Fort Duffield

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Fort Duffield
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city: West Point, Kentucky
Built/Founded: 1861
Added to NRHP: January 31, 1994
NRHP Reference#: 93001584 [1]
Governing body: Local

Fort Duffield is an American Civil War fort located outside West Point, Kentucky. It saw use in 1862, and was abandoned when it appeared that the War would never come near the fort. Ironically, John Hunt Morgan would in 1863 lead his Raiders right past the fort and could have been stopped had the fort not been abandoned.

William Tecumseh Sherman was concerned with the Confederate positions in Bowling Green and Columbus, and sent the 37th Indiana and the 9th Michigan regiments to West Point. The plan was to use West Point as a base to supply Union forces in Elizabethtown. Sherman ordered the fort to be built on Pearman Hill to protect the town. Construction began on November 3, 1861 and was finished by the first of the year. The fort was named for the Reverend George Duffield of Detroit, whose son, Colonel William W. Duffield, led the 9th Michigan Infantry . There were 950 troops stationed there, but they were soon sent to the frontlines and the fort was mostly unused in 1862, seeing its last use in the Fall of 1862.

The fort is mostly a serpentine wall, unlike the typical star-shaped Civil War forts in Kentucky. The earthworks of the fort are well-preserved. Originally there was a one mile clearing between the fort and any trees, but since the fort's abandonment the forest has grown back around the fort. A spring was inside the fort, providing fresh water directly to the fort. Visitors to the fort should be aware that the hike up the hill to visit the fort is steep from the main parking lot, as the small parking lot by the fort is exclusive to handicap parking.

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  1. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).

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