Fort Adams Fort Adams in Newport , Rhode Island , was established on July 4 , 1799 as a First System coastal fortification . Its first commander was Captain John Henry who was later instrumental in starting the War of 1812 . History . The first Fort Adams was designed by Major Louis de Tousard of the Army Corps of Engineers . This fort mounted 12 cannon and was garrisoned during the War of 1812 by Wood ' s State Corps of Rhode Island militia men . After the War of 1812 , there was a thorough review of the nation ' s fortification needs and it was decided to replace the older Fort Adams with a newer and much larger fort . The new fort was designed by Brigadier General Simon Bernard , a Frenchman who had served as a military engineer under Napoleon . Bernard designed the new Fort Adams in the classic style of Vauban and it became the most complex fortification in the Western Hemisphere . Construction of the new fort began in 1824 and continued at irregular intervals until 1857 . From 1825 to 1838 construction was overseen by Colonel Joseph Gilbert Totten , the foremost American military engineer of his day . In 1838 Totten became chief engineer of the Army and served until his death in 1864 . The new Fort Adams was first garrisoned in August 1841 , functioning as an active Army post until 1950 . During this time the fort was active in five major wars ( the Mexican - American War , American Civil War , Spanish - American , World War I and World War II ) but never fired a shot in anger . During the Mexican War Fort Adams was briefly under the command of Brigadier General Franklin Pierce , who would be elected President of the United States in 1852 . The War Department was concerned about the political sympathies of Marylanders during the Civil War , so the United States Naval Academy was moved in 1861 from Annapolis Maryland to Fort Adams . In September 1861 , the academy moved to the Atlantic House Hotel in Newport and remained there for the rest of the war . Among the midshipmen assigned to the Naval Academy while it was at Fort Adams was Robley D . Evans who was wounded at Fort Fisher , North Carolina in 1865 and later commanded the Great White Fleet in 1907 on the first leg of its epic around the world voyage . In 1862 Fort Adams became the headquarters and recruit depot for the 15th Infantry Regiment . This regiment , along with several others , was organized into a regiment of three eight - company battalions , with the 3rd Battalion formed at Fort Adams in March 1864 . As time went by , the fort ' s armament was upgraded to keep up with technological innovations . Major kinds of ordnance used at the Fort included muzzle loading cannon in the 19th century , breech loading , rifled artillery pieces in the early 20th Century and anti - aircraft guns during and after World War II . Fort Adams also served as the headquarters for all fortifications in Narragansett Bay , as well as , a training center in both world wars . In the Second World War a peak strength of over 3 , 000 soldiers were assigned to the Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay . In September 1940 the 243d Coast Artillery Regiment of the Rhode Island National Guard was mobilized and sent to Fort Adams to reinforce the Regular Army ' s 10th Coast Artillery Regiment . The two regiments garrisoned several coast defense forts and anti - aircraft installations under the Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay . As the war progressed , the number of troops was gradually reduced to about 500 by the end of the war in 1945 . In 1953 , the Army gave Fort Adams to the Navy , which still uses some of the grounds for family housing . In 1965 , the fort was given to the state of Rhode Island for use as Fort Adams State Park . In 1976 , Fort Adams was declared a National Historic Landmark . In 1994 , the Fort Adams Trust was formed , which provides guided tours at the fort and oversees ongoing restoration work at the fort . President Dwight D . Eisenhower lived at the former commanding officer ' s quarters ( now called the Eisenhower House ) during his summer vacations in Newport in 1958 and 1960 . Thornton Wilder , author and playwright , whose 1973 novel Theophilus North is set in Newport , served a three - month enlistment in the Army ' s Coast Artillery Corps at Fort Adams in World War I ( rising to the rank of corporal ) . Since 1981 , the Fort Adams grounds have been host to the Newport Jazz Festival , and the Newport Folk Festival . In 2012 , the park was the official venue for the America ' s Cup World Series in Newport .