Fort Duffield
Ohio River
West Point , KY
Photo and Text by LCWRT Member Charlie Moore
At the confluence of the Salt and Ohio Rivers in Hardin
County, Kentucky, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, commander of the Army of the
Cumberland, ordered the construction of a fort some 300 feet above the city of
West Point to protect his supply base there and to protect Louisville from
attack via the Louisville-Nashville Turnpike.
Work began on September 3, 1861 and was completed by the end of the
year. Current research tells us that 48 Union soldiers died of disease there,
the majority being from the 9th Michigan Infantry. This impregnable
fortress was never challenged; however, its strategic location no doubt played
an important role in Civil War Kentucky.
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