Fort Point on Great Island, the site of Fort Constitution, was an active military position guarding the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor for over three hundred years.
Known as "The Castle", the first defense here was built in 1631, and consisted of an earthen redoubt with four "great guns". In 1666 a timber blockhouse was built using local labor. In 1692 the fort was renamed Fort William and Mary, after the reigning British monarchs, and a breastwork for 19 guns was then constructed to defend against the French fleet during King William's War. The first stone walls were built in 1705. The first well for the garrison's fresh water supply was dug in 1705, outside the south wall. The water was pumped into the fort.
1705 site plan from the Trustees of the British Museum,
from a copy at the New Hampshire Historical Society.
Repairs were made in 1722 under Lieutenant Governor John Wentworth, and additional repairs and more guns were added in 1757 under Governor Benning Wentworth. However, the basic structure of the fort remained the same. Throughout the colonial era, the average complement of men was only four to eight, with 20 to 40 additional soldiers added in the summer or in times of crisis.
In 1771-1772 a major improvement to the fort was made when a barbette battery was built protected by a stone wall about seven feet high, with several gun embrasures. The first harbor light was installed here in 1771, which was at first only a lantern hung up a flagpole. A shingled wooden lighthouse with a copper-roofed lantern was soon built thereafter. It was tended by soldiers at the fort.
During the nights of 14 and 15 December, 1774, in two seperate raids, about 400 men of the local chapters of the Sons of Liberty, warned by Paul Revere, stormed the fort and overcame British Captain John Cochran and his five-man garrison, capturing 16 light cannon and 97 barrels of gunpowder, some of which later made its way to the Battle of Bunker Hill in June, 1775. This incident is remembered as the first overt action of the American Revolution. (See also: The Capture of Fort William and Mary, and also: Raid on Fort William and Mary for more extensive coverage.) The arrival of two British warships shortly thereafter prevented a third raid. The Royal Governor of New Hampshire, John Wentworth, and his family sought refuge inside the fort. In February of 1775 the British disarmed the fort and sent all remaining guns and stores to Boston, which was then under seige by the Army of New England, under General George Washington. The New Hampshire militia, under the command of General John Sullivan, partially dismantled what was left of the fort in late 1775, and proceeded to build entirely new works upriver at the Narrows of the Piscataqua (Forts Washington, Sullivan, and Clark's Point). The fort saw little use for the duration of the war, except that the lighthouse was sometimes used as a lookout post. A sentry would raise a signal flag on any sign of trouble, which would then be answered by flag and a four-pounder gun at Fort Washington, and then relayed to Portsmouth by flag and a four-pounder gun at Fort Sullivan. After the war the site was known thereafter simply as the "Castle Fort" or "Fort Castle". The lighthouse was apparently rebuilt or repaired in 1784. (Read another essay about the 1774 raid from the NH Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.)
Please read about a modern re-enactment of the 1774 raids, held on 11 December, 1999, including photographs, courtesy of SeacoastNH.com, and the accompanying article in Foster's Daily Democrat Newspaper, from 14 December, 1999. Another article w/photos from GO NH.org
In 1783 Lieutenant Meshech Bell was appointed to command "the old Fort at New Castle", with a garrison of five men, and to tend the lighthouse. The barracks and gun platforms from the Jerry's Point Battery were moved here, as well as a powder magazine and the flagstaff from Fort Washington. Thirteen guns were also newly emplaced (seven heavy guns of 42, 24, and 18-pounds on seacoast carriages and six light guns on field carriages). The fort's main purpose at this time was for collecting and enforcing customs duties on all ships entering the harbor. Captain Titus Salter took command of the fort in 1786 until dismissed in 1793 and replaced with a Mr. Duncan, who was solely to be the lighthouse keeper. In 1791 the State of New Hampshire ceded to the United States 1.75 acres, which included the old fort and lighthouse. It was first referred to as Fort Constitution by Secretary of War Henry Dearborn in 1802. (The official War Department naming order was not issued until 1937!) The fort was essentially unchanged from the colonial era except for repairs and the addition in 1794 of a two-story wooden citadel/blockhouse, which would be rebuilt in 1808 as the "Captain's House". The fort at this time would be considered a "First System" work. The fort was briefly garrisoned by Federal units in 1798 - 99 during the French-American War. The Federal garrison again returned for duty in 1802. Local militia units augmented the garrison in times of crisis. A new 85-foot high wooden lighthouse was constructed in 1803 about 100 yards south of the original 1771 lighthouse (today's site). An additional 1.5 acres was ceded by the state to the federal government in 1807. The fort underwent additional repairs and modifications until completed in 1808 during the so-called "Second System". Renovations included a new outer stone wall twice as high as the original, with a bastion in the southwest corner facing the sea, two brick barracks which could accommodate 150 men, two brick powder magazines, a shot furnace, and emplacements for 36 guns. Only the foundations of the barracks remain today, as well as only the larger of the two powder magazines.
