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A Military History of Fort Williams, Maine

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A Military History of Fort Williams, Maine A MILITARY HISTORY OF FORT WILLIAMS, }AINE Submitted by: David 1'{. Adarns 3 Todd Road Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04LOj llay B, 1975 A MTLTTARY IIISTORY OF FORT WTLLIA-I"IS, llArNE On a stern and rugged cliff overlooking beautiful Casco Bay at the entrance to Portland Harbor, stands a decaying monument to past glory -- Fort Wil1iams, Maine. The United States, in its long and illustrious history, has had some beautiful garrisons. This certainly has to be one of the more picturesque locations. lts dcrminant position rvas recognized as far back as the Revolutionary War. On October 18, 1775, five English vessels, under the command of Captain Henry Morvatt of the P'oyal Navy, made their tvay into Port- land Harbor during this period of British trade boycotts and tax levies, and bom- barded the defenseless settlement called Falmouth. Then, in May of L776, eight men were sLationed aL Portland Head as a lookout for enemy vessels. This guard detail was established as an outposL of former Fort llancock, norv the abandoned Fort Preble in SouLh PorEland, Maine.l' The first recorded construetion at Portland Head was the erection of trvo poles for signaling purposes. One flag meant enemy ships to the \^resL\rard and trvo flags meant enemy ships rrere to the eastward. To give the alarm, one gun r{as to be fired for a single ship and tr,vo guns for any number above that. From this early beginning grew Mainers most formidable military installation and its last Army post. It was not until 1872 that large scale activity began to take place on Portland Head. ft was in that year that the initial acquisition of fourteen acres rvas made from one Asa T. Webster for the sum of $2,800.2' The selection of this site reflect,ed the great strategic value of this original Revolutionary i^Iar observation post. The modern real estale broker may be interested in the fact that the original 75.5 rocky acres on rvhich Fort tr,/i11iams was built cost the United l. tr'Iilliam B. Jordan, Jr., A llisl-ory of Capq Elizabeth, Maine. Portland, lle. House of Falmouth, Inc., 1965, pp 46-47 Portlancl Evenin.g Express, Portland, llaine, April 16, Lg4g, page 9 -2- States Government about $90,000.00, its metes and bounds being published in General Order No. 55, War Department, dated April 13, 1908. The breakdor.rn of this purchase and additional acquisilions provide some very unusual sidelights" Right after lhe ori.ginal fourteen-acre tract rras bought from Asa T. Webstcr on January L9r lB72, thirteen additional acres were acquired from George C. Thompson for $2 ,487.61. The United States then paid Georgiana Thompson $161666.66 for trvelve and one-half acres in 1900" Soon thereafter, Joseph D. S5rmonds was paid $33,333.33 for nine acres, rvhich included the o1d Goddard mansion. In L902, lliss Bel1e Dyer collected $35,444.00 for a little over seventeen and one-half acres. A person named Green Walcien billed the govern- ment $100.00 for one-half acre. Trvo other land or^rners roade out to a lesser degree financially when condemnation proceedings brought deeds from sheriff William L. Pennell for twenly-two acres for i'r-hich there is no recorded sum paid. The mathematics of this land purchase show that the federal government paid a range froin $191.00 per acre to $3,700.00 per n""t".3' one can only speculate as to rvhy there was such a rvide variance in purchase prices in a rather short span of time. Some ninety-tr"zo years 1ater, the Toi,ln of Cape Elizabeth paid about $2r170.00 per acre for Fort Williams plus all the build- ings and property improvements made over that span of years. The original purchase in LB72 was made to establish a subpost to Fort Preble rvhich rvas located at Spring Point, notrr in South Portland. The prominent coastal location of Portland Head made it ideal for earthrvork emplacements for barbette batteries, This \ras not the first plan for fortification of this site however. During the Civil trIar, the United States revenue cutter CALEB CUSUING rvas captured r,;hile it r'ias moored at its wharf in Porlland, I'Iaine. The ensuing naval engagement ended up out of the harbor rvhere the CALEB CUSHING \,ras set afire by the rebels. It blerv up rvhen the fire reachecl her porvder *.g""irr"".4' It vras 3. rb id. 1, Jordan, op. cit pp 82-83 -3- this inciclent that revived the attention to the strategic location of Portland Head, Plans rvere d::ar^in up in the sumroer of 1864 to build earthworks for em- placing fifteen-inch Rodman smooth-bore guns to prevent repetition of the CALEB CUSHING affatr. The Civil War ended