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Photo
courtesy of the Historical Society of Delaware
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Pea
Patch Island's important strategic position for the defense of Wilmington
and Philadelphia against naval attack was recognized in 1819 when
the first fort was built on the island. Constructed of wood, this
fort was destroyed by a fire in 1832. By 1848, the federal government
appropriated funds to build a state-of-the-art coastal fortification.
It is this fort that still exists today. The island fortress, combined
with gun batteries at what is now Fort DuPont on the Delaware shore
and at what is now Fort Mott, New Jersey, formed an imposing defensive
system.
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Construction
of the fort was an expensive undertaking; at a cost of two million
dollars, the structure is built atop more than 7,000 pilings driven
into the marshy land. Fort Delaware was substantially completed
eleven years later in 1859, just before the beginning of the Civil
War.
The fort is
a massive structure made of granite and brick. The walls are up
to 30 feet thick and stand 32 feet high. It was outfitted with the
19th Century's most modern defenses including three tiers of guns.
The fort is entered through the sally port after crossing the drawbridge
over the 30-foot wide moat that surrounds the fort.
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Photo
courtesy of the Historical Society of Delaware
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Photo
courtesy of the Historical Society of Delaware
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Fort
Delaware's role as a coastal defense fortification changed to that
of prisoner-of-war camp with the arrival of the first Confederate
prisoners after the battle of Kernstown in 1862. As more and more
prisoners arrived, additional barracks were erected. They were wooden
structures built just north of the fort. By June 1863, there were
6,000 prisoners on the island. Fort Delaware's largest population
came in 1863 after the battle of Gettysburg. At this time 12,500
prisoners were housed on the island. Combined with the civilian
and Union population, the island's population reached close to 16,000
people making it, some say, the largest city in Delaware for a brief
period.
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To support all
these people, structures sprung up on the island surrounding the
fort. There were officer's quarters, prisoner barracks, a church,
and numerous commercial structures. A Confederate prisoner named
Max Neugas provides a glimpse of the living conditions through the
sketches he drew in 1864 while interned at the fort.
About 2,700 prisoners died while being held at the fort, almost
half of those during a severe outbreak of small pox during the summer
and fall of 1863. Many of these are buried in a national cemetery
at Finn's Point, New Jersey, just across the river at adjoining
Fort Mott State Park.
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Photo
courtesy of the Historical Society of Delaware
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Photo
courtesy of the Historical Society of Delaware
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Largely
abandoned after the Civil War, the fort was modernized in 1896 by
the addition of "disappearing" guns at the south end of
the fort. A garrison was posted at the beginning of the Spanish-American
War, which remained in place until 1905. The fort was again lightly
manned during World War I and at the outset of World War II. But
in 1943 the disappearing guns were cut-up for scrap to support the
war effort. The fort was closed in 1944 and declared surplus property.
It was turned over to the State of Delaware in 1947 and became a
state park in 1951. During its entire history, Fort Delaware never
fired a shot in anger.
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Fort
Dupont:
Fort DuPont
is located on the shores of the Delaware River at the original Chesapeake
& Delaware Canal near Delaware City. During the War of 1812
cannons were mounted on its shore to defend the Delaware River against
the British
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first permanent fortification of this site was constructed during
the Civil War with the installation of the Ten Gun Battery. In those
days the site was called "The Fort Opposite" due its location
across the river from Fort Delaware. Along with Fort Delaware on Pea
Patch Island in the Delaware River and Fort Mott on the New Jersey
coast, Fort DuPont was part of a three-point defense system - now
known as the "Three Forts." |
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The fortification
was strengthened in the 1870s when the battery was expanded to house
twenty 15-inch Rodman guns and a concrete powder magazine was constructed.
Major improvements were made again during the Spanish-American War
in 1898. New batteries were constructed of concrete formed over
steel frames to house "disappearing" guns, rapid-fire
cannons, and mortars. Many of the bunkers and gun emplacements still
exist today. In 1899, the site was named Fort DuPont in honor of
Rear Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont, a Civil War hero from Delaware.
In the twentieth-century
the fort was used to train soldiers for both World War I and World
War II. Between the wars, the fort served as headquarters for the
First Engineers Regiment. Many local residents remember units competing
to build pontoon bridges across the Branch Canal during training
exercises. During World War II, over 3,000 military personnel were
stationed at Fort DuPont. It also held over 1,000 German and Italian
prisoners-of-war from Rommel's Afrika Corps. After World War II
Fort DuPont was turned over to the State of Delaware. A portion
of the site was dedicated as a state park in 1992.
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