Fort William and Mary was a colonial-era fortification in Great Britain's worldwide system of defenses, defended by soldiers of the

Province of New Hampshire The Province of New Hampshire was an English colony and later a British province in New England. It corresponds to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America. It was named after the Englis ...

who reported directly to the royal governor. The fort, originally known as "The Castle," was situated on the island of New Castle, New Hampshire, at the mouth of the

Piscataqua River The Piscataqua River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River to the Atlant ...

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

. It was renamed Fort William and Mary circa 1692, after the accession of the monarchs William III and

Mary II Mary II (30 April 1662 – 28 December 1694) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England, List of Scottish monarchs, Scotland, and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland with her husband, King William III and II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Sh ...

to the British throne.Roberts, pp. 498–499 It was captured by Patriot forces, recaptured, and later abandoned by the British in 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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

(1775–1783). The fort was renamed Fort Constitution in 1808 following rebuilding, in light of increasing hostilities with the British again, especially from its

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, resulting in the subsequent

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. The fort was further rebuilt and expanded through 1899, following the Spanish-American War. It served actively through the first half of the 20th century to

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 ...

Colonial period

First fortified by the English Army prior to 1632, the fort guarded access to the harbor at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. It was later manned by the successor

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and served as the colony's main munitions depot and seaport. The fort also served to protect Kittery (then part of the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in New England which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of Eng ...

colony and later in future state of

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

) on the opposite shore of the harbor, which was raided numerous times by the tribes of the

Wabanaki Confederacy The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner"; also: Wabanakia, "Dawnland") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of five principal Eastern Algonquian nations ...

during the

French and Indian Wars The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts that occurred in North America between 1688 and 1763, some of which indirectly were related to the European dynastic wars. The title ''French and Indian War'' in the singular is used in the U ...

(1753–1763). Shadrach Walton, British colonial administrator and soldier, commanded the fort during different periods at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century.

American Revolution

In 1774, it was the only permanently occupied military post in New Hampshire.

1774 raids

On December 14, 1774, local

Patriots A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot(s) or The Patriot(s) may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American R ...

from the Portsmouth area, led by local political leader and rebel activist John Langdon, stormed the post (overcoming a six-man caretaker detachment) and seized the garrison's gunpowder supply, which was distributed to local militia through several New Hampshire towns for potential use in the looming struggle against Great Britain. On the following day, patriots led by colonial military officer John Sullivan again raided the fort, this time seizing with greater effort of numerous heavy artillery of cannon, ammunition and supplies for the rebel cause.

Fort Constitution

Following the Revolution, the fort was called "Castle Fort" or "Fort Castle". The new

state of New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

gave the ground around Fort Point, on which the old fort stood, to the federal government in 1791. In 1800, the

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS), often called the Portsmouth Navy Yard, is a United States Navy shipyard on Seavey's Island in Kittery, Maine, bordering Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The naval yard lies along the southern boundary of Maine on ...

was established upriver on Fernald's Island (now part of Seavey's Island), and the fort was rebuilt under the Second System of U.S. coastal defense fortifications. Brick and masonry walls were doubled in height, and new brick buildings were added inside. Work was completed in 1808 and the defense renamed "Fort Constitution".Weaver, pp. 101–103 On July 4, 1809, an accidental explosion marred

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

/ Fourth of July celebrations at the fort, killing a number of soldiers and civilians. Two years later, the U.S. Secretary of War's report on fortifications for December 1811 described Fort Constitution as "an enclosed irregular work of masonry, mounting 36 heavy guns... (with) brick barracks for two companies..." During the

the fort was occupied and expanded with Walbach Tower, a

Martello tower Martello towers are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up to high (with two floors) and typica ...

with a single 32-pounder

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 during th ...

, being built in 1814, just before the conflict ended.Fort Constitution
from American Forts Network Over four decades later, 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 ...

