During its heyday, Murfreesboro’s Fortress Rosecrans was the largest earthern fortress build during the Civil War.
Shortly after the Battle of Stones River, the men of the Army of the Cumberland began building a massive fortification designed by Brig. Gen. James St. Clair Morton.
Once completed, the earthworks of Fortress Rosecrans covered more than 200 acres and protected vital segments of the railroad and a number of warehouses that held supplies for the coming campaign toward Chattanooga and on south as part of Sherman’s March to the Sea.
The fortress, which was really more of a supply base, “covered” Stones River and the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad as well as the intersection of Wilkinson Pike and the Old Nashville Pike.
After the Civil War, much of the fortress returned to agricultural use, but the west wall and one redoubt of the fortress have survived to the present. Acquired by the city of Murfreesboro in 1966, the property was transferred to the National Park Service in 1993, becoming a unit of Stones River National Battlefield.
Fortress Rosecrans, Redoubt Brannan, and the national battlefield have been connected since 1997 by the 3.2 mile Stones River Greenway. The fortress is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
But the fortress is the first of two major forts named in honor of Gen. William Starke Rosecrans.
The second, called Fort Rosecrans, is situated across the country where it was established to protect the entrance to San Diego Harbor.
This ocean-front, California fort, was begun in 1873 on the site of the old Spanish Castillo Guijarros on Point Loma. It is considered, by many, one of the most beautiful spots in the nation.
Point Loma was the spot where in 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo became the first European to set foot on what is now the West Coast of the United States.
The Point Loma peninsula forms a natural protective barrier at the entrance to San Diego Bay, rising some 422 feet and presenting strategic views of the harbor and ocean. In 1852, the government of the United States recognized the importance of this sandstone rampart and designated the area as a military reserve.
In 1899, the War Department dedicated Fort Rosecrans and built a series of gun batteries on the peninsula. Indications are the fort was named in honor of Rosecrans for his post-Civil War connections. He visited San Diego in 1871 representing Texas & Pacific Railroad and is purported to have offered developer Alonzo Horton $250,000 for a large plot of land called New San Diego.
The Texas & Pacific Railroad was one of a few rail lines to have a federal charter. After the Civil War, Texas Pacific was given the right to build from Marshall, Texas, to San Diego, Calif. One of Rosecrans past subordinates, Grenville M. Dodge, was chief design engineer for the line.
By 1869, Rosecrans’ California connection was solidified after serving briefly as U.S. Minister to Mexico. He was replaced when his old Union Army nemesis, Ulysses Grant, was elected president.
Rosecrans returned to his private mining business in Mexico and California until he was elected to the U.S. Congress from California, serving from 1881 to 1885, when he was appointed Register of the U.S. Treasury.
In 1869, Rosecrans bought 16,000 acres of Rancho San Pedro in the Los Angeles basin for $2.50 an acre The ranch, called "Rosecrans Rancho," was bordered by what later was Florence Avenue on the north, Redondo Beach Boulevard on the south, Central Avenue on the east, and Arlington Avenue on the west.
Rosecrans died at Rancho Sausal Redondo in Redondo Beach, Calif. His body laid in state in Los Angeles City Hall. In 1908 his remains were interred in Arlington National Cemetery.
In addition to Fort Rosecrans, Rosecrans Avenue, a major east-west street that runs through the southern part of Los Angeles County, is named in his honor.
A national monument honoring Spanish explorer Cabrillo was placed in Fort Rosecrans in 1913. Cabrillo National Monument boasts one of the best harbor views in the world. On clear winter days, vistors can experience a panorama that stretches from Mexico to the snow-capped mountains east of Los Angeles.
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is very picturesque and is the last resting place of a number of famous Americans, including Walter Schirra, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. Schirra was the only man to fly in America's first three space programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
Marine Gen. Joseph H. Pendleton is also buried there. Fort Pendleton is named in his honor. Commander Lloyd M. Bucher is among the more recent burials. Bucher was the commanding officer of the "USS Pueblo", a United States Navy ship that monitored communist activities in international waters off the coast of North Korea. |
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