Fort James Jackson

Fort James Jackson (usually shortened to Fort Jackson and informally known as Old Fort Jackson) is a restored nineteenth-century fort located one mile east of Savannah, Georgia, on the Savannah River. It hosts the Fort Jackson Maritime Museum.

Fort James Jackson
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Moat at Fort Jackson
Location in Georgia Show map of Georgia Location in United States Show map of the United States
Location	Islands Expwy., Chatham County, near Savannah, Georgia
Coordinates	32°4′55″N 81°2′10″W
Built	1811
NRHP reference No.	70000200
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	February 18, 1970[1]
Designated NHL	February 16, 2000[2]

Named in honor of James Jackson (1757–1806), a British-born political figure in Georgia, Fort Jackson was constructed between 1808 and 1812 to protect the city of Savannah from attack by sea. During the American Civil War, it became one of three Confederate forts that defended Savannah from Union forces (the other two were Fort McAllister and Fort Pulaski). In 1862, Fort Jackson came under shelling from a ship captained by an escaped slave, Robert Smalls.

When the Union army commanded by William T. Sherman captured Savannah by land in December 1864, it took Fort Jackson almost immediately. The fort went by the name of Fort Oglethorpe between 1884 and 1905, and was little used by the U.S. military. It was purchased by the city of Savannah in 1924 for park purposes and was fully restored in the 1970s. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2000.[2][3]

Fort Jackson is located at 1 Fort Jackson Road,[3] on the Islands Expressway linking Savannah to Fort Pulaski and the town of Tybee Island.[2] Fort Jackson is owned by the state of Georgia and operated as a museum by the Coastal Heritage Society. In the summer the fort has a daily cannon-firing demonstration.