Heritage, Volume 10, Number 1, Winter 1992 Page: 20
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tery "Hugh Mercer"
after a general in the
American Revolution.
The 10-inch gun
emplacement was
named "Julius
Heileman" after a native
of Massachusetts
who was an 1806
graduate of the U.S. Milit
West Point. The 4.72-inc
was designated "Battery Joi
while the 3-inch emplacel
nated" Battery George Crog
soldier who successfully
Stephenson in northern
served as Army Inspector
the 1820s.
With the post and its fo
named, Riche could turn I
other matters. When he r
from Washington asking
estimates for seawall and o
he believed were necessar
tion of the defensive works i
district, Riche propheticall
batteries are safe against an
tide. Against [an] extraorc
breakers they are not secure
1900-1911: The Destru
building of Fort San Jacin
One month after Riche
ment, a great storm and tic
Island, destroying not only
but much of the city as well
of deaths is estimated by soi
the flood to have exceeds
property damage in the cit
at $17 million.
According to Captain R
actually had a beneficial el
scoured out the channel tc
25 feet in depth. On the oth
to report that the mortar bat
Jacinto was badly wrecked
inch gun battery. In the e
nounced all of the the batt
ent and recommended tha
be transferred to the Engir
ment and that Battery 0, ]
ordered to Fort Sam Houstc
nio for recuperation.
Riche and his successors
Jadwin and Colonel J.C. Oa
through the next decade p]recting the refortification
In November, the Corps of
mitted their official report,
20 HERITAGE * WINTER 1992The phys
not beenical remains (of Fort San Jacinto) have
completely eradicated, however, and theabandoned concrete structures still visible continue
to testify to a long and significant military
history at the east end of Galveston Island.
ary Academy at it would cost $568,000 to repair or rebuild four batteries a
h emplacement the four fortifications at Fort San Jacinto. complete in Aut
nathan Hogan," They noted that the great cost of the re- ferred to the co:
ment was desig- pairs and reconstruction as compared with Crockett on Au}
;han" forayoung the original cost was due to the additional The task of r4
defended Fort storm protection that was now proposed. Galveston Islanc
Ohio and later Three months later, Congress passed a for- several important
General during tification act that made available $992,000 a decade after th
for the reconstruction. part, the City of
rtifications now After two months of diligent work by a strategy to prm
his attention to Riche and his staff, plans were submitted storms by chargir
eceived a letter covering the four batteries damaged or de- the task of creat
him to provide stroyed in the storm. The mortar battery elevating the (
>ther works that and battery for the 10-inch guns would be breakwater or sea
y to the protec- entirely new. No plans were submitted for of a seawall was c
n the Galveston the rebuilding of the barracks, possibly ity of Eighth Str<
y replied, "these because it had been recommended that between Octobe
.y ordinary great they be garrisoned in the vicinity of Fort tween December
linary tide with Crockett. Besides, some thought, without the wall was e)
re." raising the level of Fort San Jacinto and Crockett by the L
building a seawall there, the reservation even the concer
action and Re- was too vulnerable to storms and could not played a part in
Ito be made sufficiently safe for the troops. fortifications aft(
made his assess- In general, the plan for rebuilding Fort when they recon
lal wave hit the SanJacinto involved the repair of the 4.72- the seawall to the
most of the fort inch and 15-pounder emplacements and A request for fun(
1. The sum total the complete reconstruction of the 10- and seawall and place
me historians of 12-inch emplacements. By the end of April reservation must
~d 6,000, while 1902, a railroad track that had been built to when the batterie
y was estimated transport building materials and equipment a storm on July
to the building sites was approaching the viduals within th
liche, the storm vicinity of the 12-inch battery, and Riche seled a cautious al
ffect, because it indicated that it was time to remove all conflicting land
) approximately ordnance material, place it in a safe loca- Galveston Island
ier hand, he had tion, and then break up the remains of the
tteryat Fort San old fortification with dynamite. 1911-1959: For
, as was the 10- The next six years were to be busy ones World Wars
nd, Riche pro- as the reconstruction efforts progressed. This cautious
series nonexist- Substantial sand fill was used to enlarge the State of Texas,
It the structures fortification sites, rock embankments were government func
leering Depart- surmounted by earth fill to the top of the wall, transferred
1st Artillery, be concrete fortifications, stones were piled the Fort San Jaci
n in San Anto- up around the bases of the emplacements, to the federal gov
and the placement of guns occurred. His- Senate Bill No.
, Captain Edgar toric photographs and other records sug- 16, 1911. A year
kes, would work gest that San Jacinto's fortifications were the area was form
lanning and di- finished by 1908 and trained artillery com- to the United St
of San Jacinto. panies became available in 1911. With parentlysatisfyini
F Engineers sub- personnel available, U.S. Engineer G.P. concern that cleestimating that Howell decided that the time had come to more federal moi
transfer the ordnance
stores for
which he was accountable
to the
Artillery District
Commander of
Galveston. TheChief of Engineers
reported that the
t Fort San Jacinto were
gust, and they were transmmanding
officer at Fort
gust 21, 1911.
efortifying the east end of
J had been completed, but
t issues still were unresolved
e Galveston storm. For its
Galveston had formulated
otect itself against future
ig a board of engineers with
ting a plan for filling and
:ity and constructing a
wall. A three-mile portion
onstructed from the vicineet
to Thirty-ninth Street
r 1902 and July 1904; ber
1904 and October 1905,
extended in front of Fort
J.S. government. However,
rns of engineers who had
the rebuilding of various
er 1900 were not heeded
amended the extension of
vicinity of Fort SanJacinto.
ds from Congress to build a
fill in the Fort San Jacinto
have seemed appropriate
es at the fort flooded during
21, 1909. But some indite
War Department counpproach,
pointing out that
claims to the east end of
never had been resolved.
t San Jacinto During Two
advice bore fruit as the
eager to see the federal
d an extension of the seathe
land then known as
into Military Reservation
ernment by the passage of
121 approved on March
r later, on June 28, 1912,
tally patented by the State
ates of America, thus apg
the federal government's
.ar title be vested before
nies were expended.v
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 10, Number 1, Winter 1992, periodical, Winter 1992; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45418/m1/20/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.