Fort Mifflin

Soldiers' Barracks

File:FortMifflin Philadelphia.JPG

Artillery Shed

Mifflin Hospital

Originally called Fort Island Battery, and also known as Mud Island Fort, Fort Mifflin was commissioned in 1771 and sits on the Delaware River near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

History

In the late 1760s, British engineer John Montresor was commissioned to construct a fort at the southern edge of Philadelphia on the Delaware River to protect the city from invasion. Construction ceased in 1774.

Following the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin headed a committee to provide for the defense of Philadelphia. At that time the British 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. "Chevaux de frise" (obstacles) were sunk in the river to slow the progress of enemy ships.

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 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 allowed George Washington to retreat to Valley Forge.

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 1798-1800 during the presidency of John Adams according to L'Enfant's design, and enlarged in the 19th century.

Many of the buildings standing today are holdovers from the post-1795 construction. The white stone walls date to the pre-revolutionary war British construction. Evidence of the 1777 British bombardment can be seen in its pockmarked stone walls .

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. The fort was a U.S. military post until the 1950s. In 1962, Fort Mifflin was deeded back to the City of Philadelphia.

Further Reading

• 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.

Fort Mifflin Trivia

• It is the site of the greatest bombardment of the American Revolution.
• Fort Mifflin was built by the British in 1771 and destroyed by the British in 1777.
• During the Civil War, Seth Eastmen, the great American Western frontier painter, was the Fort's Commandant.
• The Commandment's House is the only single dwelling north of the Mason Dixon Line designed by Pierre Charles L'Enfant who designed Washington D.C.
• Fort Mifflin boasts the last remaining open faced artillery shed in the nation.
• When it closed, Fort Mifflin was the oldest fort in continuous use in the nation (1771 to 1954).
• The British Engineer John Montresor both designed and initially oversaw construction of the fort, and was later assigned to besiege the fort in 1777.

See also

• Philadelphia International Airport
• Eastwick
• Template:Geolinks-US-hoodscale

External links

• Attack on Fort Mifflin
• http://www.phila.gov/recreation_old/historical/fortmifflin.html
• http://www.phila.gov/recreation_old/fortmifflin/Fort_Mifflin_History/fort_mifflin_history.html
• http://www.fortmifflin.com