page_title: Fort Mifflin
section_title: Pre-Civil War period
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Mifflin / History / Pre-Civil War period
caption_attribution_description: Fort Mifflin Hospital Taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in December 2003.
context_page_description: Fort Mifflin, originally called Fort Island Battery and also known as Mud Island Fort, was commissioned in 1771 and sits on Mud Island on the Delaware River below Philadelphia, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia International Airport. During the American Revolutionary War, the British Army bombarded and captured the fort as part of their conquest of Philadelphia in autumn 1777. In 1795 the fort was renamed for Thomas Mifflin, a Continental Army officer and the first post-independence Governor of Pennsylvania. The United States Army began to rebuild the fort in 1794 and continued to garrison and build on the site through the 19th century. It housed prisoners during the American Civil War. The army decommissioned Fort Mifflin for active duty infantry and artillery in 1962. However, while the older portion of the fort was returned to the City of Philadelphia, a portion of the fort's grounds are still actively used by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, making it the oldest fort in military use in the United States. Historic preservationists have restored the fort, which is now a National Historic Landmark.
context_section_description: The army built a one-story brick structure, 24 feet (7.3 m) by 44 feet (13 m), in 1815–1816 as a guardhouse and prison.  Around 1819, north of the walls of the fort, the army also built a building used as a hospital (2nd floor) and mess hall (ground floor).  
  After the construction of Fort Delaware in 1820, Fort Mifflin was relegated to secondary status. During the 19th century the area around the fort was drained and filled until Mud Island connected with the western bank of the Delaware River.  Nevertheless, the building and garrisoning of Fort Mifflin continued.  In the early 1820s, the army began meteorological observations at the fort.
  The soldiers' barracks building was extensively renovated in 1836, along with the officers' quarters. At a later date the soldiers' barracks was again renovated, at which time the roofline was changed to add the second floor. (HABS # PA-1225E).  In 1837 the hospital and mess hall building was converted to a meetinghouse and an artillery shed, for the storage and protection of cannon, was built on an interior raised platform.  
  By 1839, the army designated the one-story brick guardhouse-prison as an arsenal.  On 27 December 1842 the army completed a brick, one-story sutler building/storehouse measuring 55 feet (17 m) by 20 feet (6.1 m).  In the 1840s a two-story kitchen wing was added to the officers' quarters building.
caption: Fort Mifflin's hospital
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