Fort Bute (1766–1779) was a colonial fort built by the British in 1766 to protect the confluence of Bayou Manchac with the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

and was named in honor of the Earl of Bute. Fort Bute was located on Bayou Manchac, about 115 miles (185 km) up the Mississippi River from

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, on the far western border of

British West Florida British West Florida was a colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1763 until 1783, when it was ceded to Kingdom of Spain, Spain as part of the Peace of Paris (1783), Peace of Paris. British West Florida comprised parts of the modern U.S ...

. It was one of the three outposts maintained by the British in the lower Mississippi along with Fort Panmure and the Baton Rouge outpost.

Passage to Mobile

On October 20, 1763, Major Robert Farmar of the 34th Regiment and commander of His Britannic Majesty's troops declared that all of the inhabitants of West Florida were subjects of England. The British led by Colonel Taylor began clearing out the Iberville River and building a path from British West Florida to the "14th British colony" of Mobile. Captain James Campbell along with 50 African slaves constructed a channel to the

. It was during this time that Farmar planned to build Fort Bute for protecting the workers and local settlers.

Construction

In 1765 construction materials and engineer Archibald Robertson from

Pensacola Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which ha ...

arrived in Bayou Manchac. Robertson supervised the planning and construction of Fort Bute. The fort consisted of a single

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

surrounded by a

stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived f ...

. The fort was designed to hold up to 200 men with a single officers quarters.

Capture

On September 3, 1779, Colonel Alexander Dickson removed nearly all the troops from the fort, leaving only 23 soldiers. The troops were ordered to march to the

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

outpost.

Bernardo de Gálvez Bernardo Vicente de Gálvez y Madrid, 1st Count of Gálvez (23 July 1746 – 30 November 1786) was a Spanish military leader and government official who served as colonial governor of Spanish Louisiana and Cuba, and later as Viceroy of New S ...

, the governor of

Spanish Louisiana Louisiana (, ), was a province of New Spain from 1762 to 1801. It was primarily located in the center of North America encompassing the western basin of the Mississippi River plus New Orleans. The area had originally been claimed and controlle ...

and commander of the troops of the

Catholic Majesty The Latin title ''Rex Catholicissimus'', anglicised as ''Most Catholic King'' or ''Most Catholic Majesty'', was awarded by the Pope to the Sovereigns of Spain. It was first used by Pope Alexander VI in the papal bull '' Inter caetera'' in 1493. ...

, gathered 1,427 militiamen consisting of 600 multinational settlers, 160 Native Americans, and 667 Spanish infantrymen. Gálvez slowly marched his troops towards Bayou Manchac through the muddy swamp at nine miles each day. The Spanish arrived at Fort Bute 11 days after beginning the march. At dawn on September 7 the Spanish captured Fort Bute with no casualties. One British captain, one lieutenant, and 18 soldiers were taken prisoner. Three British soldiers ran away from the battle and fled towards Baton Rouge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort Bute Louisiana in the American Revolution 1779 in the United States Conflicts in 1779 East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Colonial forts in Louisiana New Richmond Pre-statehood history of Louisiana Military installations established in 1766 1766 establishments in the British Empire Military installations closed in 1779 1779 disestablishments in the Spanish Empire