Flagstaff Fort | |
---|---|
Staten Island, New York | |
Coordinates | 40°36′18″N74°03′24″W / 40.60500°N 74.05667°W |
Type | Redoubt |
Site information | |
Owner | National Park Service |
Site history | |
Built | June 1776 |
Built by | Patriot forces |
In use | 1776-1783 |
Demolished | Replaced by Fort Tompkins in 1806 |
Battles/wars | American Revolutionary War |
Garrison information | |
Occupants | National Park Service |
A Patriot redoubt built in June 1776, located on Signal Hill at The Narrows on Staten Island. Site of an earlier 1663 blockhouse that stood until at least 1808, [1] preceded by one built by Dutch settler David Pieterszen de Vries in 1636 and destroyed in the Peach War of 1655. [2] Taken by the British in July 1776 and by July 1779 a redoubt with gun platforms for 26 cannon was built. Two months later, six 24-pounders and four 18-pounders were recorded on hand. In 1782 the fort had five bastions and several barbette batteries. Evacuated by the British in 1783 at the end of the Revolution. [1] In 1806 Flagstaff Fort was demolished and Fort Tompkins was built on the site, reportedly enclosing the 1663 blockhouse with red sandstone. [3] That fort along with others grew into Fort Wadsworth. [3] The site is now part of the Gateway National Recreation Area of the National Park Service.
Fort Montgomery was a fortification built on the west bank of the Hudson River in Highlands, New York by the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Erected in 1776, Fort Montgomery was one of the first major investments by the Americans in strategic construction projects.
Citadel Hill is a hill that is a National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Four fortifications have been constructed on Citadel Hill since the city was founded by the English in 1749, and were referred to as Fort George—but only the third fort was officially named Fort George. According to General Orders of October 20, 1798, it was named after King George III. The first two and the fourth and current fort, were officially called the Halifax Citadel. The last is a concrete star fort.
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery, air force and cruise missiles. A fortification intended to resist these weapons is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt, or in modern times, be an underground bunker. However, a blockhouse may also refer to a room within a larger fortification, usually a battery or redoubt.
Fort McClary is a former defensive fortification of the United States military located along the southern coast at Kittery Point, Maine at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. It was used throughout the 19th century to protect approaches to the harbor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. The property and its surviving structures are now owned and operated by the State of Maine as Fort McClary State Historic Site, including a blockhouse dating from 1844.
Fort Hamilton is a United States Army installation in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, surrounded by the communities of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. It is one of several posts that are part of the region which is headquartered by the Military District of Washington. Its mission is to provide the New York metropolitan area with military installation support for the Army National Guard and the United States Army Reserve. The original fort was completed in 1831, with major additions made in the 1870s and 1900s. However, all defenses except about half of the original fort have been demolished or buried.
Fort Wadsworth is a former United States military installation on Staten Island in New York City, situated on The Narrows which divide New York Bay into Upper and Lower halves, a natural point for defense of the Upper Bay and Manhattan beyond. Prior to closing in 1994 it claimed to be the longest continually garrisoned military installation in the United States. It comprises several fortifications, including Fort Tompkins and Battery Weed and was given its present name in 1865 to honor Brigadier General James Wadsworth, who had been killed in the Battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War. Fort Wadsworth is now part of the Staten Island Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, maintained by the National Park Service.
Fort Edgecomb, built in 1808–1809, is a two-story octagonal wooden blockhouse with restored fortifications located on Davis Island in the town of Edgecomb, Lincoln County, Maine, United States. It is the centerpiece of the Fort Edgecomb State Historic Site. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, with its boundaries increased to create a historic district in 1991.
Mount Independence on Lake Champlain in Orwell, Vermont, was the site of extensive fortifications built during the American Revolutionary War by the American army to stop a British invasion. Construction began in July 1776, following the American defeat in Canada, and continued through the winter and spring of 1777. After the American retreat on July 5 and 6, 1777, British and Hessian troops occupied Mount Independence until November 1777.
Fort Billingsport, referred to as Fort Billings in some sources, was a Continental Army fort in Billingsport in Paulsboro, New Jersey in Gloucester County, New Jersey, during the American Revolutionary War. The site of the fort is now a public park of the same name, located at the Plains Terminal at the Port of Paulsboro between two oil refineries.