In 1809 an explosion during an Independence Day celebration badly damaged the Captain's House and killed 14 people. They were listed as "Sargent (sic) (Joseph) Albert(s), (Private) Theodore Witham, Reo Gamoth, Samuel Stevens, Gideon Guild, Edmund Hurd, John Ricker, Robert Miller, (Private) Peletiah McDaniels, Ephraim Pickering (Esquire) of Newington, a young man named Paul of Kittery (these last two having just landed to visit the fort), John (or Joseph) Mitchel of New Castle, and two or three others whose names could not be assertained". Another source lists a "James Trefethen", a young man from New Castle. Colonel Walbach was having a late afternoon dinner party, when "two chests of powder and 30 cartridges of 6 and 8 pound, about 300 wt. of powder in all", placed on the wall to dry, were somehow ignited and exploded. (source: American Mercury, Hartford, CT, July 13, 1809.) The house was later repaired, but burned down in 1861. The site is at the end of the north inner wall past the present flagpole. (See also: Fort Constitution Explodes! for more information.)
During the British blockade of 1814 a brick casemated Martello-type tower (known as Walbach Tower, or Castle Walbach) was constructed on a small hill west of the fort. It was named for and by Colonel John de Barth Walbach, originally from Germany, who served in the French Imperial Army until joining the American Army in 1799 as a lieutenant of light dragoons, and was now second-in-command of all New England seacoast defenses. The tower mounted a 32-pounder naval gun on its roof to fire on ships in the channel to the east and south, as well as three small field guns in casemates to protect the landward approach from the west. The remains of the foundation and magazine of this tower still stand today, in an overgrown area just behind the location of the more modern Battery Farnsworth. (See Walbach Tower photos).
Read about an unusual Military Court-Martial that took place at Fort Constitution in 1814.
Company I, 1st U.S. Artillery was garrisoned here from 1821 to 1828, until transferred to Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. A local militia company of artillery, musicians, and artisans (about 50 men total) was then posted here until 1852. In 1840 improvements were made to the outer walls, which included raising them higher, placing a stone copping on the parade and ramp walls, and replacing the temporary wooden gun platforms with permanent granite blocks with iron traverse rails. This is basically the fort structure we see today.
Of historical note, Captain Robert Parker Parrott, ordnance inventor, who was a member of a prominent Portsmouth family, served at the fort as a lieutenant from 1829 to 1831.
In 1861, when the Civil War started, there were only 25 pieces of artillery mounted in the fort, which consisted of several 32-pounder Seacoast guns and 100-pounder Seacoast Parrott rifles. The commanding officer was Josiah G. Hadley. A local militia company of 25 men and a captain were rushed to activate the slumbering fort. The fort had been used as a training camp since 1852. A 150-man detachment of the Home Guard and the Portsmouth Volunteer Corps then arrived at the fort in the opening weeks of the crisis. A 42-pounder naval gun from the Naval Shipyard was emplaced in the bastion. The Hampton Volunteers (or Winnacunnet Guards) were posted here from May to August 1861. They later became Company D, 3rd New Hampshire Volunteer Regiment, transferring to the war front at Hilton Head, South Carolina. Battery A, 1st New Hampshire Heavy Artillery was stationed here from July 1863 to May 1864, until transferred to the defenses of Washington, DC. They returned in November, 1864. (see the 1863 garrison roster) Various state militia units were posted here to relieve the garrison at different times. A new, larger "Third System" fortress, begun in late 1862, was to include a massive, three-tiered casemated granite wall constructed outside of the original brick outer wall. It was designed for 149 new gun emplacements. The northeast section of the original brick wall was blasted away in 1866 to prepare for the new granite wall. However, as the war had progressed, it became clear that masonry forts were becoming obsolete, and the new construction was halted by 1867. The fort was then placed on caretaker status until 1897, when war with Spain was imminent.
Of historical note, Charles F. Conant, assistant Secretary of Treasury 1874-77, under the Hayes administration, served at Fort Constitution in the local militia from 1861-63.
John Edgar Johnson served here in 1863-64.
Map based on 1865 US Army Corps of Engineers site plan.
In 1872 plans were drawn up for a massive V-shaped earth and concrete 14-bay barbette gun battery. It was to be located where Battery Farnsworth is now located, and it was to be similar to the other "Fourth System" works at Fort Foster and Fort Stark that were started in 1874. Congress never provided any funds for this project, and it was therefore never built. In 1874 the small brick powder magazine in the old fort next to the bastion was removed to allow for the construction of a temporary emplacement of two smooth-bore 15-inch Rodman cannons on wooden platforms. In 1886 the emplacement was reported as empty, so it may be possible that the guns were never actually emplaced. Five of the original 100-pounder Seacoast Parrott rifles still remained, and four were emplaced on the eastern section of the unfinished outer casemates. They remained there until 1905 when they were finally scrapped. In 1877 the wooden lighthouse was demolished and replaced with the current 48-foot high cast-iron structure seen today, on the original foundation of the 1803 tower.
NOTE: Strawbery Banke Museum images displayed on this page are to be used for non-commercial, personal, and private use only. Any other use, including publication, copying, or redistribution of said images in any manner is prohibited without prior written permission from Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and from American Forts Network.
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