Fort Massachusetts

Ship Island came to the forefront of U.S. history during the War of 1812 when a British fleet assembled at Ship Island to prepare for an attack on New Orleans. The troops of Commander Andrew Jackson soundly defeated them, however. Following the War of 1812, the U.S. War Department planned for the construction of an extended system of masonry forts for coastal defense. Ship Island was considered important to the defense of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast because of its deep water harbor and location along a shipping route.

Early in the Civil War, the Confederates seized the unfinished fort on Ship Island. Federal forces regained control of the fort in late 1861 and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers resumed construction of the fort in 1862. Federal forces used Ship Island as the staging area for their successful capture of New Orleans in the spring of 1862. A hospital, barracks, mess hall and bakery were a few of the 40 buildings constructed during the Civil War. In addition, the Army used the island as a prison camp for captured Confederate troops . It was probably during the Civil War, the fort was first called Massachusetts in honor of the Union blockade ship by the same name.