South Coastal Georgia

Last Update: 18/AUGUST/2020

Compiled by Pete Payette - Š2020 American Forts Network

Fort Frederica (National Monument)
(1736 - 1749), St. Simons Island FORT WIKI
Built by the British in 1736 - 1739 as a defense against the Spanish in Florida. Frederica Town was enclosed within moated palisades and earthen redans. An inner bastion or citadel was located by the river to fend off water-born attacks. Attacked by the Spanish in July 1742 (Battle of Bloody Marsh), and rebuilt with stronger works in 1743. This was part of the Anglo-Spanish "War of Jenkin's Ear". The town burned in 1758 and was not resettled, the fort having already fallen into ruin by then. Only tabby ruins remain today. The 250-acre National Monument was established in 1945.

See also Colonial Coastal Fortifications from the New Georgia Encyclopedia

Lt. Philip Delegal's Fort
(1736 - 1742), St. Simons Island
A marker and small stone monument is located near the site of this 13-gun colonial militia tabby blockhouse, which was surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped earthen wall, on the southeastern end of the island at the junction of Ocean Blvd. and Demere Road. Also known as Sea-Point Battery. Exact site may have been eroded away. Located about 400 yards east of Fort St. Simons. A three-gun field battery was located just east, and a five-gun battery was located between the two forts.

Pike's Post
(1739 - 1743), St. Simons Island
A GA colonial militia outpost on the northern tip of the island.

Fort St. Simons
(1738 - 1742), St. Simons Island
This GA colonial militia earthen square seven-gun fort, also known as the Soldiers Fort, was captured by the Spanish to be used as a base for attacking Fort Frederica in July 1742. It was burned as they retreated after the attack. It was not rebuilt. No trace remains except for a stone marker. Exact site eroded away.

In 1743 the South Point Lookout was established here by the colonial militia, in use until about 1748.

Another British or Patriot fort was here sometime before the first lighthouse was built. A second lighthouse was built in 1810, destroyed by Confederates in 1862. The present light was built in 1872. Of interest is the St. Simons Lighthouse Museum and Heritage Center (admission fee).

Fort Brown (1)
(1861 - 1862), St. Simons Island
A Confederate fort once located on the site of Fort St. Simons. No trace remains except for a stone marker. It was built of sand covered with scrap rail iron. It was abandoned after Port Royal, SC fell to the Union in 1862.

St. Simons Island Post
(1862 - 1865), St. Simons Island
The Union occupied the island beginning in 1862.

St. Simons Island Batteries
(1898 - 1899), St. Simons Island
Two temporary Spanish-American War batteries were built here, one on the south-end of the island, and one on the east-end. Possibly damaged in the same 1899 storm that damaged the two batteries on Jekyll Island. Camp Gordon (1) was the tent camp on the south-end of the island near the lighthouse.

Bachelor's Redoubt
(1741 - 1743), near New Hope
A GA colonial militia palisaded blockhouse located on the mainland at the head of Grant Creek at "White Post", or Carteret's Point, about four miles northwest of Frederica, serving as an advance outpost of Fort Frederica.

Capt. Mark Carr's Fort (1)
(1741 - 1748), Hermitage Island
A settlers' tabby-built plantation complex, known as "Hermitage", built in 1739 on the north bank of the Turtle River on Hermitage Island, about 4.5 miles northwest of Brunswick, near Arco. Attacked and burned by the Spanish in March 1741. Rebuilt in May 1741 and fortified with four blockhouses. A marker is at Union Street and First Ave..

Fort Wayne (2)
(1821 - 1823), Brunswick
A temporary Federal fort.

Camp Brunswick
(Blythe Island Regional Park)
(1942 - 1944), Brunswick
A WWII U.S. Army coastal defense shore patrol battalion combat team base camp and military police headquarters, located on Blythe Island. Occupied a former C.C.C. camp, now the Blythe Island Regional Park (6616 Blythe Island Highway / GA 303). Platoon-sized detachments were also posted at Fort Clinch, FL.

