and earthwork fort located at the railroad bridge over Big Run, about one mile south of town. Also known as Camp Lucy. Earthworks still extant on private property.

Fort Sands
(1862 - 1865), near Tunnel Hill
A Union stockade and earthwork fort located at the railroad bridge over Sulphur Fork. Attacked by Confederates in December 1862. Earthworks still extant on private property. Located between Fort Boyle and Tunnel Hill.

Camp Jo Daviess
(1863), Tunnel Hill
A Union camp located at the Samuel Bush home near the railroad.

Camp Washington
(1861), Elizabethtown
A temporary Union camp located one mile north of town along the railroad at the home of Governor John LaRue Helm.

Camp Haycraft
(1863 - 1865), Elizabethtown
A Union camp located on the southeast side of town at the site of Haycraft's Station.

Fort Allen
(Rolling Fork Historic Preservation Association)
(1862 - 1864), New Haven
A Union stockade (with earthworks ?) that protected the old railroad bridge across the Rolling Fork River.

Nearby was Union Camp Pope (undetermined location).

Camp Wickliffe
(1861 - 1862), near Athertonville
A Union winter camp and supply depot, located northeast of Hodgenville.

Camp Nevin (1)
(1861 - 1862), near Nolin
A temporary Union camp located nine miles south of Elizabethtown, at Red Mills. The Confederates bypassed the camp in the December 1862 raid. The troops were then relocated south to Bacon Creek.

Nearby was the Nolin Stockade protecting the Nolin River railroad bridge. Attacked by Confederates in December 1862.

Bacon Creek Stockade
(1861 - 1862), near Bonnieville
A Union stockade protecting the railroad bridge over Bacon Creek. Attacked by Confederates in December 1862.

Cumberland River Forts
(1863 - 1864), near Burnside
Camp Burnside (1), a major Union fortified encampment for the 1863 Tennessee Campaign, was located at Point Isabel. Also known as Fort Burnside (2) by 1864. The town was later renamed Burnside. The original townsite is now submerged after Wolf Creek Dam was completed on the Cumberland River in 1950.
Nearby was Fort Sayles (1864) (four guns), connected by a 6500-foot entrenchment to the Cumberland River. Fort Reno (1864) (four guns) was also nearby. Fort Wallace was planned to be built nearby in 1864, but was never completed.
Union Camp Clio (1861) was built on the south-side of the Cumberland River at Bronston, soon relocated to the north-side near Waitsboro, renamed Camp Hoskins. After it was attacked in force, the camp was moved again to higher ground (possibly closer to Somerset), renamed Camp Goggin. Camp Wolford (1861) was also in the vicinity.

Camp Owens
(1860's), Pulaski County
A Union camp. Undetermined location.

Fort Breckinridge
(1864), Pulaski County
A CSA fort. Undetermined location.

Mill Springs Camp
(1861 - 1862), near Mill Springs
A Confederate encampment located along both sides of the Cumberland River. The main force was established on the south bank in Mill Springs in November 1861, but was moved to the north bank at Beech Grove in December. CSA earthworks on the north bank of the river still exist. May have been known as Camp Beech Grove. Stone monument erected here in 1954. CSA General Felix Zollicoffer made his headquarters in the Lanier House adjacent to the mill on the south bank. The mill (1839) was restored in the late 1970's by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In January 1862 the Union advanced to Nancy (formerly Logan's Crossroads). The Confederates attacked but were repulsed (Battle of Logan's Crossroads). This was the first major battle of the West. The Mill Springs National Cemetery (Union) is located in Nancy. One mile from there is the Zollicoffer Park Cemetery (CSA).

Munfordville Forts
(Battle for the Bridge Historic Preserve)
(1861 - 1865), Munfordville
Remnants of Union earthworks and redoubts still exist. A CSA camp was located nearby in Woodsonville in early 1861. Union Camp (Fort) Wood was first established here in late 1861 on the north-side of town, with a three-gun battery on Wood's Hill. After the Confederates briefly occupied the town in September 1862, the Union built Fort Craig on the site of an earlier CSA fort in Woodsonville, and a log Stockade at the railroad bridge, as well as Forts Terrill and Willich, along with Batteries Simons and McConnell (originally named Batteries Hale and Slayton), on the north-side of the river, connected by infantry parapets and rifle pits. The Union commander in 1864 proposed new names for Fort Terrill and Batteries Simons and McConnell (Fort Colburn, Battery Jones, Battery DeHart), but they were not approved. Those earthworks on the north-side of the Green River are currently on private property. Fort Craig is accessible, adjacent to the Green River Church and Cemetery.

Camp Ward
(1860's), Greensburg
A Union training camp.

