Tag: Oglethorpe Barracks (Savannah GA)

Wikipedia says: Oglethorpe Barracks usually refers to a 19th-century United States Army post in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia. Some sources use the title to refer to Fort James Jackson (also known as Fort Oglethorpe) or Fort Wayne, both near Savannah. A hotel constructed in the 1880s now sits on the site of the old barracks.

In 1823, City of Savannah, Georgia, petitioned Secretary of War John C. Calhoun to build a military barracks within the city and agreed to purchase the necessary land. The War Department agreed to the endeavor and furnished the materials to build the barracks. Troops arrived in the mid to late 1820s to construct the facility. The barracks took the name of James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia colony and of the settlement of Savannah.

The post surgeon took meteorological observations probably as early as 1827. Construction of Oglethorpe Barracks finished circa 1834. The weather station began using a rain gauge in 1836.

Meteorological observations continued through December 1850; American soldiers probably left the post at the end of the year. In 1852, City of Savannah proposed to purchase the site from the War Department, and the War Department sold the parcel to the City in 1853.

Local Confederate volunteer companies occupied Oglethorpe Barracks throughout American Civil War until Union General William Tecumseh Sherman captured the city in 1864.

United States Army troops continued to occupy Fort Oglethorpe after the end of the Civil War. Meteorological observations resumed in or before September 1866.