Fort Harker
Jackson County, Stevenson, Military Fortification, Civil War, National Register of Historic Places, Alabama Historical Commission Markers
Constructed by the Union Army in the summer of 1862 and expanded in 1864, using soldiers and freed slaves, Ft. Harker was built on a broad hill a quarter-mile east of town. It overlooked Crow Creek and was well within firing range of Stevenson’s strategic railroad lines, supply depots and warehouses.
Ft. Harker was an earthen redoubt, 150 feet square, with walls 14 feet high, surrounded by an 8 foot deep dry moat. It contained 7 cannon platforms, a bomb-proof powder magazine, a draw-bridge entrance and an 8-sided wooden blockhouse at its center. Soldiers building the fort reported that “the soil is very hard, requiring the continual use of a pick.” Despite that, Ft. Harker was critical to Union plans. The officer in charge was ordered by his commanding general “to work night and day” to complete the fort “as rapidly as possible.”
One other large fort, two smaller redoubts and at least seven blockhouses were constructed along the railroad lines at Stevenson during the Civil War. No major fighting occurred here, but skirmishes and sniper attacks were common as territory traded hands between Union and Confederate forces.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places 5/2/77
(From the historical marker erected at the site by the Alabama Historical Commission)
Blake Wilhelm
Historical marker erected at the site by the Alabama Historical Commission
http://focus.nps.gov/nrhp/AssetDetail?assetID=95bdb8b3-ef52-477c-851f-ae8cb34f821d
http://focus.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/nrhp/text/78000491.pdf
http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.23042/
Northeast Alabama Community College Archives and Special Collections
1862-1865
Stevenson Railroad Depot and Hotel
Jackson County, Stevenson, Transportation, Railroads, Civil War, National Register of Historic Places
Stevenson's importance as the junction of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad and the Memphis and Charleston Railroad predates the Civil War. The town and its railroad junction were of strategic importance during the war for both sides. Stevenson was occupied by the Union army for much of the war and was a particularly vital location in the Chickamauga campaign. The original depot building was destroyed by fire during or shortly after the Civil War. The depot and hotel structures that stand today are indicative of many similar structures that were built in Appalachia in the late 19th century. The hotel and depot were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Blake Wilhelm
Secrist, Philip L.. "Stevenson Historic District." <em>National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Form</em>. Southern Tech, Marietta, GA, September 13, 1978.<br /><br />West, Carroll Van. "Stevenson Depot and Hotel." <em>Encyclopedia of Appalachia</em>. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2006.
Northeast Alabama Community College Archives and Special Collections
circa 1872-present
photo by Jimmy Emerson
text and photograph