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
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
. References indicate the name has also been used to refer to the much-older
Stage Fort across the harbor.
[Fort Gloucester at FortWiki.com]
/ref>[Roberts, p. 400]
In June 1863, Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
commerce raiders
Commerce raiding (french: guerre de course, "war of the chase"; german: Handelskrieg, "trade war") is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than eng ...
attacked Gloucester-based fishing vessels at Georges Bank
Georges Bank (formerly known as St. Georges Bank) is a large elevated area of the sea floor between Cape Cod, Massachusetts (United States), and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia (Canada). It separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean.
T ...
, a rich fishing ground
Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, bo ...
east of Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
.[Manuel, pp. 32–37] Also that year, US Army engineers realized that attacking vessels could be well inside Gloucester's harbor before being engaged by the existing forts, Stage Fort and Fort Defiance. The Eastern Point fort, never formally named, was sited to be able to engage any enemy approaching from seaward. It was built near the end of the peninsula forming the eastern side of Gloucester's harbor, on the "high land of the farm of Thomas Niles". Construction was supervised by Major Charles E. Blunt. Eastern Point was the only Civil War fort on the north shore of Massachusetts Bay not on the site of a previous fortification.[
The fort was an earthwork that could accommodate seven guns, with three ]magazines
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...
and a bombproof shelter, along with a barracks and hospital outside the fort.smoothbore
A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.
History
Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...
guns, and three 24-pounder rifled guns. An author has examined a period photograph and determined that the 24-pounders could have been in the bombproof, which was sited for landward defense with embrasure
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...
s suitable for cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
.[ Eastern Point was garrisoned by the 2nd and 11th Unattached Companies of Massachusetts militia in 1864.][Higginson, pp. 318, 321] The fort was abandoned in 1867 and the buildings demolished at some point, though the earthworks remain.[
In the 1920s a resort hotel or manor house named the "Ramparts" was built inside the fort, featuring two stone towers. The main building was razed in 1950, though the towers remain. Today, a private residence exists within the former earthworks of the fort, incorporating one of the towers.][
]
See also
* Stage Fort
* Fort Defiance (Massachusetts)
* Seacoast defense in the United States
Seacoast defense was a major concern for the United States from its independence until World War II. Before airplanes, many of America's enemies could only reach it from the sea, making coastal forts an economical alternative to standing armies o ...
* List of coastal fortifications of the United States
*List of military installations in Massachusetts
This is a list of current and former military installations in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Current military installations in Massachusetts Joint facilities
;Bases
* Joint Base Cape Cod (state designation, not federally recognized)
References
*
*
*
External links
Big guns over Gloucester in the Civil War
(dead link 12 June 2020)
{{FmrMAForts
Forts in Massachusetts
American Civil War forts
Buildings and structures in Gloucester, Massachusetts
1863 establishments in Massachusetts
1867 disestablishments in Massachusetts