The Portland daily press., 1889-04-27
EARLY FoRTIFIcATIONS OF PORTLAND.

tnat Oh the DaoLiOnS was apous
1880 square feet, or a little more than one
acre.
Within the walls, barracks. store-houses,
officers quarters and shops were erected
and in the southwest corner large tank was
put up for the storage of water in time OF
siege. From the south sally port, sheltered
way to the shore of the bay was butt OF
stockades, the water ends of which nareu
outwardly and extended into tide water TO
give a protected mooring for the Doats OF
the garrison. No details OF the armament
are known. New Casco Fort continued TO
be the defence of Falmouth until iIio, w iels
its garrison was Withdrawn, its armament
and stores removed and the work demoiish-
ed by its commander. Major Moody, under
orders from the colonial government Most
of the people moved their habitations TO the
old site Of the town on the "Neeak,m where
soldiers who composed the garrison moved
to the new town with the people, took up
land and were among those who were called
the new preprietors as distinguished from
the heirs Of the former occupants, who we're
called the old proprietors. Queen Anne's
war continued to rage until 1913 when 1t
ceased under the treaty made at Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, July II, Of that year, In
1871 the town applied to the General Court
of Massachusetts for the construction of a
fort for the public defence, and work was
accordingly begun on the old site OF Fort
The Provincial government was not I'M
however, of the defence of the
town. for on the 18th of August, 1873, Col.
PepereIl, with officers of the regular troops
and militia, arrived from Boston and made
an inspection Of its military condition This
work was repaired and an additional breast
work built during Governor Shirley's admin
lstration in 1912, and Ia the war of the
Spanish succession and the French war,
which resulted in the fall Of Quebec and the
treaty of Paris in 1852, was partially relied
On for the defence of the town against the
French. The armament of the new breast
works consisted Of ten 12-pounders After
the capture of Louisburg by Sir VIM. Pep
perell in l745 the French government dis
patched the Due D'Auville to America with
q fleet Of eleven ships of the line, twenty
frigates, five ships and briggs, thirty-fou fire
ships, tenders and transports. and three
thousand one hundred and fifty men to re-
capture the fortress and restore the prestige
of French power The expedition was
abandoned and the remnant of the fleet re-
turned to France. The people of Falmouth,
however, apprehensive Of a visit from it,
two old 1900 42-pounders in Battery on
Spring Point, a measure in which the means
were hardly adequate to the ends expected.
During this period the people wasted labor,
money and materials by expanding their
efforts In building and strengthening
instead OF concentrating all on the develop
ment of the powers Of the fort and we find
that in 1744 eighty-fiye soldiers were posted
In the town and billeted In the garrison
houses which were designed for security in
Ease OF Indian attacks. When the war of
the Revolution was begun the town was
practically defenceless and Mowatt, with a
fieet Of four small English armed vessels
shelled and destroyed Portland with abso-
lutte impunity. The only guns in the town
were four old pieces and for these not a
round OF ammunition was on hand.
WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
On the End of May, 1776, local committee
was appointed to look after the defences of
the town. Ole fort was constructed on
Munjoy Hill and another on the hill on
Free street where the Anderson mansion
stands. The fort on Munjoy Hill was named
Fort Allen in honor of the captor of Ticon-
iroga and that on Free street was known as
The Upper Battery. A battery and magazine
also stood on or near the ground selected for
;he monument to be erected to the memory
IF the soldiers and sailors of Maine who fell
IN the War of the Rebellion and another
)n the old site of Fort Loyal. Breastworks
we're constructed on Spring Point and garri-
'oned by company of artillery and a small
W 1 ~ IL
which a detachment was placed with orders
20 report the appearance of strange vessels
by firing signal guns. This was the c0ndi-
ion OF the defences Of Portland during the
War Of the Revolution.
After the Revolution the Notifications of
The country were permitted TO fall into de-
,ay, but when hostilities with France be-
'ame imminent about 1894, Congress appro-
)riated large sums of money for putting the
'0ast defences in good condition. Pursuant
o the determination fort was constructed
IN Munjoy Hill which subsequently became
Known as Fort Sumner, in honor of the
memory Of Governor Summer Of Massachu-
'etts: Its thus described by the Due de
IA Rochfourault, who about this time
made q tour OF the United States
with Tallerand. They are at present con-
on the site of an old earthen breast
work fertilization which they expect TO
command the town and to render it at least
secure from the invasion of an enemy. This
new forti6cation stands at the extreme point
OF the peninsularion which Portland is estab-
ished and consists of a battery of fifteen or
twenty heavy cannon of large calibre. con-
manding that wide entrance Of the bay
which was above mentioned. This battery
Is to have by means of a covered way COM
with small fort distance Of
four or five hundred t0ises about eight hun
or thousand yards which it has been
thought necessary to erect on the highest
part Of the isthmus. The fort is sufficient to
In his History of Portland Willis thus des-
cribes 1t: THE barracks were erected on
the top Of Munjoy Hill surrounded by an
earthen embankment, beneath which was a
deep ditch. 1t was connected by covered
way with battery erected on the southerly
brow OF the hill near where Adams street
now (IS65) now passes Guns we're mounted
1t both places, but the barracks for the ac-
of the men and the parade
ground were within the enclosure on the hill.
1t was garrisoned until after the war of 1912
when the command was withdrawn and
The work suffeed to go to decay"
l t WAR OF 1872
In ANTICIPATION Of the war with Eng
and in 1908. Congress again made generous
provision for coast defence and as part of
he general plan forts Preble and Scammell
in that year and completed be-
lore 1912.
The State of Massachusetts ON the 18th of
March. 1903 passed an act ceding to the Unit
ID States the jurisdiction of part of House
Island and the extreme end of Spring Point
opposite thereto, near the entrance of Port
land Harbor, reserving to itself concurrent
jurisdiction on and over said lands
so far as that all civil
and criminal processes may be duly executed
on the lands so coded. Subsequently,, in sec
ton s, chapter 2, of the Revised Statutes of
Maine, the State passed q general act con-
firming the authority of the United States
over any lands transferred to the government
for public uses under the Constitution and
Laws of the United States. This act has
been construed by the courts of Maine as
applying as well to military reservations as
TO light houses and other public buildings.
!. The first Fort Preble was built Of brick
and granite. Its front, on the channel, was
semi-circular in plan, and on its tanks and
rear 1t had the lines of q star fort.
This part of the work is still standing. The
length of the superior slope, from the interi-
Or to the exterior crest, was 10 feet inches,
and on the land side. near the sally-port, 4
Of the interior crest above the site was Is
feet and inches. Inside the enclosure were
two double buildings fer officers quarters, a
shot furnace, magazine, barracks and well.
Its armament consisted of seven 3-pounders,
i've S-inch howitzers, and one 12-pounder, all
In barbette.
Fort Scanned was generally similar mi
and armament to Fort Preble.
Fort Scanned was so named in honor OF
Col. Alexander Scanned, of the army of the
Revolution, who was aide-de-camp to Gen.
adjutant general of the army.
and was mortally wounded by Hessians
while engaged in reconnaissance near York
town, Va, September, 1881. In reply to a
request for Information addressed to an Off
Ger OF the adiutant generals department on
duty IN the war Office as to the parsonage af-
ter whom Fort Preble was named, the follow
ng was received:
M rsv WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTANT GENERALS OFFICE,
DIVISION MILITARY INFoRMATIoN.)
In the matter Of Fort Preble, Me.
Forl Preble was constructed sometime during
the summer of 1908. The question of fortifying