| Fort Adams | |
|---|---|
| Newport, Rhode Island | |
 Fort Adams on 31 August 2005 | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Coastal artillery post |
| Controlled by | United States |
 | |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1798–1799; 1824–1857 |
| In use | 1799–1824; 1841–1953 |
| Materials | granite, shale and brick |
| Garrison information | |
| Past commanders | CaptainJohn Henry Lieutenant ColonelBenjamin Kendrick Pierce Brigadier GeneralRobert Anderson ColonelHenry Jackson Hunt[1] |
Fort Adams | |
 Interactive map showing the location of Fort Adams | |
| Nearest city | Newport, Rhode Island |
| Coordinates | 41°28′43″N71°20′16″W / 41.47866°N 71.33788°W /41.47866; -71.33788 |
| Built | 1799, rebuilt 1824 |
| Architect | Louis de Tousard (1799),Simon Bernard andJoseph G. Totten (1824) |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000014 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 28, 1970[3] |
| Designated NHLD | December 8, 1976[2] |
Fort Adams is a formerUnited States Army post inNewport, Rhode Island, that was established on July 4, 1799, as aFirst Systemcoastal fortification, named for PresidentJohn Adams, who was in office at the time. Its firstcommanding officer wasCaptainJohn Henry who was later instrumental in starting theWar of 1812. The current Fort Adams was built between 1824 and 1857 under the Third System of coastal forts; it is part ofFort Adams State Park today.
The first Fort Adams was designed byMajorLouis de Tousard of theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers as part of thefirst system of US fortifications. After some additions in 1809,[4] thisfort mounted 17 cannon and was garrisoned during theWar of 1812 by Wood's State Corps of Rhode Islandmilitiamen.[5] TheUnited States Secretary of War's report for December 1811 describes the fort as "an irregularstar fort ofmasonry, with an irregular indented work of masonry adjoining it, mounting seventeen heavy guns. ... Thebarracks are of wood and bricks, for onecompany."[6]
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After the War of 1812, there was a thorough review of the fortification needs of the United States and it was decided to replace the older Fort Adams with a newer and much larger fort. This was part of what became known as the Third System of U.S. fortifications. The new fort was designed byBrigadier GeneralSimon Bernard, aFrenchman who had served as amilitary engineer underNapoleon Bonaparte. Bernard designed the new Fort Adams in the classic style and it became the most complex fortification in theWestern Hemisphere. It included atenaille andcrownwork, a complex outer work on the southern (landward) side, designed to break up and channel an assault force. The fort also had a detachedredoubt 650 yards (594 m) south of the main fort.[7] In the United States, it is rivaled in size only byFort Monroe inHampton, Virginia, andFort Jefferson on theDry Tortugas in Florida.[8]
Construction of the new fort began in 1824 underFirst lieutenantAndrew Talcott[9] and continued at irregular intervals until 1857. From 1825 to 1838 construction was overseen byLieutenant ColonelJoseph Gilbert Totten, the foremost American military engineer of his day. In 1838 Totten became U.S. ArmyChief of Engineers and served until his death in 1864.[10]
The new Fort Adams was first garrisoned in August 1841, functioning as an active U.S. Army post until 1950. During this time the fort was active in five major wars – theMexican–American War (1846–1848),American Civil War (1861–1865),Spanish–American War (1898),World War I (1917–1918), andWorld War II (1941–1945) — but never fired a shot in anger.
At the start of theMexican–American War in 1846, the post was commanded byBenjamin Kendrick Pierce, the brother of PresidentFranklin Pierce. The fort'sredoubt, about1⁄4 mile (0.4 km) south of the main fort, was built during this war.[11][12][7]
From 1848 to 1853, Fort Adams was commanded byColonelWilliam Gates, a long-serving veteran of both the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. The fort's garrison was ordered to California and many of the soldiers lost their lives when the steamerSS San Francisco waswrecked in a NorthAtlantic storm on December 24, 1853.
A report of 1854 stated that Fort Adams was armed with 100 32-pounder seacoast guns, 57 24-pounder seacoast guns, and 43 24-pounder flankhowitzers. All of these weapons weresmoothborecannon. The flank howitzers were short-barreled guns deployed incasemates in the tenaille and redoubt to protect the fort against a landward assault.[13]
From 1859 to 1863 the fort was in thecare ofOrdnance Sergeant Mark Wentworth Smith, a Mexican–American War veteran who was wounded at theBattle of Chapultepec. He died in 1879 at the age of 76, the oldest active-dutyenlisted soldier in the history of the U.S. Army.[14]
TheUnited States Department of War was concerned about the political sympathies of residents inMaryland during theAmerican Civil War, so theUnited States Naval Academy was moved in 1861 fromAnnapolis, Maryland, to Fort Adams. In September 1861, the academy moved to the Atlantic House Hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, and remained there for the rest of the war.