Jekyll Island Post (1)
(1742), Jekyll Island
A British fortified garrison was on the island during the July 1742 Spanish attack. After the Spanish destroyed Fort St. Simons, they destroyed the post here and moved south to Cumberland Island. No trace remains.

Jekyll Island Battery (1)
(1861 - 1862), Jekyll Island
Two Confederate batteries were once located here. Marker on Horton Road. Remnants of earthworks still exist within the local airport grounds. No public access, but visible from the access road. See also Explore Southern History

Jekyll Island Post (2)
(1862 - 1865), Jekyll Island
The Union occupied the island beginning in March 1862.

Jekyll Island Batteries (2)
(1898 - 1899), Jekyll Island
Two temporary Spanish-American War batteries were built here, one on the north-end of the island, and one on the south-end. Damaged by a storm in 1899, then abandoned. The two Rodman gun carriages of the south battery are still extant along a wooded trail from a picnic area.

Fort McIntosh (1)
(1776 - 1777), near Atkinson
A Patriot stockade, 100-feet square with a center blockhouse, located on the Satilla River south of town, somewhere near the Brantley - Camden County line. Attacked and captured by the British in February 1777. Marker located at intersection of US 82 and GA 110.

Burnt Fort
(1750's ?), Burnt Fort Station
A state marker once located the site of this supposed settlers' fort on the Satilla River at Magnolia Bluff in Camden County, but was removed in 1958.

Cumberland Island Battery (2)
(1898 - 1899), Little Cumberland Island
A temporary Spanish-American War battery was built here on the north-end of the island, but not completed. Abandoned in 1899. The Little Cumberland Island Lighthouse was built here in 1838, walled-in in 1874 to protect it from the ocean. The island is private property, no public visitation.

San Pedro Island Presidio
(1569 - 1684), Cumberland Island
A Spanish presidio that protected two Franciscan missions on the island; San Pedro y San Pablo de Poturiba (1595 - 1597) on the northwest end of the island, and San Pedro de Mocama (1587 - 1660 ?) on the southern end of the island at Dungeness Wharf, later replaced by San Phelipe de Alave (2) (1670 - 1684) (on the northern end of the island ?), which was relocated from the North Newport River area. Raided by French and English pirates in 1683. Attacked and destroyed by South Carolina forces in 1684. Abandoned for Amelia Island, FL.

Fort St. Andrew
(Cumberland Island National Seashore)
(1736 - 1742), near High Point, Cumberland Island
A four-pointed star earthwork, about 65 feet by 130 feet, built by the British as a buffer against the Spanish. A palisaded triangular water battery was located at the base of the hill, connected by a covered way with the main fort. A second battery was located on the western side of the island to protect the approach through the inland waterway. The troops were quartered in a nearby village of huts named Barrimacke. The fort was abandoned before the 1742 Spanish attack. The Spanish destroyed the fort after their retreat from St. Simons Island. The fort was not rebuilt, although colonial rangers often used the site afterwards. Site located on a hill at the northwestern tip of the island at Terrapin Point, no remains (exact site discovered in 2006, undergoing archaeological excavations in 2011-12).

Fort William
(Cumberland Island National Seashore)
(1740 - 1748), near Dungeness, Cumberland Island
A British fort once located on the southern tip of the island. Also known as Fort Prince William. Reinforced by the Fort St. Andrew garrison in 1742. The Spanish attacked the fort after their retreat from St. Simons Island, but were repulsed. The fort was rebuilt in 1747, with a new battery added. No trace remains, exact site eroded away.

Of interest in St. Marys is the Cumberland Island National Seashore Museum (admission fee).

Cumberland Island Battery (1)
(1861 - 1862), Cumberland Island
A six-gun Confederate shore battery was located at the southern end of the island to provide cross-fire with Fort Clinch on Amelia Island, Florida.

Battery at Point Peter
(1795 - 1818), near St. Marys FORT WIKI
A Federal work located at Point Peter near the present-day Kings Bay U.S. Naval Base. Initially a log and earthwork battery, abandoned in 1802. Rebuilt in 1808 as a blockhouse with eight guns. This was also a U.S. Naval Station, with eleven gunboats stationed here by 1811. About 200 troops were posted here in 1814. The base was attacked and destroyed by the British in January 1815. Rebuilt in 1817 (possibly renamed Fort Scott (2) ?), but the site was abandoned as a defensive position upon the military occupation of Amelia Island, Florida, in 1818. A military hospital was built here in 1819. Site excavations were conducted in 2004 before a waterfront housing development was constructed. Marker erected in 2008 on Spinaker Road at USS Kamehameha Avenue. See also The Forgotten Invasion

The Point Peter Military Reservation was formally acquired by the Federal government in 1818, sold in 1870, reacquired in 1885, and sold again in 1929. No additional coastal defense works were ever built.

NOTE: State of Georgia Historic Marker for Point Peter - Fort Tonyn, located in St. Marys. Information appears to be in error. British Fort Tonyn (1776) was located in East Florida, one mile east of King's Ferry. Fort Pickering (1814) was located further upriver at Coleraine.

Fort St. George ?
(1755 - 1780's ?), St. Marys
A British fort, possibly used later by Patriots.
NOTE: not to be confused with Fort St. George on Fort George Island, FLORIDA.

Fort St. Tammany
(1787 - 1812 ?), St. Marys
Initially a town stockade defense, located on the southwestern edge of town. Rebuilt in 1794 as a Federal work known as Fort Gunn.

Wright's Fort
(1774 - 1779), near Coleraine
A Loyalist settlers' fort on Pagan Creek, upriver from Fort Tonyn in East Florida, built by Jermyn and Charles Wright, brothers of Georgia's Royal Governor Sir James Wright, to protect their plantations. The British forces from Fort Tonyn retreated here in 1778 after it was attacked by Patriot forces.

Post at Coleraine
(1793 - 1797, 1814), Coleraine
A Federal post defending against Indian and Spanish incursions into southern Georgia. Also a Federal Indian trading post, or Factory, with the creation of the Creek Indian Agency (November 1795 - 1797). The Treaty of Coleraine was signed here in June 1796, which pushed the Creek boundary westward and transferred the Agency to Fort Wilkinson. A stone monument was erected here by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1912. State marker (2007) located on GA 40 west of GA 110.

Fort Pickering was later built here in 1814 to continue to protect the local settlers from the Indians and the Spanish in East Florida, but also as a token answer to the Spanish authorities to help keep Georgia's settlers out of East Florida.

Colonial Spanish Missions of Mocama
Spanish Missions in Georgia from the New Georgia Encyclopedia

The following Franciscan Missions were established without presidios or other military protection, and are listed here purely for historical interest. The Spanish Mocama Province encompased the coastal area from the Altamaha River to the St. Johns River in Florida. (see also Amelia Island and Fort George Island, FLORIDA)

San Buenaventura de Guadalquini (1605 - 1684), on the south-end of St. Simons Island. Briefly garrisoned by soldiers during the 1661 northern Indian (Westos) raids. Destroyed by South Carolina forces. Abandoned for Fort George Island, FL.
Santa Cruz de Guadalquini (unknown dates), on St. Simons Island. Possibly the same site as above.
Santo Domingo de Asao - Talaje (2) (1661 - 1684), on the north-end of St. Simons Island, relocated from the Darien area. Destroyed by South Carolina forces. Abandoned for Amelia Island, FL. The later Christianized Colon Indian village of San Simon (possibly located near Frederica) gave the island its modern name.

NOTE: Tabby ruins of Old Spanish Mission in Dover Bluff, Camden County, are most probably not of Spanish origin as it does not correspond with any historic or archaeologic Spanish sites already known.

information courtesy of John Worth

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