Fort Mitchel
National Register Listing
Street Address:
65 Skull Creek Drive, Hilton Head, SC (Beaufort County)
Alternate Name:
Fort Gillmore, Battery Mitchel, Site 38BU1167
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817707074
Description and Narrative:
Fort Mitchel is a Civil War earthwork fortification overlooking Skull Creek on northwest Hilton Head Island. The fort was constructed beginning in late November 1861 by the Department of the South, United States Army, and was part of the Federal defenses of Hilton Head Island. Intended to protect the Skull Creek approaches to the coaling station and ship maintenance facilities at Seabrook Landing, about a mile to the northeast, it was built in a redan or lunette design on a bluff situated about fifteen feet above Skull Creek. Fort Mitchel is named for Major General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, who took command of the Department of the South on September 17, 1862, and briefly commanded forces stationed here before his death due to yellow fever in October of 1862. The fort significant to local military history for its role in the Federal occupation and defense of Hilton Head Island and as a rare example of a large semi-permanent Federal field fortification in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Fort Mitchel is also significant for engineering as a sophisticated and particularly intact example of a large semi-permanent field fortification established by the United States Army on the southeastern coast. The period of significance, 1862-1864, spans the period from its construction until its abandonment by Union forces. Listed in the National Register June 5, 2017.
Period of Significance:
1862 – 1864
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Engineering;Military
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
June 5 2017
