Fort Fremont

Fort Fremont (sometimes misspelled 'Freemont'[2]) was a military installation on Saint Helena Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The fort and battery is historically significant as an example of late nineteenth and early twentieth century military architecture and as one of two surviving coastal fortifications in the United States intact from the Spanish–American War era.[3][4]

Fort Fremont Battery
Fort Fremont is located in South Carolina
Fort Fremont
Location in South Carolina
Fort Fremont is located in the United States
Fort Fremont
Location in United States
Nearest cityFrogmore, South Carolina
Coordinates32°18′20″N 80°38′36″W
Area2.8 acres (1.1 ha)
Built1899 (1899)
Built byUS Army Corps of Engineers
Architectural styleCoastal Fortification
MPSHistoric Resources of St. Helena Island c. 1740-c. 1935 MPS
NRHP reference No.88001821[1] (original)
100006498 (increase)
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 5, 2010
Boundary increaseMay 6, 2021

Construction

The construction of additional coastal batteries was authorized by Congress under the $50 million Harbor Fortification Defense Act of 1898 due to the Spanish–American War. Fort Fremont was built by the Corps of Engineers on condemned private property, with construction starting in 1899.[5] The Corps of Engineers hired labor from the Beaufort area to build the military complex.

Details

The fort was named after John C. Fremont, the first presidential candidate of the Republican Party in 1856. Later, Fremont was a Civil War general.

The complex at Fort Fremont consisted of almost 170 acres (69 ha) of land with numerous outbuildings, including an Administration building, guard house, barracks, hospital, stable, mess hall, bakery, commissary, post exchange, lavatory, and water tower. The garrison's single artillery company operated three 10-inch disappearing guns and two 4.7-inch rapid fire guns. Much of the bastions and the concrete emplacements for the guns remain today.[6]

In 1900, Fort Fremont was turned over to the Coastal Artillery.

Deactivation

As early as 1906 the War Department gave serious consideration to the closing of Fort Fremont, due to budgetary constraints.

Regarding reports that Fort Fremont would be sold or abandoned, the April 16, 1912 issue of the Beaufort Gazette quoted the Assistant Secretary of War: "... I have the honor to inform you that no such action is contemplated at present." A small detachment of soldiers had been serving as caretakers at the fort after troops stationed there had been reassigned to Galveston the previous year.

A December 7, 1921 Charleston News and Courier article reported that the U.S. Treasury Department requested Fort Fremont from the U.S. War Department for use as a quarantine station. The property had by then been placed on the Secretary of War's list of properties no longer needed for military purposes and available for sale. Fort Fremont was subsequently deactivated as a military installation in 1921.

The fort was decommissioned and sold at public auction by the War Department in 1930. The Fort Fremont Battery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on May 5, 2010.[1] Today the fort is a Historical Preserve.[7] Only the 10 inch battery, the rapid-fire battery, and the brick hospital built in 1906 survive. All the other structures were made of wood and were demolished at various points before 1989, when documentation was submitted to the NRHP. The documentation states that "Fort Fremont is one of only two extant Spanish–American War fortifications which retain their character from that period."[8]

  • Rear view of Fort Fremont
    Rear view of Fort Fremont
  • Front face of historical plaque
    Front face of historical plaque
  • Rear face of historical plaque
    Rear face of historical plaque

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "About Fort Fremont". Beaufort County Library. Archived from the original on 29 January 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
  3. Power, J. Tracy; Sherry Piland (February 16, 1988). "Fort Fremont Battery" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  4. "Fort Fremont Battery, Beaufort County (off Lands End Rd., St. Helena Island)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  5. NOTE: Former owners of portions of the condemned land were Ellen A. Crofut, F.A. Dran, Jacob Meyers, Jack Freeman, July Fripp, Andrew Jenkins and Ellen Williams.
  6. NOTE: The March 2, 1899 issue of The Palmetto Post told that "a large force of laborers" was at work on the fortifications, that the 4.7-inch guns had already been mounted, and the emplacements had been completed for the larger weapons.
  7. "Fort Fremont Historical Preserve". Friends of Fort Fremont. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  8. "Beaufort County Library, SC -- About Fort Fremont -- St. Helena Island, SC". Archived from the original on 2010-01-29. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
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