Fort Revere (Hull, Massachusetts)

Hull · Massachusetts · American Revolution

History & Significance

Telegraph Hill was probably first fortified by Patriot forces shortly after the conclusion of Washington's siege of Boston. Sources suggest that an earthwork battery fired on the blockading British fleet in June 1776.

This work later saluted American Independence on 17 July 1776. By January 1777, a ditched pentagonal fort with 15 embrasures stood at Hull, supported by two detached water batteries.

French Admiral d'Estaing directed the Fort during the war. In 1778, 200 French soldiers, who had been captured in Nova Scotia by the British while fighting for the Americans, were exchanged for English prisoners and shipped to Fort Independence in Hull.

The soldiers died from smallpox and the French marines of Fort Independence buried them on a gentle slope beneath the hill. Expansions continued through 1780, but the fort was deactivated in 1782.

After dormancy lasting nearly a century, the US Government purchased Fort Revere officially from the town in 1898, and the Massachusetts Militia were stationed there during the Spanish–American War. Later that year construction began on the 77 acre Fort Revere Reservation.

In 1947 Fort Revere was disarmed and turned over to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Following the decommissioning, efforts begun during the United States Bicentennial celebration in 1976 resulted in the fort's restoration and the installation of amphitheaters within the walls of the disused fortification.

Map

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Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Revere
• https://www.nps.gov/places/fort-revere.htm
• http://www.fortrevere.org/history.html
• http://www.fortrevere.org/fort-revere-history-page.html
• https://www.nsrwa.org/listing/fort-revere-park/
• https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/french-in-boston.htm

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