Southport, N.C.: army plans to end military use of Fort Johnston.The Army plans to end its use of historic Fort Johnston, in downtown Southport, N.C. The Military Ocean Terminal, Sunny Point, the current user of the facility, has initiated action to declare the facility surplus. A formal Report of Excess is being prepared to submit to the Department of the Army in order to begin the process. Fort Johnston has served as family housing for Soldiers and their families stationed at the military terminal since the 1950s. Typically, the commanding officer's family would live in the fort's main building In recent years, greater numbers of Soldiers assigned to the terminal have opted to live in nearby civilian communities. The facility has room for four military families and one unaccompanied un·ac·com·pa·nied adj. 1. Going or acting without companions or a companion: unaccompanied children on a flight. 2. Music Performed or scored without accompaniment. Soldier. Currently, two families are quartered in the facility. This action is unrelated to and independent of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Base Realignment and Closure (or BRAC) is a process of the United States federal government directed at the administration and operation of the Armed Forces, used by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and Congress to close excess military installations and realign process that is currently underway in the Department of Defense. If the Army approves the action, the facility would be made available to another federal agency. If no federal agency is interested in the facility, it would be made available to a state agency or, in turn, a local government agency. The transfer process is expected to take 18-20 months. Fort Johnston was constructed between 1745-1754. Originally, the installation was used as both coastal protection and a quarantine quarantine (kwŏr`əntēn), isolation of persons, animals, places, and effects that carry or are suspected of harboring communicable disease. station for incoming mariners. As time went on, the adjacent community of Smithville developed adjacent to the fort. The town was later renamed Southport. Confederate troops occupied the installation in 1861. It was a key facility for maintaining the security of the Cape Fear River Cape Fear River, 202 mi (325 km) long, formed in E central N.C. by the junction of the Deep and Haw rivers, and flowing southeast to enter the Atlantic Ocean S of Wilmington and N of Cape Fear; longest river entirely within North Carolina. to incoming blockade blockade, use of naval forces to cut off maritime communication and supply. Blockades may be used to prevent shipping from reaching enemy ports, or they may serve purposes of coercion. The term is rarely applied to land sieges. runners with weapons, munitions mu·ni·tion n. War materiel, especially weapons and ammunition. Often used in the plural. tr.v. mu·ni·tioned, mu·ni·tion·ing, mu·ni·tions To supply with munitions. and supplies from Europe and nearby Caribbean nations eventually. Wilmington was the last Southern port open to outside maritime aid due to the Union blockade The Union Blockade refers to the naval actions between 1861 and 1865, during the American Civil War, in which the Union Navy maintained a massive effort on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the Confederate States of America designed to prevent the passage of trade goods, supplies, . The fort was seized by federal forces Jan. 17, 1865. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion