Fort Defiance was a fort that existed from 1794 to after 1865 on Fort Point in

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry and ...

. The location protecting the inner harbor was also called Watch House Point.

History

18th century

Prior to the establishment of Fort Defiance, the British Fort Anne was located on Watch House Point, built in 1703 for

Queen Anne's War Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In E ...

and rebuilt in 1743 for

King George's War King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in t ...

, the latter work possibly named Fort Libby.Roberts, p. 400 A fortified breastwork was erected on the site during the American Revolutionary War. In 1794 a fort at Gloucester was funded as part of the federal first system of U.S. fortifications. The selectmen of Gloucester requested that Fort Anne be rebuilt as the new fort. The fort was built at the direction of

Stephen Rochefontaine Stephen Rochefontaine (born Étienne Nicolas Marie Béchet, Sieur de Rochefontaine; February 20, 1755 – January 30, 1814) was a French-born American military engineer who served as the Commandant of the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers fro ...

, a former French military engineer and Revolutionary War veteran working in the United States as a civilian; the next year he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and commander of the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers.Wade, pp. 15-16 Assisting him was Major John Lillie, a former artillery officer with the Continental Army and possibly the fort's namesake. The goal was to mount eight seacoast guns with a separate

citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

, but as no federal funds were appropriated after 1795, it is not clear how much was accomplished. It was popularly called Fort Lillie until 1814 but never assigned an official name except Fort at Gloucester by the US Army.Fort at Gloucester at FortWiki.com
/ref>

19th century

The fort was probably upgraded in 1807 under the second system of U.S. fortifications, as it appears in the secretary of war's fortifications report dated December 1808. It is briefly mentioned as "the old fort of stone, in front of this place... has been repaired". The report for December 1811 states "At the head of the harbor, an enclosed battery, mounting seven guns, covered by a

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

". In 1814, during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...

, the fort was renamed Fort Defiance. The fort went into caretaker status after that war, but the caretaker was later removed. The fort was burned by vandals in 1833, and rebuilt in 1851. ''Watch House Point'', an 1860 painting of the fort by Fitz Henry Lane, shows the fort with stone-faced walls topped by earth. It was garrisoned during 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 polic ...

and possibly rearmed.Lesch, Scott B., Big guns over Gloucester in the Civil War (blog)
/ref> Abandoned after that war, the land remained a federal reservation into the 1920s; it is unclear when the fort was demolished. Currently, nothing remains of the fort.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{FmrMAForts Defiance Buildings and structures in Gloucester, Massachusetts Defiance Defiance Defiance Defiance Military installations closed in the 1860s Demolished buildings and structures in Massachusetts 1794 establishments in Massachusetts 1860s disestablishments in Massachusetts

History

18th century

19th century

See also

References

Bibliography