Fort Jay is situated on Governors Island (which was known as Nutten Island from 1664 to 1784, based on Dutch Noten Eylandt for "Nut Island"). Specifically, the fort is located on the site of earthworks originally built to defend New York City during the American Revolution. General Israel Putnam constructed the first earthen fortification on this site starting in April 1776, and armed it with eight cannons for the defense of New York Harbor. Additional guns were later emplaced, and on July 12, 1776 the Nutten Island batteries engaged HMSPhoenix and HMSRose. The American cannons inflicted enough damage to make the British commanders cautious of entering the East River, which later contributed to the success of General George Washington's August 29–30 retreat from Brooklyn into Manhattan after the defeat in the Battle of Brooklyn. The Americans abandoned the earthworks that September, resulting in the eventual British occupation of New York City. The British Army improved the existing earthworks and used the island as a British Royal Navy hospital until they departed on November 25, 1783. At that time Governors Island was conveyed to the State of New York.
Federal period
In the years following the end of British occupation of New York in 1783, the works deteriorated. A decade later in 1794, the State of New York began to finance improvements to the earthworks, then in ruins. The fort was reconstructed as a square with four corner bastions, and was named after the Federalist New York governor John Jay. By 1797 Congress appropriated $30,117 for continued construction. Eventually, to allow for continued federal funding and upkeep of the works, the state conveyed Governors Island and the works at Fort Jay to the federal government in February 1800 for one dollar.
In 1806 the earthworks were replaced by granite and brick walls and the footprint of the fort enlarged to designs by Major Jonathan Williams, chief engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, superintendent of the United States Military Academy, and supervisor of fortifications in New York Harbor.[2] The fort was rebuilt and enlarged as part of what became known as the Second System of US seacoast fortifications.[3] Williams replaced the earthworks with sandstone and granite walls and an arrow-shaped ravelin, all surrounded by a dry moat. The moat was in turn surrounded by a sloped grassy area or glacis that was once was cleared of trees, providing a clear field of fire toward any advancing enemy forces. The slope was also designed to retard or stop cannon shot from warships. The overall result is still evident in the fort's design and its position on the highest point on the island. Construction of the walls and gate of the existing fort were completed in 1808. Later, small wood and brick barracks buildings were constructed in the enclosed square space.
The fortification was initially named Fort Jay for John Jay, a member of the Federalist Party, New York governor, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Secretary of State and one of the Founding Father of the United States. Jay, as George Washington's Secretary of State, negotiated the Jay Treaty of 1794 with Great Britain. With the election of Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800 there was a shift of power from the Federalists, of which Jay was a prominent member, to the Democratic-Republican Party. Jefferson's party objected to the treaty, which resolved outstanding issues from the American Revolution. Following the 1806 rebuilding, and with the change in presidential administrations and the recent transfer to the federal government, the fort was renamed Fort Columbus, presumably for Christopher Columbus.
The post was renamed at some time between December 15, 1806 and July 21, 1807. Edmund Banks Smith, an Episcopal priest, Army chaplain, and author of an early history of Governors Island wrote in 1913 that this was "supposed to have been due to Jay’s temporary unpopularity with the Republican party, which was not satisfied with the Jay Treaty with England". However, this has not been substantiated, and no documentation for the name change has been found. The fort retained the name "Columbus" throughout the rest of the 19th century, finally reverting to Fort Jay in 1904.[4]
Fort Columbus played an important role in the military life of New York City as the largest army post defending the city. The fortification, in concert with Fort Wood on Liberty Island, Fort Gibson on Ellis Island, Castle Clinton at the Battery in Lower Manhattan, and two other fortifications on Governors Island, South Battery and Castle Williams, provided protection for the city and Upper New York Bay. This system of coastal fortifications is credited with discouraging the British from taking any naval action against the city during the War of 1812, who preferred easier targets in the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay (resulting in the burning of Washington, D.C.), and the Gulf of Mexico below New Orleans.[original research?]
In subsequent years, beginning in the 1820s, Fort Richmond, Fort Hamilton, and Fort Lafayette at the Narrows of New York Harbor reduced the need for the Upper Harbor forts, and in time, the Army transferred most properties in Upper New York Bay to other federal agencies or sold them to the state of New York. Fort Columbus, however, possessed 68 acres (280,000m2), a sufficient land mass for a modest garrison at a reasonable proximity (1,000 yards (910m)) to Manhattan, making it the most practical of the Second System forts for the Army to retain and continue to garrison.[original research?]
