Fort Wolcott (Newport, Rhode Island)
Newport · Rhode Island · War of 1812
History & Significance
Located on Goat Island in Newport Harbor less than 1 mile west of Newport, Rhode Island, Fort Wolcott occupied ground with a long military history. An earthen Fort Anne was built on Goat Island in 1702 or 1703 during the War of Spanish Succession.
The fort with 12 guns lasted until 1724. In 1730, the fort returned to service under a new name, Fort George after King George II of Great Britain.
In 1764, residents of Newport, Rhode Island, took over Fort George and fired shots at HMS St John under orders from the governor of Rhode Island and the General Assembly. In another early act of rebellion against British rule, Rhode Islanders in 1769 burned the British customs ship Liberty when it drifted to the north end of Goat Island.
The Army rebuilt the fort in 1798 as part of the first system of Seacoast defense in the United States and renamed it Fort Wolcott. Built of stone cemented with lime, the fort featured a brick-and-stone magazine, sally-port, ditch, furnace, and bomb-proof brick barracks, with armament including five long-range 32-pounder guns.
By the time of the War of 1812, Fort Wolcott along with other fortifications at Fort Adams, Fort Greene, Fort Hamilton, North Battery, Fort Dumpling, and Tonomy Hill defended Newport harbor and strategically important Narragansett Bay. President James Monroe visited the garrison on 28 June 1817 and left with a positive impression.
The Army transferred the garrison from Fort Wolcott on 22 May 1836 to fight in the First Seminole War. This left Rhode Island without an active coast defense fort until the opening of the new Fort Adams in 1841. In 1869, the United States Navy founded a United States Naval Torpedo Station on the site of the former Fort Wolcott.
Key Facts
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wolcott
- https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/war-1812-timeline
- https://newporthistory.org/history-bytes-forst-george/
- https://www.loc.gov/item/2003620502/
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