Military History / Famous Wooden Forts

Ticonderoga was the one that immediately popped into my mind.

But, one I'm more familiar with and can attest to the soldiers within holding off a seige from without was Fort Stephenson in Ohio during the War of 1812.

"The British next moved to try to take Fort Stephenson, a supply base fort on the Sandusky River commanded by Major George Croghan. Harrison did not think Croghan could hold the fort and ordered Croghan to destroy the fort and withdraw. Croghan insisted he could hold the fort and stayed. On August 2, the British attacked. Croghan ordered his troops to hold fire until the enemy was in close range. After several unsuccessful attempts to take the fort, the British withdrew."

There's a lot more to the story than this. The odds were high in favor of the British; the Americans had only a few cannons. There are a fair number of articles on line about the battle. Puma

How about Fort Courage, Kansas?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Fort Sullivan at the battle of Sullivan island, very early in the revolutionary war (June 28, 1776).

The fort's construction fortuitously benefited the defenders, as the sand and palmetto logs of the fort's walls stood up well to the cannonade, smothering most of the British cannonballs before they could explode.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sullivan's_Island

This is the battle that gave South Carolina its state tree and symbol.

Also check out Fort Mifflin, Fort Lee and Fort Manhatten. Not sure if they withstood a siege but they were all essential to the Revolution due to their locations on the Delaware River (Fort Mifflin) and the Hudson (Fort Lee and Fort Manhatten).

Funny note: I was just up at Fort Lee (at least the barracades) this past weekend. Neat spot.

How about Fort Boonesborough in Kentucky? it was founded by Daniel Boone and was important during the Revolutionary War. In September 1778, the fort withstood an attack by Indians called "the Great Siege." It is now a Ky state park.

Also, there were a number of Civil War forts in Virginia and Maryland--not sure how much action they saw but that could be researched. Fort Washington in Maryland is still nearly intact, and Fort Ward in Virginia--just grass now--is a museum.

Ken said:

Do you know of any wooden forts in America where gallant battles where fought in which the soldiers within held back a powerful siege from without? I kinda recall that George Washington successfully defended a fort of the sort in his early years, though now that I think about it he might have been defeated. Thanks for your help! (I'm going to be making reference to the fort in a key part of a short story.)

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Not exactly "logs", but palm trunks:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Moultrie
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1955/6/1955_6_60.shtml

You might want to check to see if there are any reenactment groups local to the forts you're interested in. Sometimes they host demos where you can pick the brains of people who have done a lot of research already.

That's kinda the reason why I went to Fort Lee, although it wasn't an actual Rev War Group. It was a Colonial Period Cooking symposium. The topic was baking, bake ovens and grist mills. What was cool about it was they fired up the bake oven for us and made bread (and pies, although I didn't stick around long enough to try the pies). We also had some wonderful soup made over the fire. (Unfortunately, attending a symposium or cooking class is the only way you can actually eat the food that's made during a demo. They can't offer any to the general public.)

The French & Indian Wars were pretty famous for forts & sieges. If that era suits your story, it's pretty fascinating history. -- French & Indian Wars Forts

Fort William Henry's probably most well-known for showing up in James Fenimore Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans" but there were heaps of them. Basically the frontier at the time was a wobbly line that sort of bulged outward from the forts, and they were constructed strategically on rivers, near valley pinch points, on lakes, etc.

The 19th Century forts and battles tended to be further west, ala Kansas, Nebraska, etc -- but by the Civil War firearm and artillery had advanced to the point where constructing new forts wasn't really worth it. They're good tactically against a faster, weaker force, but once you start throwing advanced artillery into the mix they lose a lot of their effectiveness.

Hope your story goes well! You've got lots of material here, I think.