Fort Jones (Mount Oliver) (Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania)

Mount Oliver · Pennsylvania · Civil War

Quick BriefFort Jones and its companion Fort Laughlin were Civil War redoubts built by Jones and Laughlin Steel employees in June and July 1863 to defend Pittsburgh from suspected Confederate invasion. Named for Benjamin Franklin Jones, a local businessman, the fort crowned Mount Oliver. It was destroyed in 1868 and became the site of St. Joseph's Church.

Civil War

History & Significance

As part of the hastily constructed Pittsburgh defenses built during June and July 1863 in response to the threat of Confederate invasion, Fort Jones served alongside its companion Fort Laughlin, both erected by Jones and Laughlin Steel employees. During the Gettysburg Campaign, the U.S. War Department established the Department of the Monongahela to provide Federal military presence in Western Pennsylvania, dispatching Major General William T.H. Brooks to organize Pittsburgh's defenses through construction of several miles of earthworks and small forts.

The fort honored Benjamin Franklin Jones, co-owner of the steel mill. Though sometimes known as Fort Jackson, in honor of Brigadier General Conrad Feger Jackson, killed at Fredericksburg in December 1862, the redoubt saw no combat—only one work was ever garrisoned, and most were probably never armed, as there was never a real threat from Confederate invasion. Destroyed in 1868, the site became home to St. Joseph's Church at 438 Ormsby Street.