(1861–1865), Fort Constitution was projected to be rebuilt as a three-tiered

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

fort under the new expanded, more formidable Third System of U.S. coastal defense fortifications. However, advances in weaponry, particularly the development and use of armored, steam-powered warships with heavy rifled guns, rendered the masonry walls design obsolete before they were finished. The fort's construction was abandoned in 1867 following the Civil War with the older now-obsolete Second System fort still largely intact and two walls from the revised expanded Third System cut short, built around parts of it. At some point in the Civil War era, four 100-pounder (6.4-inch, 163 mm)

Parrott rifle The Parrott rifle was a type of muzzle-loading rifled artillery weapon used extensively in the American Civil War. Parrott rifle The gun was invented by Captain Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point graduate. He was an American soldier and inven ...

d cannon were mounted at the fort, and remained there at least four more decades through late 1903. In 1897, construction began on Battery Farnsworth, located under the hill on which the ruins of the former Walbach Tower of 1814 stand, as part of the large-scale War Department's

Board of Fortifications Several boards have been appointed by US presidents or Congress to evaluate the US defensive fortifications, primarily coastal defenses near strategically important harbors on the US shores, its territories, and its protectorates. Endicott Board ...

began the latest improvements with the Endicott Program of seacoast fortifications. It was part of the larger surrounding Coast Defenses of Portsmouth, along with nearby Fort Stark and Fort Foster in Kittery to the north. The battery was completed in 1899, a year after the successful conclusion of the Spanish-American War. Named for Union Army Brigadier General Elon J. Farnsworth (1837–1863), killed at the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War, the new reinforced-concrete installation, built partly below ground in a deep trench as the new protective style required, included two 8-inch (203 mm) M1888 guns on recently developed disappearing carriages.Fort Constitution at FortWiki.com
/ref> The battery was accompanied in 1904 by the construction of adjacent Battery Hackleman, named for Union General Pleasant A. Hackleman, with two 3-inch (76 mm) M1903 guns on pedestal mounts. A mine casemate for an underwater minefield in the harbor was built; Battery Hackleman was built primarily to defend this minefield against naval

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

s vessels. These were similar to numerous other Endicott-style fortifications built all along the Eastern Seaboard and

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

coasts throughout the country outside of major cities on river mouths, harbors, and inlets / bays during the late 1890s and early 1900s. After 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 ...

in April 1917, many guns were removed from coast defenses for shipment across the Atlantic Ocean to potential service on the Western Front in northern France, against the attacking

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

and its

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

. Both 8-inch guns of Battery Farnsworth were removed in October 1917 for use as railway artillery and were not returned to the fort. Following the war, in 1920 a mine casemate was built next to Battery Farnsworth to replace a similar facility at nearby Fort Stark. In the

Second World War 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 ...

(1939/1941-1945), Battery Hackleman's 3-inch guns were sent to a new battery of the same name further south at Fort H. G. Wright on Fisher's Island, New York. They were replaced by two 3-inch (76 mm) M1902 guns taken from Battery Hays (named for Union Army General Alexander Hays, killed at the Civil War

Battle of the Wilderness The Battle of the Wilderness was fought on May 5–7, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of Lieutenant general (United States), Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General (C ...

) at Fort Stark. In 1940–1944 the Harbor Defenses of Portsmouth were garrisoned by the 22nd Coast Artillery Regiment of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

, and a mine observation station was built atop Battery Farnsworth. Following the surrender of the

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

, Battery Hackleman was disarmed by 1948 and the fort was turned over to the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

. Battery Hackleman was eventually demolished, but Battery Farnsworth can still be seen as part of the subsequent state park. With the site given back to the

State of New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

by the American military in 1961, the new Fort Constitution State Park 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 1973 and is today open to the public.

The lighthouse

Since 1771 the fort has been home to a lighthouse. The current installation, the

Portsmouth Harbor Light Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse located within Fort Constitution in New Castle, New Hampshire, United States. History The station was established in 1771 and was the 10th of 11 light stations established prior to the Ameri ...

, was completed in 1878. Its Fourth Order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. The simpler Dioptrics, d ...

remains a valuable aid to navigation. The tower and the grounds immediately around it are open for scheduled tours.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Fort Constitution Historic Site
New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

from American Forts Network

Additional information at the University of New Hampshire

Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse History

List of all US coastal forts and batteries
at the Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. website
FortWiki, lists most CONUS and Canadian forts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort William And Mary Forts in New Hampshire, William and Mary

William and Mary William and Mary often refers to: * The joint reign of William III of England (II of Scotland) and Mary II of England (and Scotland) * William and Mary style, a furniture design common from 1700 to 1725 named for the couple William and Mary may al ...

Landmarks in New Hampshire New Hampshire in the American Revolution

1774 in the Thirteen Colonies Buildings and structures in Rockingham County, New Hampshire

National Register of Historic Places in Rockingham County, New Hampshire New Castle, New Hampshire American Revolution on the National Register of Historic Places