Long Hunter Camp
(1771), Mt. Gilead
A winter hunting camp for "long hunters" from Virginia and North Carolina under Col. James Knox. Also known as Camp Knox (1). Camp was visited by Daniel and Squire Boone. Marker at Long Hunter Camp Road (KY 767) and Skinhouse Branch Drive (KY 2188).

Camp Boyle
(1861), Columbia
A temporary Union camp.

Camp Northwest
(1861), Huntersville
A Confederate training camp in Clinton County.

Camp Joe Underwood
(1861), Barren County
A Union training camp. Attacked by Confederates in October 1861. Located southwest of Glasgow.

Fort Williams
(1863 - 1865), Glasgow
A Union fort that has been restored (1980's) in the Glasgow Municipal Cemetery at 303 Leslie Ave.. It was originally named Fort Hobson. Attacked by CSA troops in October 1863. (NOTE: not to be confused with Fort William in St. Matthews.)

Camp Anderson (1)
(1861), Flippin
A temporary Union training camp.

Civil War Defenses of Bowling Green
(Civil War Discovery Trail)
(1861 - 1865), Bowling Green
Fort Albert Sidney Johnston, a CSA rock fort located on Vinegar (or Copley) Hill (aka Bald Bluff), now Western Kentucky University campus. Rebuilt and renamed Fort Lytle by the Union after the city was captured in 1862. Remains were partially destroyed in 1910, 1927 and 1937 when various WKU buildings (such as Cherry Hall) were constructed. Former trenches are now campus walkways along Hilltop Drive. A 75-foot portion of trenchworks is still extant near the Kentucky Building.
Fort C. F. Smith, originally an unnamed CSA breastwork, rebuilt and named by the Union in 1862. Located on Reservoir (College) Hill, now a city park adjacent to Bowling Green-Warren County Hospital.
Fort Webb, originally a CSA work located off Beech Bend Road next to the Bowling Green Country Club, on Webb's Hill. Now a city park.
Fort Baker (2) (1862 - 1865), originally a CSA work located on Baker's Hill.
Fort Underwood, the CSA headquarters of the city, located on Underwood Hill.
Fort Grider (1862 - 1865), a CSA fort located on Grider's Hill.
Batteries were also located on Hobson Hill and Hines' Bluff. A marker for a CSA fort is located at 2nd and High Streets.
A stockaded redoubt was located at the railroad bridge into town on the south-side of the Big Barren River.

Camp Burnham (1861), a CSA camp one mile south of the town.
Camp Burgess (1862), a Union camp on the south-side of Vinegar Hill.

Bowling Green was to be the divided state's Confederate capital. The 13th star on the Confederate flag represented Kentucky. Of interest in town at 1100 West Main Street is Riverview at Hobson Grove, an antebellum mansion used by Confederates for munitions storage. Admission fee.

Camp Allen
(1861 - 1862), near Bowling Green
A CSA camp located five miles south of town. Abandoned when the Union took the city.

Camp Hopkinsville
(Trail of Tears Commemorative Park)
(1838 - 1839), Hopkinsville
Site of major winter encampment during the Cherokee Removals, located on the south bank of the South Fork Little River on US 41. Graves of Chiefs Whitepath and Fly Smith are here. Heritage Center has displays and artifacts. Admission fee.

Camp Joe Anderson (2)
(1860's), Christian County
A Union camp. Undetermined location.

Henderson Earthworks
(1864), Henderson
Newly arrived Union Negro troops began to erect defenses around the town, but were transferred soon after to Owensboro. Marker at Audubon Mill Park.

Camp Breckinridge
(Camp Breckinridge Museum and Arts Center)
(1942 - 1963), Morganfield
A WWII infantry training area and German/Italian POW camp. Became a National Guard training area after the Korean War. The former NCO Club has been restored, and now houses the Union County Historical Society/Museum and the Union County Arts Council. Located at 1116 North Village Road. Admission fee. Other original buildings are still in use by the Earle Clements Job Corps Training Center (no public access).
* This entry is listed only for historical interest. *

Fort Bluff
(unknown dates), near Flat Rock, Caldwell County
A rock wall located between two natural stone ledges, near a "Fort Spring", supposedly built by an ancient Native American culture before the Mound Builders period.

Mantle Rock
(Trail of Tears National Historic Trail)
(1838), near Carrsville
Cave-like rock formation was landmark during the Cherokee Removals. Located southwest of town on KY 133, west of Joy.

Fort Smith
(1861 - 1865), Smithland
Actually a double Union fort where the Cumberland River meets the Ohio River. The preserved earthworks of the smaller fort (Fort Star) (one gun) are located in the Smithland Cemetery behind Livingston Central High School. A second, larger Union fort (Fort Wright (1) ?) (two guns) was once located where the senior citizens' home now stands. See also Battlefield Wanderings by "Shiloh Nick"

Civil War Defenses of Paducah
(1861 - 1864), Paducah
Union Fort Anderson was a seven-gun enclosed work at the three-story brick U.S. Marine Hospital. Attacked and destroyed by CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest in March 1864. A marker is on Trimble Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets.
Surrounding the town were Batteries 1 - 6 (one or two guns each) in a west-east line, with a palisade line between Battery 5 and Battery 6. A one-gun floating battery was located in the river offshore.

Camp Secession
(1861), near Wickliffe
A Confederate camp located at Ellicott's Mills, north of town.

Wickliffe Mounds (State Historic Site)
(1100 - 1350), Wickliffe
Palisaded village of the Mississippian Culture. Several mounds still extant. Excavated sites are accessible to the public, with interpretive exhibits.

Fort Holt
(1861 - 1864), Wickliffe
A Union fort that protected the military depot at Cairo, Illinois. The actual site has been washed away by the Ohio River.

Fort Jefferson ?
(1780 - 1781, 1804 - unknown, 1861), near Wickliffe
A VA state militia (George Rogers Clark's "Illinois Regiment") stockade fort was built about five miles below the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, about two miles south of the present-day town and just north of Mayfield Creek. The 100-feet square fort consisted of ten-foot high earthen walls with ten-foot timber pickets atop, surrounded by a ten-foot deep dry ditch. It had two 20-foot square covered bastions or blockhouses on opposite corners, a well, powder magazine, blacksmith shop, three storehouses, a guardhouse, commandant's house, and eight soldier huts. At least one cannon (a French six-pounder field piece) came from Fort de Chartres in 1778, and was found in the 1860's. A detached blockhouse was located on a hill overlooking the fort from the north. The post suffered through a five-day Chickasaw seige in August 1780. It was later abandoned due to acute supply shortages. The civilian community of Clarksville, with two additional log blockhouses for defense, was located just to the east of the fort. The presumed fort site is located just to the west of the entrance to the modern-day Phoenix Paper Mill on US 51. The 95-foot high Fort Jefferson Memorial Cross (built 2000), and several state historical markers, are located at the top of the bluff (Fort Jefferson Hill), about one mile north of the presumed actual site of the fort.

The British may have had a post here or in the nearby vicinity in the mid 1760's, or at least proposed one. The U.S. Army briefly garrisoned a post here in 1804, probably also named Fort Jefferson, on or near the site of the earlier VA militia fort. Site was also briefly used by Union troops in the Civil War. The town of Fort Jefferson existed from 1858 to 1892.

Fort Beauregard
(1861 - 1864), near Columbus
The northern anchor of the CSA works on the "Iron Banks". Abandoned when the Union took the city in February 1862.

Fort DeRussy
(Columbus-Belmont State Park)
(1861 - 1864), Columbus
Confederates fortified the bluff called "Iron Banks" with 140 guns arranged at four different elevations. They placed a massive chain and anchor across the river to prevent Union gunboats from advancing downriver. The fort was evacuated after the fall of Forts Donelson and Henry in Tennessee in February 1862. It was renamed Fort Halleck (1) after the Union captured it. The earthwork redoubt has been restored. Additional earthworks are located along the hiking trail to Arrowhead Point. The site was used again during World War I as an Army training camp. Admission fee. See also The Chain Across the Mississippi River by Bruce Rosenberger
The town was surrounded by four numbered earthwork redoubts, as well as a line of rifle pits and magazines to the west on high ground.

Somewhere in the vicinity was Camp Moore (1) (1860's) (USA or CSA ?) (undetermined location).

Fort Bayou du Chien Mounds
(unknown dates), Hickman
Ancient mounds built by the Mound Builders.

O'Byam's Fort
(unknown dates), near Hickman
Ancient mounds on Indian Hill, west of town at French Point on Fish Pond Road, built by the Mound Builders.

Mayfield Forts
(1864 - 1865), Mayfield
Two Union forts (or field fortifications) were here, one was razed in 1865. A monument is here for nearby CSA Camp Beauregard (1861), located near Water Valley, that was captured by the Union in January 1862.

Fort Heiman
(Fort Donelson National Battlefield)
(1862, 1864), near New Concord
A CSA fort that was abandoned before the fall of Fort Henry (February 1862), and then briefly occupied by Union troops. It was re-occupied by CSA troops during General Forrest's 1864 raids. Site became flooded over by the creation of Kentucky Lake. Some outer earthworks are still extant. The site was transferred to the National Park Service in 2006 to be included in the Fort Donelson National Battlefield. Located across the river from Fort Henry, TN. See also The Civil War Picket by Phil Gast

Early Pioneer Stations and Forts

Christian County:
James Davis' Blockhouse (2) (1782), northeastern section of the county (undetermined).
James Robinson's Station (1788), undetermined location.

