Fort Mifflin
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| Fort Mifflin | |
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| (U.S. National Historic Landmark) | |
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| Location: | Fort Mifflin Road Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Architect: | [[John Montresor] [Pierre Charles L'Efant] [Louise de Tousard]] |
| Added to NRHP: | August 29, 1970 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 70000554[1] |
| Governing body: | Local |
Fort Mifflin, originally called Fort Island Battery, and also known as Mud Island Fort, was commissioned in 1771 and sits on Mud or Deepwater Island on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (the island's back channel has since filled in, and the Fort is reachable by auto). During the American Revolutionary War, the fort was a centerpiece of the British conquest of Philadelphia. The name "Fort Mifflin" became official in 1795. The fort was rebuilt in 1794-1800 during the presidency of John Adams according to Pierre L'Enfant's design, and enlarged in the 19th century.
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[edit] History
[edit] Construction
In 1771, Gov. John Penn recognizing the vulnerability of the port of Philadelphia to invasion; requested of British General Thomas Gage; someone who could design defences for the City. General Gage assigned Engineering Captain John Montresor to the task. Although Montresor came up with six alternate designs for the Fort; he submitted his preferred design to Penn & the Board of Commissioners for approval.
When the Commissioners reviewed the plans, they thought the Fort as designed too expensive. Despite Montresors pleadings, they instructed the engineer to begin consruction but failed to provide him with the funds he deemed necessary to properly do the job.
June 4, 1772 he left a foreman in charge of the construction project and disgruntled, returned to New York. The project floundered on for about a year, when it stopped for lack of guidance and funding.
Montresor stated that he intended to mount "32 pieces of cannon, 4 mortars and 4 royal howitzers... which at 6 men each make 240 men required, 160 musketry, in all 400 garrison." (Scull: Montresor Journals, P. 416f.
Following the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin headed a committee to provide for the defense of Philadelphia. At that time workmen had only completed the granite southern and eastern walls of Fort Mifflin. Another fort, known as Fort Mercer, was constructed across the Delaware River from Fort Mifflin.
Obsticals called "Chevaux de frise" were assembled and placed in 'tiers', spanning the width of the Delaware river. They were wooden framed "boxes", 30 feet square, constructed of huge timbers and lined with pine planks. When lowered onto the riverbed,, the frames were filled with 20 to 40 tons of stone to anchor them in place. Two or three large timbers tipped with iron spikes were placed in each frame set obliquely facing downstream. The boxes were then chained together to maintain continuity. The Chevaux de frise presented a formidable obstacle impail unwitting ships. The system was designed with "gaps" to allow passage of friendly shipping. Only a select few knew the location of this safe passage through this barrier. The function of Forts Mercer & Mifflin were to fire at anyone attempting to dismantle these obsticals.
The buildings standing today from the post-1795 construction. Among them is the Commandant's House, which is the only single dwelling north of the Mason Dixon Line designed by Pierre Charles L'Enfant. The white stone walls of the Fort date to the pre-revolutionary war British construction. Evidence of the 1777 British bombardment can be seen by the pockmarks in these stone walls, which was the site of the greatest bombardment of the American Revolution.
Recently, Casemate 11 was unearthed at Fort Mifflin. Built during the post Revolutionary war reconstruction of the fort (1794-98), the Casemate were used as a Powder Labratory, to assemble powder charges. When the nearby Torpedo Casement was built in 1876, the Army deemed this room no longer necessary and closed it off.
Casemate 11 allegedly housed Fort Mifflin's most famous prisoner, William H Howe. Howe was a Union soldier accused of desertion and murder. Howe was transferred to Eastern State Penitentiary, and transferred back to Fort Mifflin where he was later hanged. He has the distinction of being the only person ever executed by the Army where tickets to the execution were sold to the public. Howe signed his name in the cell, which is still visible today. Various artifacts were found in the casemate including pottery, the cell doors, and a chamber pot. Various graffiti of the period also graces the walls.
[edit] Siege of Forts Mifflin and Mercer during the American Revolutionary War
After the defeat of Washington at the Battle of Brandywine, the British took control of Philadelphia in September of 1777. The British forces then laid siege to Fort Mifflin and Fort Mercer in early October, 1777. The British engineer John Montresor, who both designed and initially oversaw construction of the fort, was assigned to besiege the fort in 1777. The siege, which lasted until the middle of November, destroyed much of Fort Mifflin. During the siege, 400 soldiers held off over 2,000 British troops and 250 ships until November 10, when the British intensified their assault, launching an incessant barrage of cannonballs into the fort. On November 15, 1777, the American troops were forced out. Their stand, which denied the British Navy free use of the Delaware River, allowed the successful repositioning of the Continental Army for the Battle of White Marsh and subsequent withdrawal to Valley Forge.
[edit] Usage during American Civil War
During the Civil War, Fort Mifflin was used to house Confederate prisoners of war, as well as Union soldiers and civilians accused of breaking the law. On November 24, 1864, LTC Seth Eastman, the great American Western frontier painter, was sent to Ft. Mifflin to supervise the discharge all of the over 200 civilian & military prisoners. On 2 Jan 1865, Eastman reported his garrison consisted of B Company, 186th PA Vol, a detachment of recruits and the hospital staff.
20 August 1865, Eastman was relieved by CPT Thomas E. Merritt, with A Company, 7th US Veteran volunteers.
[edit] Uses after the Civil War
The fort was a U.S. military post until the 1954. When it closed, Fort Mifflin was the oldest fort in continuous use in the nation (1771 to 1954). In 1962, Fort Mifflin was deeded back to the City of Philadelphia.
1866 = A Company, 7th US Veteran Volunteers departs; replaced by the District Engineer Office, Corps of Engineers; fort discontinued as an active post. 1866 - 1876: Intermittent repair, armament upgrade and moderinization by the Corps of Engineers 1870 - 1875: High battery (south of the Fort proper) constructed 1876 = Torpedo Casemate constructed 1876-1884 = Custodial responsibility of the Philadelphia District Office of the Corps of Engineers
During WW2, the US Army stationed a anti-aircraft battery at Ft. Mifflin, to defend the nearby Ft. Mifflin Naval Ammunition storage depot & The US Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
[edit] Further reading
- Jackson, John, "Fort Mifflin: Valiant Defender of the Delaware" James & Sons, Norristown, PA; 1986, 206 pages
- Jackson, John, "The Pennsylvania Navy, 1775-1781" Rutgers University Press
- Martin, Joseph Plum, "Private Yankee Doodle" Western Acorn Press, 1962
- Scull, G.D., "The Montresor Journals" New York Historical Society, 1881
- Dorwart, Jeffrey M., "Fort Mifflin of Philadelphia: An Illustrated History," University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, May 1998, ISBN 978-0-8122-1644-8, 264-pages
- McGuire, Thomas J., "The Philadelphia Campaign, Vol. II: Germantown and the Roads to Valley Forge," Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8117-0206-5, pages 181 to 222.
- Hardway, Ronald V., "Benjamin Lemasters of Nicholas County, West Virginia : his ancestry, his war record, his descendants"
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Fort Mifflin
- American History Fort Mifflin
- Historical Fort Mifflin
- Fort Mifflin History
- FortMifflin.com
- Attack on Fort Mifflin
- Documentary History
- Fort Mifflin is at coordinates Coordinates:
[edit] References
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
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