the follorving spring and no further activity was undertaken until 1871 ivhen this subpost of Fort Preble rvas planned by the War Department.r' The land acquisilions began when Congress, on June 1-0, L872, appropriated $50,000 for a battery on Portland Head. On June 1, I873, the con- struction rvas begun on the barbette batteries for trvenly-nine guns to be called the Portland llead Battery. An act of Congress, appr:oved February 10, 1875, made an additional appropriation of $20,000 to complete the battery. None of the guns \rere emplaced, in spite of this. The rvhole project was terminated in 1876 for lack of funds.6' Not much activity took place for the next fifteen years until an up-to- date system of fortifications was begun by the hlar Department in 1891. This work that started the modern defense system r,/as tedious, indeed, from blasting holes and tunnels in solid rock to the not-too-uncommon labor disputes. Oddly, the first installation to be constructed in Fort Willians is the only underground gallery still in use today. It now houses the headquarters of the Cape Elizabeth Civil Defense organization. In those days, however, it contained the plotting boards and the equipment to electrically explode mines laid in Portland Harbor. As enemy ships moved in over a mine, it was exploded from this underground facility. The first visible gun enplacernent to be built was Battery Sullivan, named for Major General John Sullivan of the Continenlal Army. Completed in 1896, it I Ibid, pp 319-320 6. Post: Forl l{i11iams, Historical Section, War Departrnenc, Washington, D"C., AprLl 26, L939 -4- \nas located at the east end of the parade ground and r.ras to be armed with three ten-inch disappearing guns " General Sul-livan rvas born of Irish anceslry in Somersrvorth, New Hampshire, across the Salmon Fal1s River from llerwick, Maine. He r^:as a lar'ryer, delegate to the First Continental Congress Ln L774 and to the Second Continental Congress Ln 1775, by which body he rvas appointed. a brigadier* general' In L776' he rvas promoted to be a major-general. He spent the rointer of 1777-lB at \ralley Forge and resigned from the army on November 30 , L779 be- cause of i11 health. He became a statesman in New Hampshire and in September 1789 he rvas appointed United States district judge of New Hampshire, a posilion he held until his cleath Ln L795, at the age of 55.7- The next emplacement, Battery DeHart, named for Captain Henry V. De6art of the Fifth Li.S. Artillery, was completed in 1897. Its location was betrueen Battery Sullivan and the PorLland Head Light station and rvas designed to house trvo ten-inch disappearing guns. Captain DeHart rvas graduated from the United States l'filitary Academy on July 1, 1856, fifth in his class of forry-eight. He was morlally l'zounded at Gaines Mills, virginia, and died on July 1-3, LB62 at the age of trventy-eight' His father, william chestwood DeHart, was also a graduate of tr{est Point and by an interesting coincidence was aide-de-camp to General winfield scott fron 1831 co 1837. upon completion of this tour of duty lvith General scotL, captain DeHarLrs father was relieved by Erasmus Keyes8' for rvhom a later battery at Fort ldilliams \,7as to be namecl , The last emplacement to be built in this initial phase was Battery Hobart, named for First Lieutenant Henry A. HobarL of the u.S. Light Artillery. He was one of the early }laine soldiers to attend west poinL and was graduated. frorn the United SLates i{ilitary Academy on l,Iarch 1, l81l. He died at the young 7. American council of Learned societies, D!ctionary of American Biography_; Nei,' York, N.y. , Charles Scribnert " ().o The liest Point Alumni Founclation, Tnc,, Bcgiglgr__qf qr-aduates and Forrner Lacers;a^)^+^. Lrrrcago,aL:^,-- Illinois,111. R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., tglO -)-f, age of twenty-two, being ki11ed in action at Fort George, Upper Canada on llay 27 , 9 1813 " ' Battery ll.obart rvas locaLed on the last high ground between Battery Sullivan and Ship Cove to the north and was designecl to house a 4.|-inch mine defense gun. The five ten-inch disappearing, breech-loading guns for the tivo bat- teries, mounted on Crozier-Buffington carri-ages, were manufactured at Watervliet Arsenal at Troy, New York. The sea transportation to Fort Preble in South port* land rvas a simple projecl compared to the task of overland movement to Fort ldilliams. Each gun rvas thirty-five feet long and weighed about five tons. Teams of oxen and draft horses inched them along on ponderous lorv-beds. The entire job was completed with the emplacement of the 4.2-inch mine defense gun on April 16, 1B9B'10' The Portland Head Battery was now established.
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