Fort DeWolf (Shepherdsville, Kentucky)
Shepherdsville · Kentucky · American Civil War
History & Significance
The Union Army began protecting the L&N Railroad from the war's beginning, and once Nashville was taken, the railroad became a vital supply line for Federal troops in Tennessee. By December 1862, the Union Army had constructed six stockades between Elizabethtown and Shepherdsville, but these stockades, manned only with infantry, proved inadequate against troops with artillery.
In March 1863, the Union Army proposed upgrading the Shepherdsville stockade to an artillery and infantry parapet with rifle pits. The fort was only partially finished in July 1863 when Confederate forces attacked and burned nearby Bardstown Junction.
Union Commander Major Israel N. Stiles ordered his men from Belmont and Bardstown Junction to Shepherdsville, believing the unfinished earthwork and single cannon offered more protection than the stockades. The completed fort was constructed so the L&N railroad literally passed through it, with a barracks and brick water tank between the fort and the river, and palisades—wooden walls five feet high made of sharpened posts—designed to protect the barracks.
The completed fort was armed with three 12-pounder light artillery pieces. After improvements and additional artillery were added, Fort DeWolf was never again threatened by Confederate forces. The fort was named for Lieutenant William DeWolf, 3rd U.S. Artillery, who was killed at Williamsburg, Virginia.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Civil War earthwork ruins protecting a strategic railroad bridge crossing
- Railroad line historically passed through fort's center for defensive advantage
- Salt River landscape and Civil War-era fortification design
- Marked historical site accessible to Civil War enthusiasts
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_DeWolf
- https://bullittcountyhistory.org/hmarkers/fortdewolf.html
- https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=278325
- https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UOH0002RAH
- https://www.northamericanforts.com/East/ky.html