(3-2009) Enlarge Fort Wade. Near the Grand Gulf Military Monument Visitor Center. Site Marker: On a shelf overlooking the charred ruins of Grand Gulf the Confederate engineers built Fort Wade. Guibor's and Wade's Missouri Batteries manned its four big guns. When Admiral David G. Farragut's squadron passed  Grand Gulf on March 31, the guns of Fort Wade roared into action. General John S. Bowen, the Confederate commander at Grand Gulf, had a narrow escape when one of the 20-pounder Parrott's burst as he entered the emplacement. On April, 29, four of Admiral David D. Porter's "City Series" ironclads came down river, and took position one-fourth of a mile from Fort Wade.  A terrible artillery duel ensued. They were joined by the mighty "Lafayette." Fort Wade was smothered by the storm of shot and shell delivered by the five gunboats. Two 32-pounder rifles were dismounted, and the parapet knocked to pieces. Colonel William Wade has his head torn off. By 11 A.M. Fort Wade had been silenced and Porter's entire squadron concentrated its fire on Fort Cobun
 
Interpretive Markers:
Bombardment of Confederate Fortifications by Federal Gunboats
Fort Wade
Fort Wade Ammunition Magazine
Grand Gulf Military Park
The Buildup for War
Victories and Defeats - The Cost of War
War Comes to Grand Gulf

(3-2009) Enlarge Confederate Battery below Fort Wade. Site Marker:  SUPPORTING BATTERY - Field pieces (10 and 20-pounder Parrott rifles) manned by cannoneers from either Guibor's or Wade's Missouri Batteries were mounted in this emplacement. These guns were used against the attacking gunboats on April, 29, 1863

(2006) Enlarge Another Confederate Battery near Fort Wade
 
Photo by Richard Edling, Philadelphia, Pa

(2006) Enlarge Fort Wade's Ammunition Magazine. Site Marker: Destroyed by the Confederates on the morning of May 3, 1863 when Grand Gulf became untenable against Federal army approaching from Port Gibson. The large sections of iron grate are the remains of the town's jail, which were moved into the fort to house the ammunition
 
Richard Edling photo
 
Interpretive Marker:
Fort Wade Ammunition Magazine

(3-2009) Enlarge Fort Wade's Ammunition Magazine

(3-2009) Enlarge Near Fort Wayne. Site Marker: This XIII-inch Mortar was probably used by the Union in the fight for Vicksburg. In the early 1900's it was seen partially buried in the levee on Davis Island. These mortars were mounted on schooners or box-like boats. The Mortars weighed 17,000 lbs. and fired 200 lb. explosive "bombs." On loan from R. Lee Parker III, Ernest Parker, Mrs. Carroll Sojourner, and Mrs. Holler Baker

(3-2009) Enlarge Spanish House. This house was built in the late 1790's of cypress, poplar, and heart pine and put together with wooden pegs instead of nails. The Spanish built structure represents one of several homesteads erected by five different groups of "Conquerors" who occupied and raised their flag over this area
 
The proximity of the house to Fort Wade caused considerable damage from Federal shells in 1863. It was repaired after the war and restored to its original condition in 1958 by replacing deteriorated timbers with new ones hewn from local forests. It is a jewel of the past and will be preserved for the pleasure of the future
 
Narrative courtesy of Grand Gulf Military Park