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Fort Manhassett was located six miles west of
Sabine Pass near State Highway 87 in southeastern Jefferson
County. After the battle of Sabine Passqv
Confederate authorities feared that another Union invasion force
might strike the upper Texas Gulf Coast near Sabine Pass. To
block this threat, a series of five earthen redoubts was built
on the ridges west of the city, thus preventing either a Union
attack on the rear of Fort Griffin or a flanking movement aimed
at Beaumont. The defenses were named Fort Manhassett after the
Union coal schooner Manhassett, which was beached nearby
during a storm on September 29, 1863. Seven companies, commanded
by Maj. Felix McReynolds, held Fort Manhassett in October 1863;
the force had been reduced to 266 men by January 1, 1864. As
late as March 1865 the post still had six heavy guns and two
field pieces. Forts Griffin and Manhassett were both abandoned
shortly before May 24. Excavations at the latter reveal that the
Confederates buried their shells and gunpowder before the
evacuation. A plaque now marks the location of the abandoned
fort.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. T. Block, A History of
Jefferson County, Texas, from Wilderness to Reconstruction (M.A.
thesis, Lamar University, 1974; Nederland, Texas: Nederland
Publishing, 1976).
Robert Wooster
- Handbook of Texas Online, s.v.
","
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/FF/qcf24.html
(accessed March 4, 2008).
(NOTE: "s.v." stands for sub verbo, "under the word.")
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