Fort Glover was a fort in

Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends into the northern part of Massachusetts Bay. Attache ...

. Fortifications on the site existed during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, and the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...

. The fort was located on what is now Riverhead Beach on Bubier Road in Marblehead, sited to guard the beach and the Marblehead Neck causeway. It was demolished in 1917.Roberts, p. 400Manuel, pp. 29, 31 It was originally built in 1775 for the Revolutionary War as the Huit's Head Battery. It was rebuilt in the War of 1812 as the Gilbert Heights Fort, garrisoned 1813–1815. It was rebuilt again for the Civil War in 1863 as a three-

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

earthwork battery. It was named in honor of John Glover, a Revolutionary War general from Marblehead. He commanded the

Marblehead Regiment The 14th Continental Regiment, also known as the Marblehead Regiment and Glover's Regiment, was raised as a Massachusetts militia regiment in 1775, and taken into the Continental Army establishment during the summer of 1775. When the Continen ...

and provided his own ship '' Hannah'' as the first warship in United States service (hired by the Continental Army, as the Continental Navy had not yet been authorized). A plan dated September 1864 and an armament report dated January 31, 1865 show the fort was armed with one 32-pounder

rifled gun In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize the ...

and two 8-inch

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.Manuel, pp. 29, 31, 40 It was rebuilt for the Spanish–American War in 1898, and abandoned after that. After 1898 it gained the nickname "Cow Fort", after the cattle that resided within its former walls. The fort was demolished in 1917, although a portion of the site called "Cow Fort Farm" became part of Seaside Park in 1895.

References

* * {{FmrMAForts Glover Glover Glover Glover Marblehead, Massachusetts Demolished buildings and structures in Massachusetts Buildings and structures demolished in 1917

See also

References