Among the midshipmen assigned to the Naval Academy while it was at Fort Adams wasRobley D. Evans who was wounded atFort Fisher,North Carolina, in 1865, commanded thebattleshipUSS Iowa during the Spanish–American War in 1898, and later commanded theGreat White Fleet on the first leg of its epic around-the-world voyage of 1906–1908. Among Evans' classmates at Fort Adams were futureRear AdmiralCharles Sigsbee, who commanded the battleshipUSS Maine, and future CaptainCharles Vernon Gridley, who commanded theprotected cruiserOlympia at theBattle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898.
In 1862 Fort Adams became the headquarters and recruit depot for the U.S. Army's15th Infantry Regiment. This regiment, along with several others, was reorganized into a regiment of three eight-companybattalions, with the 3rd Battalion formed at Fort Adams in March 1864.
From August to October 1863, Fort Adams was commanded by Brigadier GeneralRobert Anderson, who had commandedFort Sumter when it was attacked by Confederate forces in April 1861, beginning the American Civil War.
As part of a major upgrade to U.S. seacoast defenses, Fort Adams' armament was modernized in the 1870s with eleven 15-inch (381 mm)Rodman guns, thirteen 10-inch (254 mm) Rodman guns, and four 6.4-inch (163 mm) (100-pounder)Parrott rifles. Three new emplacements were built for the 15-inch (381 mm) guns; the remainder replaced older weapons in the fort, of which all but 20 32-pounders were removed by 1873. For mobile defense, four 4.5-inch (114 mm) siege rifles, four 3-inch (76.2 mm) Ordnance rifles, and four 10-inch (254 mm) mortars were provided. In 1894, four 8-inch (203 mm) converted rifles were added in a newbattery south of the fort.[13]
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, rifledbreech-loadingartillery pieces in the early 20th century, andanti-aircraft guns during and afterWorld War II. The fort received significant armament, in the form of batteries to the south of the main fort, under theEndicott and Taft programs from 1896 through 1907.[11] These were to defend the East Passage ofNarragansett Bay in combination with the newFort Wetherill inJamestown, Rhode Island, as part of theCoast Defenses of Narragansett Bay.
The Endicott and Taft-period batteries at Fort Adams were:[11][15]
| Name | No. of guns | Gun type | Carriage type | Years active |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greene-Edgerton | 16 | 12-inch (305 mm) coast defense mortar M1890 | barbette M1896 | 1898–1942 |
| Reilly | 2 | 10-inch (254 mm) gun M1888 | disappearing M1896 | 1899–1917 |
| Talbot | 2 | 4.72-inch (120 mm) Armstrong gun | pedestal | 1899–1919 |
| unnamed | 1 | 8-inch (203 mm) gun M1888 | convertedRodman carriage | 1898–1899? |
| Bankhead | 3 | 6-inch (152 mm) Armstrong gun | pedestal | 1907–1913 |
| Belton | 2 | 3-inch (76.2 mm) gun M1903 | pedestal M1903 | 1907–1925 |
Batteries Greene-Edgerton, Reilly, and Talbot were built between 1896 and 1899 and were the first of these to be completed. Battery Greene-Edgerton included sixteen mortars, all of which were at first called Battery Greene, but the battery was divided into two groups of eight in 1906. Battery Talbot, one of a number of batteries added on theUnited States East Coast at the outbreak of theSpanish–American War in 1898, included two4.72-inch (120 mm) Armstrong guns.[11] One gun of Battery Talbot is preserved at Equality Park in Newport.Rhode Island; another was inWesterly, Rhode Island, circa 1920–1977 and now is atFort Moultrie nearCharleston, South Carolina.[16] An unnamed battery of a single8-inch M1888 gun on a converted 1870s carriage also existed briefly from 1898. In 1907 two additional batteries were completed, Battery Bankhead with three6-inch Armstrong guns and Battery Belton with two3-inch M1903 guns.[11][15]
Battery Greene-Edgerton was named for Major GeneralNathanael Greene of theAmerican Revolutionary War and Lieutenant Colonel Wright P. Edgerton, a professor at theUnited States Military Academy. Battery Reilly was named for Captain Henry J. Reilly, killed in theChina Relief Expedition nearPeking on 15 August 1900 during theBoxer Rebellion who previously served at Fort Adams.[17] Battery Talbot was named forSilas Talbot, a U.S. Army officer from Rhode Island in the American Revolutionary War who later became aUnited States Navyofficer and commanded thefrigateUSS Constitution from 1799 to 1801. Battery Bankhead was named forBrevet Major GeneralJames Bankhead, who served in the War of 1812,Second Seminole War, and Mexican–American War. Battery Belton was named for Francis S. Belton, who served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War.[11]
In 1913 Battery Bankhead was disarmed and its three 6-inch (152 mm) guns sent to Hawaii.[11]
