Fort Baldwin is a former coastal defense fortification near the mouth of the

Kennebec River The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 natural river within the U.S. state of Ma ...

Phippsburg, Maine Phippsburg is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States, on the west side of the mouth of the Kennebec River. The population was 2,155 at the 2020 census. It is within the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. A tourist d ...

, United States, preserved as the Fort Baldwin State Historic Site. It was named after Jeduthan Baldwin, an engineer for the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. The site was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979.

History

The fort was constructed between 1905 and 1912 and originally consisted of three batteries.

Artillery batteries

*Battery Cogan with two 3-inch M1903 guns on pedestal mounts. Named in honor of a lieutenant in the 5th Continental Regiment during the

. Cogan, who had also been quartermaster of the 1st New Hampshire Regiment, died August 21, 1778. *Battery

Joseph Roswell Hawley Joseph Roswell Hawley (October 31, 1826March 18, 1905) was the 42nd Governor of Connecticut, a U.S. politician in the Republican and Free Soil parties, a Civil War general, and a journalist and newspaper editor. He served two terms in the Un ...

with two 6-inch M1900 guns on pedestal mounts. This battery also housed the fort's original observation station and electric equipment. Named in honor of Brigadier General Joseph R. Hawley who served with distinction during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. *Battery Hardman with one 6-inch gun M1905 on a

disappearing carriage A disappearing gun, a gun mounted on a ''disappearing carriage'', is an obsolete type of artillery which enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. The overwhelming majority of carriage designs enabled the gun to rotate bac ...

. Named in honor of a Captain in the

2nd Maryland Regiment The 2nd Maryland Regiment origins were authorized on 14 January 1776 in the Maryland State Troops as seven independent companies. From 7 to 14 March 1776 the companies were organized from various counties from the eastern region of the colo ...

, Continental Army during the

. Hardman was taken prisoner at Camden, South Carolina and died while a prisoner of war on September 1, 1780. Additionally, facilities for a controlled minefield in the river were built at nearby

Fort Popham Fort Popham is a Civil War-era coastal defense fortification at the mouth of the Kennebec River in Phippsburg, Maine. It is located in sight of the short-lived Popham Colony and, like the colony, named for George Popham, the colony's leader. Th ...

. The fort was in caretaker status prior to the

American entry into World War I The United States entered into World War I on 6 April 1917, more than two and a half years after the war began in Europe. Apart from an Anglophile element urging early support for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British and an a ...

, and at some point was probably under the Coast Defenses of the Kennebec command. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Fort Baldwin and Fort Popham had a

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

of 200 soldiers from the 13th and 29th

Coast Artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...

companies of the Coast Defenses of Portland. All three 6-inch guns were withdrawn in 1917 as part of a program to put these weapons on field carriages and use them on the Western Front. Battery Hawley's guns were not sent overseas and were remounted in 1919. Battery Hardman's gun was sent to France; apparently it was eventually returned to the US but not to Fort Baldwin. A history of the Coast Artillery in World War I states that none of the regiments in France equipped with 6-inch guns completed training in time to see action before the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

. In 1924, Fort Baldwin was disarmed as part of a general drawdown of less-threatened coast defenses and sold to the State of Maine. Early in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, four circular concrete "

Panama mount The Panama Mount is a form of gun mount for fixed coastal artillery developed by the U.S. Army in Panama during the 1920s. Widely used during the buildup to and during World War II by the United States military, it was typically equipped with ...

s" were constructed at Fort Baldwin, two of them on Battery Hawley's 6-inch gun positions. These were to provide improved firing platforms for towed 155 mm M1918 guns that were adopted by the Coast Artillery following World War I.Berhow, p. 202 From 1941 to 1943, Battery D, 8th Coast Artillery protected Fort Baldwin and its

Fire Control Tower A fire control tower is a structure located near the coastline, used to detect and locate enemy vessels offshore, direct fire upon them from coastal battery, coastal batteries, or adjust the aim of guns by spotting shell splashes. Fire control to ...

(Built 1943) that could radio the precise position of enemy vessels to batteries in

Casco Bay Casco Bay is an bay, open bay of the Gulf of Maine on the coast of Maine in the United States. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's chart for Casco Bay marks the dividing line between the bay and the Gulf of Maine as running from ...

, notably Battery Steele with its 16-inch guns. A battery of four 155 mm guns, most likely from Fort Williams, was deployed to Fort Baldwin from early 1942 to January 17, 1944. After the war, the Army returned the property to the State of Maine in 1949.

References

External links

Fort Baldwin State Historic Site
Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
List of all US coastal forts and batteries
at the Coastal Defense Study Group, Inc. website
American Forts Network, lists forts in the US, former US territories, Canada, and Central America

FortWiki, lists most CONUS and Canadian forts
{{National Register of Historic Places Government buildings completed in 1912 Maine state historic sites

Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...

Former installations of the United States Army National Register of Historic Places in Sagadahoc County, Maine Phippsburg, Maine 1905 establishments in Maine

History

Artillery batteries

See also

References

External links