Fort Bute
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| Fort Bute | |
|---|---|
 British West Florida in 1767 | |
| Location | British West Florida, now East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana |
| Coordinates | 30°19′25″N 91°8′13″W / 30.32361°N 91.13694°W |
| Built | 1776 |
| Built by | Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Demolished | 1779 |
| Important events | Capture of Fort Bute Gulf Coast campaign |
  Fort Bute Location of Fort Bute | |
Fort Bute (1766–1779) was a colonial fort built by the British in 1766 to protect the confluence of Bayou Manchac with the Mississippi River and was named in honor of the Earl of Bute. Fort Bute was located on Bayou Manchac, about 115 miles (185 km) up the Mississippi River from New Orleans, on the far western border of British West Florida. It was one of the three outposts maintained by the British in the lower Mississippi along with Fort Panmure and the Baton Rouge outpost.[1]
On October 20, 1763, Major Robert Farmar of the 34th Regiment and commander of His Britannic Majesty's troops declared that all of the inhabitants of West Florida were subjects of England.[2] The British led by Colonel Taylor began clearing out the Iberville River and building a path from British West Florida to the "14th British colony" of Mobile. Captain James Campbell along with 50 African slaves constructed a channel to the Mississippi River.[3] It was during this time that Farmar planned to build Fort Bute for protecting the workers and local settlers.[4]