Fort Caswell

The March 1, 2011, Wilmington (NC) Star-News ran a looking back column and went through local newspapers from 100 years ago.

One from Feb. 28, 1911, mentioned a group of Fort Caswell-bound soldiers arriving in Wilmington by train and awaiting a steamer to take them down the Cape Fear River to their base.

O was unaware that Fort Caswell was still in use after the Civil War when a large portion of it was blown up.

I did a little research and found out that it was completely abandoned from the end of the war until April 1896 when Americans began to fear from foreign attack and money was appropriated to repair the fort and update it.

By 1916, it was again a military outpost (which would explain the soldiers going to it). It was the headquarters of the Cape Fear Coastal defense and manned by three companies of Coast Artillery. Mortars, rapid and direct-fire guns and mine defense were used for defense.

So, That Explains It. --Old B-Runner