Logan County:
Cook's Station (1) (1790), Russellville.
James Maulding's Station (1780), located on the Red River near Mortimer Station, about ten miles south of Russellville. Temporarily abandoned in 1782.
Kilgore's Station (1782), near Adairville. Attacked and destroyed by Indians in 1782.
James Dromgoole's Station (1788), Adairville. Marker on 1st Street. The settlement was renamed in 1818.
Alston's Station (1785), on the Red River.
Davis' Station (2) (date ?), undetermined location, possibly in Warren County.

Warren County:
Andrew McFadin's Station (1785), about four miles east of Bowling Green on the north-side of the Barren River opposite Drake's Creek, at the crossing of the old Cumberland Trace. Also spelled McFadden. Attacked by Indians in April 1786. Marker at Cumberland Trace Elementary School.

McLean County:
Fort Vienna (1795), Calhoun. A settlers' blockhouse built by Solomon Rhoades. Also called Vienna Station in one source. First settled in 1788, the town was originally named Rhoadesville.
Pond Station (1790), about four miles southwest of Calhoun. Built by James Inman.

Ohio County:
Col. Joseph Barnett's Station (1790), two miles east of Hartford on Barnett's Station Road. It was attacked in April 1790.
Hartford Station (1785), Hartford. First settled in 1782. Marker on US 231 at the Rough River bridge. Old Fort Hartford, a reproduction 100 x 150 feet log stockade with an original period 1840 log cabin, is located at Ohio County Park and RV Campground east of town on KY 69.

Grayson County:
Benham (Bonum) Shaw's Station (1780), Leitchfield, on Shaw's Station Road on the headwaters of Beaver Dam Creek, east of town. State marker at site. Shaw first settled near Elizabethtown in 1779.

Breckinridge County:
Capt. William Hardin's Fort (Station) (1) (1780 ?), Hardinsburg. Garrisoned by the KY state militia in 1791 with 12 men. One source locates the post further north on the west-side of Hardin's Creek at Sinking Creek.

Hardin County:
John Severns' Station (1780) (various spellings), Elizabethtown. The settlement was originally named Severns Valley (1779).
Col. Andrew Haynes' Station (1780), Elizabethtown, marker located at 112 West Poplar Street at Severns Valley Baptist Church. Town was renamed in 1797 after Andrew's wife.
Samuel Haycraft Sr.'s Station (1780), Elizabethtown, southeast side of town.
Capt. Thomas Helm's Station (1779), Elizabethtown.
Jacob Van Meter Sr.'s Fort (1790), one-half mile west of Elizabethtown on Valley Creek.
Post at Severns Valley (1791), a KY state militia garrison with 10 men, somewhere in the immediate Elizabethtown area, possibly at one of the already existing known fort sites.

Larue County:
Philip Phillips' Fort (1780 - 1786), north-side of Nolin Creek (North Fork Nolin River), about one and one-half miles north of Hodgenville. State marker (2007) located at North Lincoln Blvd. (KY 210) and Phillips Lane (County Route 2217), about one-half mile west of actual site. The town was established in 1818.

Hart County:
Craig's Station (2) (1790 ?), at the Little Barren and Green Rivers, near Monroe.

Green County:
Pittman's Station (1780), near Greensburg at the Green River crossing of the old Cumberland Trace. Also known as Vance's Station.
Glover's Station (Fort) (1780), on the Green River near Greensburg.
Skaggs' Station (1781), somewhere on Big Brush Creek, possibly near Lobb.

Taylor County:
Gray's Station (1790), on the old Columbia Road at the Green River crossing, south of Burdick.

Adair County:
Col. William Casey's Station (2) (1791), on Russell Creek west of Columbia. This may have been where the KY state militia had a 15-man garrison in 1791, known as Post at Russell's Creek.

Wayne County:
Benjamin Price's Station (date ?), Monticello.

Unknown locations:
John Armstrong's Station (1788) (apparently not the same as Armstrong's Station (1786) in southern Indiana) (see also)
Saunders' Station (date ?) (possibly same as Saunders' Fort (1791) in Gallatin, TN ?)
Walker's Station (2) (date ?)

NEED MORE INFO: CSA Fort Leonidas (location ?), possibly in the Columbus area. US Infantry Tecumseh Post (1856 - 1857) (location ?).
Blockhouse Creek in Trigg County on the Tennessee River opposite Newburg.

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