Central Redoubt, Fort Mill Ridge

Civil War Fort near Romney, WV

The forest has grown here since the Civil War. Whatever trees were on the ridge in early 1863 would have been cleared and used in constructing the fort.

The second paragraph of this marker explains what we're looking at:

A redoubt is a small enclosed earthwork used to fortify a position from attacks on all sides. The square is the most common form for a redoubt in part due to the ease with which it is constructed. The weakest point of a square redoubt is the corner, or salient, as only a limited amount of fire can be concentrated in that direction. The corner projections, or traverses, of the central redoubt are intended to help overcome that weakness. With these projections, the redoubt has the form of a miniature bastion fort.

For the rest of the text, see HMDB, "The Central Redoubt."

For a similarly shaped fort, see our Fort Loudoun post.