Fort Carlos III was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

fort located at the ''Ecores Rouges'', ''

Luisiana Luisiana, officially the Municipality of Luisiana ( tgl, Bayan ng Luisiana), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 20,859 people. Locals call the town ''Little ...

'' in present-day Arkansas County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. Named for King Carlos III, it was located on the left bank of the

, about 29 miles from the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

. This wooden

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

fort comprised a

stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...

s, storehouses,

barrack Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

s' quarters, a powder magazine,

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

swivel gun The term swivel gun (or simply swivel) usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun wi ...

s, and

ordnance Ordnance may refer to: Military and defense *Materiel in military logistics, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and maintenance tools and equipment. **The military branch responsible for supplying and developing these items, e.g., the Unit ...

stores. It served as the headquarters of Spain's district of Arkansas from 1781 until 1791 when it was destroyed by river

bank erosion Bank erosion is the wearing away of the banks of a stream or river. This is distinguished from erosion of the bed of the watercourse, which is referred to as ''scour''. The roots of trees growing by a stream are undercut by such erosion. As the ...

and replaced by Fort San Esteban (later called Fort Madison).

History

Fort Carlos III was completed on July 11, 1781 at the ''Ecores Rouges'', ''Luisiana''. Discovery of the intention of

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partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

s to capture

Arkansas Post The Arkansas Post (french: Poste de Arkansea) (Spanish: ''Puesto de Arkansas''), formally the Arkansas Post National Memorial, was the first European settlement in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and present-day U.S. state of Arkansas. In 168 ...

earlier that month prompted it's construction. The post's commandant, Captain Balthazer de Villiers, described the stockade as consisting of:

...
red oak The genus Oak, ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many List of the largest genera of flowering plants, large genera, is Taxonomic rank#Ranks in botany, divided into subgenus, subgen ...
stakes thirteen feet high, with diameters of 10 to 15 or 16 inches, split in two and reinforced inside by similar stakes to a height of six feet and a banquette of two feet.

Captain de Villiers also wrote that the stockade enclosed all

necessary places, including a house 45 feet long and 15 feet wide, and a storehouse, both serving to lodge my troops, and around several smaller buildings.

In addition, the fort consisted of two gates on opposite sides and two bastions at opposite angles of the fort, each mounted with 3 1/2-inch brass cannons. Embrasures in the stockade, which were covered with bullet-proof sliding panels, were made for the cannons and

swivel guns The term swivel gun (or simply swivel) usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun wi ...

. Lieutenant Don Luis de Villars became acting commander at the post in April 1782 after Captain de Villiers became too ill to perform his duties. Captain Jacobo du Breuil took over as commander of the post on January 5, 1783, and added a bastion at one angle of the fort. Captain De Villier remained at the fort as second-in-command, despite orders from Governor Esteban Miró to leave. Fort Carlos III was the focus of James Colbert's 1783 raid during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, during which it was a place of refuge for the local women and children. During the late 1780s and early 1790s, the side of the fort closest to the river was slowly destroyed by erosion and flooding. After Captain Ignacio Delinó took control of the post in 1790, he had Fort San Estevan built about a half mile back from the river to replace the ruined structure. By February 1793, Fort Carlos III was entirely eroded into the river. Today, the remains of Fort Carlos III are inundated beneath Horseshoe Lake (Post Bend), a former channel of the river now used as a navigation lake.

References

{{Authority control 1781 establishments in New Spain 1791 disestablishments in New Spain Carlos III Arkansas Post Buildings and structures on the Arkansas River Former buildings and structures in Arkansas Carlos III Carlos III History of Arkansas County, Arkansas Military installations established in 1781 Military installations closed in 1791 Pre-statehood history of Arkansas Rebuilt buildings and structures in Arkansas Soil erosion Carlos III Wooden buildings and structures