The Fall of New Orleans' Fort Jackson-- Part 2

As early as 1742, the French first built a battery there.  Later, under Spanish rule, Fort Bourbon was built there on the site of what would become Fort Jackson.  About the same time, they also built Fort San Felipe --  a predecessor to Fort Jackson's sister fort, Fort St. Phillip -- on the east bank.

With the need for even stronger defense made by the War of 182 the construction of Fort Jackson came to be at an eventual cost of $554,500.

Its foundation would be made of three layers of cypress logs, atop which would be laid  cypress planks.  From there would rise a star-shaped fort, made of bricks, protected by an outer wall and an inner moat and lined with dozens of guns.

There was such confidence  in the combined strengths of  forts Jackson and St. Phillip, which also received a modernization at the time, almost no other defense were constructed further upriver between the forts and New Orleans.

This would prove a very big mistake.

--Old B-Runner