One of the most prominent structures in downtown Southport, Fort Johnston also has an outsize place when it comes to local history.
The former military base on the Cape Fear River has its origins in the first half of the 18th century, when European settlers were just beginning to lay down roots in Southeastern North Carolina.
According to a 2010 StarNews story that uses Wilson Angley’s 1996 book “A History of Fort Johnston on the Lower Cape Fear” as its primary source, the fort’s creation by the British was spurred when France sided with Spain in the War of the Austrian Succession against England in 1744.
The very next year, N.C. Gov. Gabriel Johnston, for whom Fort Johnston is named, decreed that a fort be built on the Cape Fear to protect both Wilmington and Brunswick Town, which was still inhabited at that time, from Spanish raids.
It was a good idea that came a bit too late. By the time the fort was completed in 1749, the Spanish had already looted Brunswick Town a year earlier. Even so, Fort Johnston would play a big part in military affairs, both locally and nationally, for more than a century.