Battery Weed is a four-tiered 19th century fortification guarding the Narrows, the main approach from the Atlantic Ocean to New York City. Located on the Staten Island waterfront on the west shore of the Narrows, directly across from Fort Hamilton and the now-destroyed Fort Lafayette in Brooklyn, the fort was intended to protect New York from attack by sea. When built, it was named Fort Richmond, as was a previous fort on the site.
Fort Tompkins is a fort on Staten Island in New York City, within what is now Fort Wadsworth at the Narrows. Fort Tompkins guarded the landward approaches to other forts in the area from 1808 through circa 1898. The current fort was built 1847–1861, and was operational as a fort until superseded by new defenses circa 1898. It is now part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. It is the last remaining of four forts in New York State named Fort Tompkins.
Boquet is an unincorporated community in Penn Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States.
Dozens of fortifications were built in Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula between the 1650s and the 1940s. Most have gone, but a few still stand.
Nutter's Battery is a scenic overlook in the North Woods of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, overlooking the Harlem Meer to the north. The battery was built during the War of 1812 as a small part of an extensive system of fortification intended to defend against a British invasion from the north. After the war, the wall fell into ruin and eventually disappeared. The Parks Department built a low wall in 1945 to mark the spot, and the Central Park Conservancy rebuilt the wall in 2014, adding paths and planting. The battery was named after Valentine Nutter, who owned the surrounding property.
Battery Bienvenue is a ruined coastal gun battery located in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. It was built as part of the harbor defense of New Orleans, and located at a strategic fork where Bayou Bienvenue and Bayou Villeré join. Bayou Bienvenue, from Lake Borgne, was the route used by the British late in 1814 to approach the city.
Fort Clinton was a stone-and-earthworks fortification on an elevation within what is now Central Park in New York City. It was built in 1814 near the present line of 107th Street, slightly west of Fifth Avenue. According to maps of the time, Fort Clinton was the easternmost of a connected series of forts, connected to Nutter's Battery on the west by earthworks and a gatehouse over the Old Post Road at the bottom of McGowan's Pass. Fort Clinton and Nutter's Battery were commanded from a third fort at the top of the pass, Fort Fish, which had a sweeping view of Long Island Sound, northern Manhattan, and Westchester County. Fort Fish was across the road from Fort Clinton and connected to Nutter's Battery by another line of earthworks.
Connaught Battery is a World War I era harbour defence battery located north of York Redoubt at Ferguson's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada. It took its name from the then Governor General of Canada, the Duke of Connaught, who was Queen Victoria's third son.
The Gibraltar Point Blockhouse was a blockhouse that was originally built in 1794 and was located on Gibraltar Point at the western end of the Toronto Islands. The first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, planned defences for the mouth of Toronto Harbour at Fort York, along with the Gibraltar Point Blockhouse that was situated south of the harbour's entrance.
The fortifications of Plymouth in Devon are extensive due to its natural harbour, its commanding position on the Western Approaches and its role as the United Kingdom's largest naval base. The first medieval defences were built to defend Sutton Harbour on the eastern side of Plymouth Sound at the mouth of the River Plym, but by the 18th century, naval activity had begun to shift westward to Devonport at the mouth of the River Tamar. During the Victorian era, advances in military technology led to a huge programme of fortification encompassing the whole of Plymouth Sound together with the overland approaches. Many of these works remained in military use well into the 20th century.
The Harbor Defenses of New York was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of New York City from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program, some of which were located in New Jersey. These included both coast artillery forts and underwater minefields. The command originated c. 1895 as an Artillery District(s) and became the Coast Defenses of Eastern New York and Coast Defenses of Southern New York in 1913. Circa 1915 the Coast Defenses of Sandy Hook separated from the latter command. In 1925 the commands were renamed as Harbor Defense Commands, and in 1935 the Harbor Defenses of Eastern New York was almost entirely disarmed, although possibly retaining the minefield capability. The New York and Sandy Hook commands and the Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound were unified as the Harbor Defenses of New York on 9 May 1942.