Fort Washington, also known as Fort Washington Park, is a historic site at 95 Waverly Street in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. It was built by soldiers of 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 ...

under the orders of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

in November 1775. It is the oldest surviving fortification from 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 ...

and the only surviving fortification from the

Siege of Boston The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. In the siege, Patriot (American Revolution), American patriot militia led by newly-installed Continental Army commander George Wash ...

. Fort Washington was placed on the

List of Registered Historic Places in Massachusetts A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...

on April 3, 1973.

History

American Revolution

In a letter to Joseph Reed written at Cambridge in November 1775, George Washington wrote, "I have caused two three gun half moon batteries to be thrown up for occasional use." At the time these small fortifications were constructed,

Henry Knox Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was an American military officer, politician, bookseller, and a Founding Father of the United States. Knox, born in Boston, became a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionar ...

was on his way to

Fort Ticonderoga Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in northern New York. It was constructed between October 1755 and 1757 by French-Canadian ...

to get the best of the cannons which were there and at

Fort Crown Point Fort Crown Point was built by the combined efforts of British and Colonial troops from New York and the New England Colonies in 1759 at a narrows on Lake Champlain on the border between New York and Vermont. It was erected to secure the region ag ...

, a three-month exercise known as the ''

noble train of artillery The noble train of artillery, also known as the Knox Expedition, was an expedition led by Continental Army Colonel Henry Knox to transport heavy weaponry that had been Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, captured at Fort Ticonderoga to the Continental ...

''. The troops needed to be trained in constructing works in which the guns could be mounted promptly.

Post war

The property was acquired by the City of Cambridge and restored in 1857, at which time three 18-pounder cannons from the old Fort Winthrop, located on

Governor's Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Par ...

, were installed, and an elaborate granite and iron fence was designed by architect John R. Hall to protect the site. A description of the property at the time of that transfer was later compiled by local historians: The Cambridge

city directory A city directory is a listing of residents, streets, businesses, organizations or institutions, giving their location in a city. It may be arranged alphabetically or geographically or in other ways. Information Antedating telephone directories ...

of 1861 reported the earthworks to be five years old in appearance and in excellent condition; the total cost of Fort Washington Park, was $9,504.05. In 1965 the state passed legislation authorizing the city of Cambridge to transfer the park to the United States government as a historic landmark. The property remains a city park and is designated an historic district of the City of Cambridge. The park was rededicated on October 3, 2009, Cambridgeport History Day, following restoration work. What remains today are only grassy embankments, not substantial fortifications.

Cannons

The guns standing in the embrasures are 18-pounders and were cast during or shortly after the Revolution. The two 18-pound cannon at Stonington were cast in 1781 in

Salisbury, Connecticut Salisbury () is a New England town, town situated in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is the northwesternmost in the state of Connecticut; the Connecticut-Massachusetts-New York tri-state marker is located at the northwest ...

during the Revolution. There are also two 18-pound cannon at Mount Defiance in

Ticonderoga, New York Ticonderoga () is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 5,042 at the 2010 census. The name comes from the Mohawk language, Mohawk ' ...

which are also from the Revolution and of a similar cast. The three 18-pounders were among those over-age cannon that were removed from the original Fort Warren on Governor's Island, when a new Fort Warren was built on George's Island. Mr. Marcus Morton, of Cambridge, learned by correspondence with the Historical Section of the Chief of Ordnance in Washington, in 1942, that the gun carriages were cast by the

West Point Foundry The West Point Foundry was a major American ironworking and machine shop site in Cold Spring, New York, operating from 1818 to about 1911. Initiated after the War of 1812, it became most famous for its production of Parrott rifle artillery and o ...

on the Hudson River, and he discovered in the city records that it cost the city $13.50 to bring these guns from Governor's Island to Cambridge. These cannon are identical, except for the numbers and weights marked upon them. They are numbered 45, 36, and 40; and their weighs are shown as 30-0-13, 30-0-17, and 30-0-16, respectively, (in cwt., qrs., and lbs.). Those figures correspond to 3375, 3377, and 3376 pounds. The bore is approximately 5 5/8 inches; the diameter of an 18-pound sphere of cast iron is 5.1 inches; the excess diameter of the bore (called windage) was usually about ¼ inch, or a little bit more, to allow for irregularities in the bore of the guns and the casting of the balls. The next larger standard size for cannon of that period was 24 lb., which would require a bore of at least 5.9 inches.

Image gallery

The following images are from the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey, Survey number HABS MA-2-48, MARCH 1934:.Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey, Survey number HABS MA-2-48, link
/ref> File:FT_WASH1.pdf, Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)3-1934-1 File:FT_WASH2.pdf, Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)3-1934-2 File:FT_WASH3.pdf, Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)3-1934-3 File:FT_WASH4.pdf, Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)3-1934-4

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts