Location of Fort Gadsden

[jackfox]

I may be nit-picking here, but I hadn't ever paid much attention to Fort Gadsden (located southwest of Talahassee, FL on the game map). Within the game it seems pretty insignificant. I don't believe I've ever seen a battle there. It doesn't protect a major port, just the Apalachicola River that leads up to Columbus, Georgia (level 4 city).

Because of its insignificance within the game, I was curious to learn if anything significant had occurred there during the Civil War. What I discovered is that Fort Gadsden was not a permenant fortification mounted with heavy seacoast guns like Fort Sumter or Fort Pulaski. Rather, it was merely a small outpost on the Apalachicola River. The most interesting thing (in game terms) about the Fort was it's location. It's not on the coast. The location is actually about 15 or 20 miles upriver, out of sight (and artillery range) of any ships approaching from the coast.

This said, it might be nice if the fort could be removed from the coast and positioned on the east bank of the Apalachicola River in, perhaps, the Liberty, FL region. If anybody has the time or the skills, it might be a fun project.

Here's some info about the fort's role in the war:

Fort Gadsden's reputation as an unhealthy location prevented the Confederates from using it to any great degree during the Civil War.

The site was briefly considered as a location for a battery of heavy artillery, but upriver locations were selected instead. The Confederates did keep troops here for a time after they abandoned Apalachicola during the spring of 1862. A company of infantry and battery of four field guns was stationed at Fort Gadsden to provide early warning should the Union navy
start up the Apalachicola River. The troops were withdrawn in 1863 due to fever, however, and until the end of the war only a few sentries were kept at Fort Gadsden to watch for enemy activity.

The pickets at the fort were captured in 1865 when a party of Union sailors came across from St. Andrews Bay and sailed down the Apalachicola in a small boat after capturing a similar outpost upstream at Ricco's Bluff. Not a shot was fired in the incident. With the end of the war, the fort lapsed back into oblivion.

(info came from http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgadsden5.html)

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Jabberwock]

While this issue is being addressed, ... Fort DeSoto near Tampa was not built until the 1890s.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Jabberwock]

Sorry - fell asleep last night waiting for the game to reload. I'll get right on that.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[jackfox]

Hey... Aren't you supposed to be trying to break the "Muscle Shoals Fix"?

Moving a fort (Ft Gadsden) by carefully graphically displacing the region is one thing... Making an entire region disappear (as in Ft DeSoto #1116) might be a bit more challenging... But, heh, I like challenges!!! Maybe I can reserve the region number and use it somewhere else like a newly defined "Cumberland Gap" region using that same region number (1116)... Hmmm... Possibilities...

Excellent, Gray! I was hoping you were up to the challenge!!!

[LMUBill]

Maybe I can reserve the region number and use it somewhere else like a newly defined "Cumberland Gap" region using that same region number (1116)... Hmmm... Possibilities...

Good luck with that!
The gap itself is on the Kentucky/Virginia border, the town (right below the gap in a valley) is in Tennessee and Virginia. The three states "meet" about 1/4 mile WSW of the gap.

It can be confusing at times.... many people live on the Tennessee side because Virginia and Kentucky have state income taxes. They all shop in Kentucky because the income tax means no tax on food/groceries and really low sales tax. Virginia is there if you want to buy tobacco or alcohol or look at buffalo herds grazing.

Now in the game the main road into Kentucky goes through Mt. Pleasant (now Harlan) but in real life it went through the gap.... about 30 miles away. During the war the Kentucky side was in Harlan County as Bell County wasn't formed until the 1870's. The gap in the game is actually in the Claiborne Region as that is where TN, KY and VA come together.

See what you started....