In November 1807, North Carolina's General Assembly took steps to encourage the federal government to protect Beaufort. A tract of land at the point was purchased by the state and ceded to the U.S. government for this fort.
In early 1808, the Army's Engineer Department authorized a small fort and work began the following year. Captain Charles Gratiot supervised construction at a cost of $8,863.62 and it was named for N.C. Revolutionary War hero Col. Andrew Hampton ((1713-1805).
It was the smallest Second System fort built at the time, but typical of their design, consisting of a horse-shaped parapet seven feet high and made of an oyster shell cement called tabby, or tapia.
The walls were 14-feet thick at the base and tapered to 8-feet at the top.. The gun platform was 23-feet wide on which there were to be mounted five 18-pdr. cannons capable of throwing an 18 pound cannon ball a mile.
--Brock-Perry
2012 marks the 200th anniversary of America's "Forgotten War," the War of 1812 that took place over three years, 1812 to 1815.
Battle of New Orleans.
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