Some More On Fort D, Cape Girardeau-- Part 3: Not Involved in the Battle of Cape Girardeau

Cape Girardeau was attacked by Confederate forces on April 26, 1863.  During the Battle of Cape Girardeau, Fort B was involved in much of the fighting while Fort D was not attacked at all.  The Confederate forces were easily turned back and Cape Girardeau remained in Union hands the rest of the war.

During the summer of 1864, companies of free black men and escaped slaves, part of the 18th USCT were stationed at Cape Girardeau, including some who garrisoned the forts.

In September 1864, Confederate General Sterling Price moved into  southeast Missouri with his army and three of Cape Girardeau's forts were manned and new cannons emplaced there.  Fort D was deemed too far away from the downtown area to be of use.  The Confederates did not come, however.

After the war, the Cape Girardeau forts were abandoned and all but one disappeared in the following decades.

Still Wondering Why the Forts Were Named After Letters and Not Names.  --Old Secesh

Fort D, Cape Girardeau, Mo.-- Part 2: Never Saw Action

The earthwork walls, as originally constructed in 1861 and restored in 1936 as part of a Works Progress Administration project.  A palisade wall made of sharpened upright wooden timbers, formed the rear of the fortification and had a gate.  The gap in the south wall may have been a "sally" port, where troops could access rifle pits below  the parapet.

The fort was armed with three 32-pounder cannons and two 24-pounder cannons.  A 32-pounder cannon  was a smoothbore one that could fire a 32-pound solid shot over a mile.

Fort D was garrisoned by soldiers from Missouri, Illinois and other Midwesterm states during the course of the war.  The fort never saw action, but the Battle of Cape of Cape Girardeau on April 26, 1863, took place west of the city.

--Old Secesh

Fort D, Cape Girardeau, Missouri-- Part 1: A Shiloh and John Powell Connection

From Wikipedia.

A Civil War fort along the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, about 115 miles southeast of St. Louis.  (It is 35 miles from Sikeston, home of the original Lambert's Cafe, home of the "Throwed Rolls".)

During the Civil War, it was the site of the Battle of Cape Girardeau on April 26, 1863.  The forces engaged in  a minor four-hour skirmish, each side sustaining casualties in the low double digits.  Fort D was not involved in it.

Work on Fort D began on August 6, 1861, under the direction of Lieutenant John W. Powell of Illinois.  He later recruited a company of Cape Girardeau men for service in the Union Army.  These men eventually became Battery F, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery (Powell was from Illinois)   After a short period of training, they were at the Battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862.

As Powell raised his hand, a bullet shattered his wrist and the arm was later amputated to stop infection.  In 1868, a one-armed John Powell led the first successful  navigation of the Colorado River through what Powell named "The Grand Canyon."

--Old Secesh