The United States enteredWorld War I in April 1917. During the war, Fort Adams served as the headquarters for theCoast Defenses of Narragansett Bay, as well as a training center. TheUnited States Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was chosen to man all U.S. heavy artillery in that war, as it was the only part of the U.S. Army with experience using big guns and had a significant number of personnel trained in the operation of such guns. Four heavy artillery regiments and two heavy artillerybrigade headquarters were organized at Fort Adams and served in France, with troops ofCoast Defense Commands fromMaine, Rhode Island, New York, and elsewhere as theircadre. These included two of the four U.S.railway artillery regiments that saw action in that war (using French-made weapons) and their brigade headquarters. The railway gun units were designated the 52nd and 53rd Artillery Regiments (CAC) (originally the 7th and 8th Provisional Regiments), and the 30th Separate Artillery Brigade (Railway) (CAC) (originally the 1st Expeditionary Brigade). The 51st Artillery Regiment (CAC) (originally the 6th Provisional Regiment), 66th Artillery Regiment (CAC), and 34th Artillery Brigade (CAC) also were organized at Fort Adams and sent to France, but only the 51st completed training in time to see action.[18][19][20]Thornton Wilder, author and playwright whose 1973 novelTheophilus North is set in Newport, served a three-month enlistment in theUnited States Army Coast Artillery Corps at Fort Adams during World War I. Wilder rose to the rank ofcorporal in the Army.[citation needed]
The two 10-inch (254 mm) guns of Battery Reilly were dismounted in 1917 for potential service as railway guns, but after considerable delay they were sent toFort Warren nearBoston, Massachusetts, in 1919 to replace guns removed from that fort. Eight of the sixteen mortars at Battery Greene-Edgerton were removed in 1918 for potential railway artillery service; this was also done as a force-wide program to improve the rate of fire due to overcrowding in the mortar pits during reloading.[11]
Some sources state that Battery Talbot's guns were redeployed toSachuest Point, a few miles from Fort Adams, from 1917 to 1919. However, U.S. Army records show that these guns came fromFort Strong, Massachusetts, in theCoast Defenses of Boston.[21]
World War I ended on 11 November 1918. With the war over, Battery Talbot was disarmed in 1919 and its guns sent to Newport and Westerly as memorials. At some time after the war three3-inch (76.2 mm) M1917anti-aircraft guns were deployed at the fort, supplemented by at least twomobile 3-inch (76.2 mm) guns (or possiblymobile 75 mm guns) onWhite truck orFordModel T chassis.[13] Battery Belton's two 3-inch (76.2 mm) guns were transferred toFort Wetherill in 1925 to replace obsolescent M1902 guns there. This left the eightmortars of Battery Greene-Edgerton as Fort Adams' only armament.[11][15]
In the Second World War a peak strength of over 3,000 soldiers were assigned to theHarbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay. In September 1940 the243rd Coast Artillery Regiment of theRhode Island National Guard was mobilized and sent to Fort Adams to reinforce theRegular Army's10th Coast Artillery Regiment. The two regiments garrisoned several coast defense forts andanti-aircraft installations under the Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay. The United States entered the war on 7 December 1941, and during the war Fort Adams and most of the other Endicott Period forts in Rhode Island were superseded by new defenses centered onFort Church andFort Greene and their guns were scrapped.[15]
However, the previous anti-aircraft guns at the fort were replaced by two90-millimeter guns with several40 mm Bofors guns and.50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns.[22] An Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat Battery (AMTB 925), with two 90-millimeter guns on mobile mounts, was also at Fort Adams by December 1943.[23] As the war progressed, the number of troops was gradually reduced to about 500 by the end of the war in August 1945.
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In 1953, the U.S. Army transferred ownership of Fort Adams to the U.S. Navy, which still uses some of the grounds for family housing.[citation needed] PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower lived at the former commanding officer's quarters (now called theEisenhower House) during his summer vacations in Newport in 1958 and 1960.
From the early 1950s until the mid-1970s, Fort Adams fell victim to neglect, the weather, and vandalism. In 1965, the fort and most of the surrounding land was given to the State of Rhode Island for use asFort Adams State Park.
In 1976, Fort Adams was declared aNational Historic Landmark in recognition of its distinctive military architecture, which includes features not found in other forts of the period.[24] Through the efforts of State Senator Eric O'D. Taylor, in the 1970s Fort Adams was cleaned up, opened for tours, and used for the filming of thePBS television miniseriesThe Scarlet Letter. The tour program was cancelled circa 1980 due to budget cutbacks by the State of Rhode Island. Since 1981, the Fort Adams grounds have been host to theNewport Jazz Festival and theNewport Folk Festival.
In the early 1990s, Fort Adams was subjected to an environmental remediation program which made the fort safe for public access. In 1994, the Fort Adams Trust was formed; to provide guided tours at the fort and oversee restoration work there. In 1995 the Fort Adams Trust began giving tours at the fort from May to September. Since that time, the fort has had several areas of the fort restored as well as having its land defenses cleared of overgrowth, and the trust's restoration efforts are ongoing..
In 2012, the park was the official venue for theAmerica's Cup World Series in Newport.
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