Fort Mitchel

Front: Fort Mitchel was built by the U.S. Army in 1862. It was an earthen fortification of lunette design, open at the rear with two faces forming a salient angle and two flanking sides. It was designed to house five or six heavy guns and was positioned strategically to control Skull Creek and protect the approach to the U.S. Navy coaling station at Seabrook Landing, one mile NE of this spot. Reverse: Originally named for its designer, Capt. Quincy Gillmore, Ft. Mitchel was renamed in honor of Maj. Gen. Ormsby Mitchel in 1863. Mitchel briefly commanded Union forces on Hilton Head before he died of yellow fever in Oct. 1862. The introduction of ironclad ships later in the war made the small battery at Ft. Mitchel ineffective and the garrison was redeployed in 1864.