Personnel stationed at Fort Columbus began to record meteorological observations in the 1820s.[original research?]
In the 1830s, the protective value of Fort Columbus diminished with the advance of weapons technology, but other uses evolved for the army post. The Army renovated the fortification beginning in 1833 with the construction of four barracks that remain to the present day, replacing wooden barracks. The barracks were built as the fortification's importance in protecting New York was diminished by the construction of the new forts at The Narrows of New York Harbor. The Greek Revival style barracks, unified by two-story Tuscan porticos first served as officers' and enlisted men's housing for the permanent garrison. That same year the Ordnance Department established the New York Arsenal as a separate installation, adjacent to but not part of Fort Columbus, as a major depot taking delivery of contracted manufactured arms and weapons and distributing both contract and federally manufactured weapons to army posts across the nation. In 1836, the South Battery became the Army School of Music Practice, training young boys to become company drummers and fife players and regimental musicians.
The army located its General Recruiting Service for infantry troops at Fort Columbus in November 1852, and many regiments in the army detailed officers to Fort Columbus on recruiting details.[5]
Twice, in December 1860 and April 1861, the Army "secretly" dispatched troops and provisions from Fort Columbus to relieve the besieged garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. Outgoing President James Buchanan initiated the first effort, but a battery garrisoned by cadets from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina fired on the Army-chartered New York-based steamship Star of the West on January 9, 1861 as it entered Charleston Harbor. The incident provoked a crisis, prompting other southern states began to more seriously consider secession from the Union. The second effort, with new Army recruits departing from Fort Columbus on April 9, 1861, also failed when it prompted South Carolina forces to fire on Fort Sumter early in the morning of April 12, 1861, resulting in the start of the Civil War.
In the early years of the Civil War, the north barracks were used to hold Confederate officers taken as prisoners of war pending transfer to other Union prisons such as Camp Johnson in Ohio, Fort Delaware or Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. Fort Columbus and Castle Williams also served as a temporary prisoner of war camp and confinement hospital for Confederate prisoners during the war. Major General William H. C. Whiting (CSA) died of dysentery in February 1865 in the post hospital shortly after his surrender at the Battle of Fort Fisher, North Carolina. He was the highest ranking Confederate officer to die as a prisoner of war.
15-inch Rodman gun (left) and 10-inch Rodman gun (right).
Late in war and the immediate years after it, the armament of the fort was upgraded with nearly fifty 10-inch (254mm) and 15-inch (381mm)Rodman guns. As the result of a World War II scrap drive, four 10-inch and one 15-inch guns were retained at the fort's east entrance gate and north ravelin as ornaments, while the remainder were shipped on barges to steel mills in Pittsburgh, PA and scrapped for the war effort in October 1942.
Division and departmental headquarters
In the years after the American Civil War, New York Arsenal served as a major center for disposing of surplus and excess cannons and munitions for war memorials in national cemeteries and for municipalities, scrap, or sale to foreign governments.
In 1878, as part of a servicewide cost-cutting effort, the United States Army relocated many of its administrative functions from rented quarters in large urban centers to neighboring army posts. In New York City, nearly all army functions in the city were relocated to Governors Island, making Fort Columbus the headquarters for the Division of the Atlantic and later the Department of the East. Both commands then included almost all army activities east of the Mississippi River. The prestige of a command at Fort Columbus as a premier posting ranked second only to high-ranking army positions in Washington, D.C., and many commanders went on to become Commanding General of the United States Army. Its departmental commanders from the 1880s to the 1900s included Winfield Scott Hancock, Wesley Merritt, Oliver O. Howard, Nelson Miles, Arthur MacArthur, and other combat commanders in the Civil War, the Indian Wars, and the Spanish–American War.[6]
20th century
Looking north across Fort Jay with Lower Manhattan skyscrapers in the background.
At the turn of the century, Fort Columbus and Governors Island began to draw the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of War, Elihu Root, a former New York City lawyer. Root sought to enhance the island army post to better serve the army's needs, to fend off efforts by the City of New York to close the post and reclaim the island as a city park and a rarely stated need to provide a quick means of federal protection of Wall Street, the Customs House and Sub-Treasury in Lower Manhattan. Root instigated the expansion of the island from its original 60 acres to 172 acres with landfill from the newly constructed New York City Subway and dredge from New York Harbor. Root also commissioned the New York architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White to develop a master plan for the island which would demolish all the existing buildings on the island except for the three original fortifications on the island and a newly constructed chapel. The retention of the fortifications indicated Root's interest in retaining the historical structures, as some of the army decision makers he supervised were trying to accomplish their demolition. In one of his departing acts as Secretary of War in February 1904, Root restored the original name of Fort Jay to the fortification and to the army post that had evolved around it.
