Fort Campbell

[dmchose]

Area: North Carolina: CapeFear region : Mouth of CapeFear : Caswell Beach
Just west of Fort Caswell was a sand fort of rather good size called Fort Caswell. This has never been located.

Fort Campbell had 18 guns and a large bomb-proof magazine

TROOPS STATIONED AT FORT CAMPBELL,
OAK ISLAND
Col. John J. Hedrick, commanding

1st Battalion North Carolina Heavy Artillery
Co. B (River Guards), Capt. John W. Taylor
40th North Carolina Regiment (3rd Artillery)
Co. F, Capt. John C. Robertson

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[mercinarie]

so wat is supposed to be there, cannons and stuff

[buscadero]

DM: Check this out: http://www.geocities.com/naforts/nc.html#caswell

Joe 8)

[mercinarie]

hmmm interesting...

[dmchose]

I do not have the map with me at this time to post, but I will do so in the near future. I have read the supposed locatiuon of the fort: "Fort Campbell had 18 guns and a large bomb-proof magazine, and was located about where Battery Shipp is now located." If one looks at the US navel maps circa 1865, it is easy to see that this can be erroneous. I will trĄto make this a little clearer with a post later in the week with a google map and a file. As for what is left ..who knows. This area was very busy during the Spanish American through WWII. A lot of the civil war material that was left around was taken in for scrap or reused elsewhere "bricks -n-stuff". I think that the present SAR station is a likley area but the ruins of a light station near by make it hard to agree with it. There is a lot of period brick pieces just across the road from present Caswell light. The dunes are very large and steep and just the right size for a small battery of one to three guns or could be what is left of the seaface, and the light house / CG house, is built where the brick quarters was. Just a guess. I have never come across a photo of the fort and have used just the maps and drawings in the Official Civial war records and in books of Blockade-runners. As a item of interest, one map show the Georgi anna McCaw wrecked in front of the fort. I think I saw her boilers years ago, late 1970's just north of the Fort Caswell Golf Course. They were definitly of the Scotch Fire tube type that the runner would have had. She laid in the right place for a runner to have beached. Sad to say I never dove it for the few days that I could make it out. Maybe next summer if the tide and wind is right I'll make a flight over it, drop a bouy and then dive see what is left.
Don