Fort St. Andrews (Cumberland Island, Florida)

Cumberland Island · Florida · War of Jenkins' Ear / Invasion of Georgia (1742)

Quick BriefFort St. Andrews was a British colonial coastal fortification built on Cumberland Island, Georgia, in 1736. The fort was built by the British as part of a buffer against Spanish Florida and the colonies to the north. During the War of Jenkins' Ear, about 15 Spanish ships sheltered near the fort in June 1742; Oglethorpe ordered it abandoned, and when Spanish forces retreated after the Battle of Bloody Marsh in July, they burned it down.

Coastal defense

History & Significance

Fort Frederica's establishment in 1736 marked the beginning of General Oglethorpe's defensive plan for Georgia. The inlet between Jekyll and Cumberland islands was guarded from 1736 until 1742 by Fort St. Andrews.

The fort was located at Terrapin Point facing the inland passage, built in star-work configuration with four pointed points to prevent defensive dead zones, measuring approximately 65 by 130 feet. A palisade triangular water battery at the hill's base, connected by covered passage to the main fort, was designed to attack incoming ships; a second battery on the island's western side protected the inland waterway approach.

Troops were quartered in a nearby village named Barrimacke; of 700 soldiers sent to Georgia in 1738, 200 were posted at the fort with perhaps 50 or 60 men stationed on Cumberland's southern end. The War of Jenkins' Ear tested Oglethorpe's coastal defenses; after an unsuccessful 1740 siege of St. Augustine, Georgians retreated into their fortifications.

Fort St. Andrews rapidly fell into disuse following its destruction. Most signs of the fort have been washed away.