A 1930s WPA project was the complete conversion of the barracks in Fort Jay to family housing. Each company barracks was transformed into four townhouse-style apartments that served junior officers as family housing. As a further concession to the automobile, eight two-car garages were constructed inside the fort behind the barracks to serve the fort's residents.
During World War II Fort Jay was the headquarters of First Army in the early part of the war, and later the Eastern Defense Command (EDC), responsible for all Army units and defense coordination in the northeastern United States, and in the east coast states from Maine through Florida. These were primarily coast defense, antiaircraft, and fighter assets. US Army forces in Newfoundland and, from April 1942, Bermuda were also included in the EDC.[7]
End of military career
In November 1964 after a year of study to identify ways to downsize Department of Defense installations, the U.S. Army announced the closure of Fort Jay. The merging of Second Army duties and functions with that of First Army and relocating First Army's headquarters to Fort Meade, Maryland. In 1966 the United States Coast Guard (USCG) assumed control of Governors Island and continued to use Fort Jay to house officers until it closed its Governors Island base in September 1996.
On January 19, 2001, Fort Jay, Castle Williams and a surrounding 23 acres were proclaimed part of the Governors Island National Monument, administered by the National Park Service with Fort Jay recognized as being one of the finest remaining examples of the Second System of American military fortifications. Since 2003, both fortifications have been open to the public on a summer seasonal basis as they undergo stabilization and the remainder of the island undergoes redevelopment by the City of New York through the Trust for Governors Island.
Sackets Harbor is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States, on Lake Ontario. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. The village was named after land developer and owner Augustus Sackett, who founded it in the early 1800s.
Governors Island is a 172-acre (70 ha) island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately 800 yards (730 m) south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the 400-yard-wide (370 m) Buttermilk Channel. The National Park Service administers a small portion of the north end of the island as the Governors Island National Monument, including two former military fortifications named Fort Jay and Castle Williams. The Trust for Governors Island operates the remaining 150 acres (61 ha), including 52 historic buildings, as a public park. About 103 acres (42 ha) of the land area is fill, added in the early 1900s to the south of the original island.
Governors Island National Monument is a unit of the United States national park system in New York City. It is located on 22 acres (89,000 m2) of Governors Island, a 172-acre (0.70 km2) island located off the southern tip of Manhattan Island, at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers in New York Harbor.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, most commonly known as El Morro(The Promontory), is a large fortress and citadel in the historic district of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Commissioned by King Charles I of Spain in 1539, it was first built as a fortified tower in honor of King Philip II, who oversaw its expansion into a hornwork fort by 1595. Over the next 200 years, especially in the reign of King Charles III, El Morro continued to be developed to reach its current form in 1787. Rising 140 ft from the Atlantic shoreline with 18 to 25 ft thick walls, the six-leveled edifice stands on a steep, rocky headland promontory on San Juan Islet guarding the entry to San Juan Bay, the harbor of Old San Juan. El Morro, alongside La Fortaleza, San Cristóbal, El Cañuelo, and other forts part of the Walls of Old San Juan, protected strategically and militarily important Puerto Rico, or La Llave de las Indias , from invasion by competing world powers during the Age of Sail. It was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983.
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 bays, a natural point for defense of the Upper Bay, Manhattan, and beyond. Prior to its closing in 1994, the fort was claimed to be the longest continuously 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 Totten is a former active United States Army installation in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located on the Willets Point peninsula on the north shore of Long Island. Fort Totten is at the head of Little Neck Bay, where the East River widens to become Long Island Sound. While the U.S. Army Reserve continues to maintain a presence at the fort, the property is now owned by the City of New York.
Fort Wellington National Historic Site is a historic military fortification located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River at Prescott, Ontario. The military fortification was used by the British Army, and the Canadian militia for most of the 19th century, and by the militia in the 20th century, until 1923, when the property was handed over to the Dominion Parks Commission, the predecessor to Parks Canada. The fort was earlier named a National Historic Site of Canada in January 1920.
