Tour Stop #14 - Fort Garrott

Entrance to square fort called "Fort Garrott" is honor of Colonel Isham Garrott who was killed here.

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Amenities

2 listed

Parking - Auto, Trash/Litter Receptacles

The zigzag indentations in front of the parking area represent a partial reconstruction of Union Gen. Alvin P. Hovey’s approach trenches. You can see the left and right approaches joining to form a single trench which terminates 30 yards short of Fort Garrott (also known as Square Fort). Col. Isham W. Garrott, commanding Confederate troops in this immediate area, was killed inside the fort by a Federal sharpshooter who fired from a tree. That same day, a communication was en route to Vicksburg announcing Colonel Garrott’s promotion to the rank of brigadier general.

• Tour Stop #14 - Fort Garrott

  
  

  This track discusses the Fort Garrott, a square Confederate fortification named after Colonel Isham W. Garrott who was killed there on June 17, 1863.

  Date created:

  12/31/2021

  Audio Transcript

  Fort Garrott is probably the best-preserved fortification in the park.

  Union General Alvin P. Hovey’s division occupied the sector of the Union siege line directly across from the fort, but his division did not arrive on the line until after the general assaults of May 22, so Fort Garrott was not attacked that day.

  During the siege, Hovey’s men dug two approach trenches to within 50 feet of the outer slope of the fort in preparation for an attack, if the siege failed.

  As in all Confederate forts, the soldiers here were continually harassed by the deadly, accurate fire of Union sharpshooters.

  On June 17, Colonel Isham W. Garrott, the commander of the 20th Alabama Infantry manning this fort was angered at the suffering caused by the sharpshooters.

  Col. Garrott spied the location of a Union rifleman and he picked up a musket in hopes of silencing the sharpshooter and was instantly killed by a Federal bullet. That day a messenger was sent to notify Colonel Garrott that he had been promoted to brigadier general, but the brave colonel had died before the message reached him.
  
  The clear field in front of the fort is typical of what you would have seen here in 1863. The trees that now cover the park were planted during the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. With the discovery that grasses are better at controlling erosion than trees in this region, the park hopes to selectively cut more trees so as to open more historic vistas.