Fort Wright (Randolph, Tipton County, Tennessee)
Randolph, Tipton County · Tennessee · Civil War
History & Significance
Fort Wright was constructed in 1861 and located on the second Chickasaw Bluff at Randolph, Tipton County, Tennessee, serving as a Civil War fortification and the first military training facility of the Confederate Army in Tennessee. The proposal to build a defensive fort at Randolph appeared in the Memphis Appeal on January 20, 1861, and Brigadier General Gideon J. Pillow endorsed the location on April 26, 1861 as "the most eligible situation for a battery to protect Memphis."
Within days, Governor Isham G. Harris ordered Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Joseph Wright to establish the camp and fortification, and about 5,000 troops from Tennessee, Arkansas, and the Confederate Army were stationed there to accomplish the task. Over four months, soldiers fortified the Chickasaw Bluffs with artillery batteries and earthen field defenses; from late April through July 1861, Fort Wright served as the forwardmost defensive position on the Mississippi River, representing the left flank of the Provisional Army of Tennessee.
Nathan Bedford Forrest and Alexander P. Stewart trained at Fort Wright; Stewart was promoted to Major in the Tennessee Militia and assigned command of heavy artillery and water batteries there, organizing and training 20 batteries of Tennessee artillery. Soldiers trained at Fort Wright fought in the battles of Shiloh, Belmont, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Franklin, and Bentonville.
The fort was abandoned by Confederate infantry by 1862 but sporadically occupied by other southern forces during the Civil War. Today, only the powder magazine remains—one of the few surviving Civil War powder magazines in Tennessee.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Confederate earthen fortification with approximately 50 cannons positioned to defend Memphis
- Preserved powder magazine from 1861 construction
- Chickasaw Bluff setting overlooking the region
- Tennessee State Historical Site with memorial marker documenting Civil War military training
- First Confederate military training facility in Tennessee
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wright_(Tennessee)
- https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/fort-wright/
- https://www.tnsos.net/TSLA/cwsourcebook/
- https://www.tiptoncountytn.com/national-register-of-historic-places/historic-markers/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randolph,_Tennessee