The Pentagon Barracks, also known as the Old United States Barracks, is a complex of buildings located at the corner of State Capitol Drive and River Road in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the grounds of the state capitol. The site was used by the Spanish, French, British, Confederate States Army, and United States Army and was part of the short-lived Republic of West Florida. During its use as a military post the site has been visited by such notable figures as Zachary Taylor, Lafayette, Robert E. Lee, George Custer, Jefferson Davis, and Abraham Lincoln.
Fort Winthrop, built in 1808 and named Fort Warren until 1834, was a defensive fortification in Boston Harbor named after John Winthrop, an early governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Castle Williams is a circular fortification of red sandstone on the northwest point of Governors Island, part of a system of forts designed and constructed in the early 19th century to protect New York City from naval attack. It is a prominent landmark in New York Harbor. Together with Fort Jay, it is managed by the National Park Service as part of Governors Island National Monument.
The School of Practice at Fort Columbus, Governors Island, in New York Harbor was the United States Army's institute for musical training before and during the American Civil War. Much of the historical documentation of the School comes from Ten Years in the Ranks, U.S. Army, a book written by Augustus Meyers after enlisting at age twelve in the 1850s. The first part deals with the School of Practice. The official training guide, adopted by the War Department, was George G. Bruce's The Drummers and Fife Guide, which was used until the end of the Civil War.
Fort Pickering is a 17th-century historic fort site on Winter Island in Salem, Massachusetts. Fort Pickering operated as a strategic coastal defense and military barracks for Salem Harbor during a variety of periods, serving as a fortification from the Anglo-Dutch Wars through World War II. Construction of the original fort began in 1643 and it saw use as a military installation into the 20th century. Fort Miller in Marblehead also defended Salem's harbor from the 1630s through the American Civil War. Fort Pickering is a First System fortification named for Colonel Timothy Pickering, born in Salem, adjutant general of the Continental Army and secretary of war in 1795. Today, the remains of the fort are open to the public as part of the Winter Island Maritime Park, operated by the City of Salem.
Liggett Hall, also known as Building 400 is a former barracks building designed by McKim, Mead & White and built in 1929 near Fort Jay on Governors Island in New York Harbor, in New York City. The Georgian Revival building is three to 4+1⁄2 stories tall and measures 1,023 feet (312 m) long.
Fort Wolcott was a fortification on the small Goat Island in Newport Harbor of Narragansett Bay less than 1 mile west of the city of Newport, Rhode Island. The attacks on HMS St John and HMS Liberty occurred near the fort.
Fort Revere is an 8-acre (3.2 ha) historic site situated on a small peninsula located in Hull, Massachusetts. It is situated on Telegraph Hill in Hull Village and contains the remains of two seacoast fortifications, one from the American Revolution and one that served 1898–1947. There are also a water tower with an observation deck, a military history museum and picnic facilities. It is operated as Fort Revere Park by the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.
Eastern Point Fort was a fort that was garrisoned or maintained from 1863 to 1867 on Eastern Point in Gloucester, Massachusetts, built for the American Civil War. References indicate the name has also been used to refer to the much-older Stage Fort across the harbor.
Fort Sumner was a coastal defense fortification on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine, United States. It was built in 1794 as part of the first system of coastal fortifications built by the United States. It was reportedly originally named Fort Allen after the nearby Revolutionary War battery that probably became part of Fort Sumner, but was renamed in 1797 after Increase Sumner, the incumbent Governor of Massachusetts, of which Maine was then a part. The location is now Fort Sumner Park.
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.
Governors Island Golf Course was a military course on Governors Island in New York Harbor, New York City, approximately 800 yards (732 m) from the southern tip of Manhattan Island. The golf course offered one of the most unique golf experiences in New York City due to its views of the Brooklyn and Manhattan skylines, with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop. It was considered the only golf course in Manhattan as Governors Island is technically part of the borough.
↑ Wade, Arthur P. (2011). Artillerists and Engineers: The Beginnings of American Seacoast Fortifications 1794-1815. Mclean, Virginia: CDSG Press. pp.120, 141. ISBN978-0-9748167-2-2.
Conn, Stetson; Engelman, Rose C.; Fairchild, Byron (2000) [1964]. Guarding the United States and its Outposts. United States Army in World War II. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army. Archived from the original on December 25, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
Glen, Susan L.; Shaver, Michael B. (2006), Images of America: Governors Island, Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia, ISBN978-0-7385-3895-2
"Governors Island". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. September 11, 2007. Archived from the original on March 14, 2013. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
