Fort Travis (2)

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Fort Travis (2) (1898-1947) - Established in 1898 as an Endicott Period coastal defense fortification named for William B. Travis. Active post until 1947.

Fort Travis (2) History

Part of the Harbor Defense of Galveston.

Endicott Period

Construction on Fort Travis began in 1898 and was completed in 1899. Two batteries were built, Battery Davis and Battery Ernst. The fort sustained heavy damage in the Galveston hurricane of 1900 but was rebuilt. A fifteen-foot seawall was built in 1906.

Fort Travis Endicott Period Batteries (edit list)

Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Notes
Battery Davis	2	8"	Disappearing	1898-1898-1911-1918	1900 Hurricane damaged rebuilt
Battery Ernst	3	3"	Masking Pedestal	1898-1898-1911-1946	1900 Hurricane damaged rebuilt
Source: Coastal Defense Study Group

World War I

In World War I Fort Travis defended the port of Galveston and approaches. Battery Kimble was added in 1925.

Fort Travis World War I Batteries (edit list)

Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Notes
Battery Kimble	2	12"	Long Range Barbette	1917-1922-1922-1943	Guns to Fort Moultrie
Source: Coastal Defense Study Group

World War II

During World War II Battery 236 (1943) was added. The post also housed German prisoners of war during World War II.

Fort Travis World War II Batteries (edit list)

Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Notes
Battery 236	2	6"	Shielded Long Range Barbette	1942-1945-1945-194?	Gun tube never arrived, battery not armed
Source: Coastal Defense Study Group

Current Status

Fort Travis Seashore Park, a Galveston County Park with battery structures remaining, no period guns or carriages in place.

Location: Fort Travis Seashore Park, eastern tip of Galveston Island. Maps & Images Lat: 29.364916 Long: -94.758217 Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps Topographic map from TopoZone Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth Wiki Mapping from WikiMapia Mapping from Bing Elevation: 10'

Recent Blog Posts:

• Galveston Harbor Defenses

Sources:

• Hart, Herbert M., Tour Guide to Old Western Forts, Pruett Publishing Co., Boulder CO, 1980, ISBN 0-87108-568-2, page 168
• Gaines, William, The Seacoast Defenses of Galveston, Texas, The Coast Defense Journal, Vol 21, Issue 4, page 4
• The Handbook of Texas OnLine

Links:

• North American Forts - Galveston

Visited: 12 Nov 2009

Fort Travis (2) Picture Gallery

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