Qualla: Fort St. Philip

Fort St. Philip: Introduction

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Benson Lossing, Public domain. The barbed wire went up in 1964. Leander Perez, the segregationist political boss of Plaquemines Parish, needed somewhere to lock away civil rights demonstrators, and the abandoned fortification on the Mississippi's eastern bank suited his purposes perfectly. Fort St. Philip had been built to keep invaders out. Now it would keep Americans in. That grim irony is only one chapter in the fort's long, strange life -- a life that has seen Spanish colonial engineers, British naval bombardments, Union mortar boats, tanning vats, and a small spiritual community calling itself the Christos family, all passing through the same crumbling brick walls.

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Image: Benson Lossing | Public domain

Fort St. Philip: Spain's Sentinel on the River

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. The original fort on this site was Fort San Felipe, constructed during the 18th century when Spain controlled Louisiana. Positioned on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, roughly sixty miles upriver from its mouth, the location was strategic genius: any ship bound for New ...

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Image: Public domain

Fort St. Philip: Ten Days of British Guns

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain. During the War of 1812, while Andrew Jackson fought the famous land battle at New Orleans, Fort St. Philip faced its own test. On January 9, 1815, British naval forces opened a bombardment on the fort, attempting to force the river passage and approach New Orleans from downstream...

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Image: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided | Public domain

Fort St. Philip: Twelve Days That Fell a City

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Adalbert Volck (d. 1912), Public domain. The current fort was constructed at the urging of Andrew Jackson, paired again with Fort Jackson across the river as twin guardians of the Mississippi. That defensive partnership faced its ultimate test in April 1862 during the Civil War. Union forces under Admiral David Farragut...

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Image: John Adalbert Volck (d. 1912) | Public domain

Fort St. Philip: A Fort's Unlikely Afterlives

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This image or media file contains material based on a work of a National Park Service employee, created as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, such work is in the public domain in the United States. See the NPS website and NPS copyright policy for more information., Public domain. After the Civil War, the fort was refortified during the Spanish-American War of 1898, adding new buildings including three two-story officers' quarters and an officers' club. But military relevance faded, and the fort cycled through increasingly unexpected incarnations. In the 1...

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Image: Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This image or media file contains material based on a work of a National Park Service employee, created as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, such work is in the public domain in the United States. See the NPS website and NPS copyright policy for more information. | Public domain

Fort St. Philip: The River Takes It Back

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This image or media file contains material based on a work of a National Park Service employee, created as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, such work is in the public domain in the United States. See the NPS website and NPS copyright policy for more information., Public domain. Today, Fort St. Philip is slowly surrendering to the Mississippi. Erosion of the small levee that once protected the site has left the ruins vulnerable to flooding during high water. The masonry walls that withstood British cannonballs and Union mortar shells are no match for the...

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