![12-in-Disappearing-Carriage-1896](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/12-in-Disappearing-Carriage-1896.jpg)
Fort Levett was a former
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
fort built on
Cushing Island, Maine
Cushing Island, or Cushing's Island, is a privately owned island in Casco Bay in the U.S. state of Maine. Part of the city of Portland, Maine, roughly 45 families live there seasonally.
History
In 1623-24 English explorer Christopher Levett b ...
, beginning in 1898. Located in
Cumberland County, Maine
Cumberland County is a county in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, the population was 303,069, making it the most populous county in Maine. Its county seat is Portland. Cumberland County was founded in 1760 from a portion of Y ...
, in
Casco Bay
Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its s ...
near
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...
, the fort was heavily fortified with guns for
coastal defense. Conceived under the
Endicott Program in 1885 and begun in the wake of the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
, Fort Levett was manned during both world wars. It was part of the Coast Defenses of Portland, later renamed the
Harbor Defenses of Portland
The Harbor Defenses of Portland was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of Portland, Maine, the mouth of the Kennebec River, and surrounding areas from 1895 to 1950, beginni ...
, a command which protected Portland's port and naval
anchorage 1904-1950. The fort's name is sometimes misspelled as "Fort Leavitt".
History
Fort Levett was built on of
Cushing Island, and the coast artillery fortification was visited by several
Secretaries of War, including
Jacob M. Dickinson in 1909. The fort, whose call letters were FV, was part of a network of forts guarding Portland Harbor and
Casco Bay
Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its s ...
under the
Coast Defenses of Portland (Harbor Defenses after 1925), which included Levett,
Fort Williams on
Portland Head
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, and
Fort McKinley on
Great Diamond Island as well as
Fort Preble
Fort Preble was a military fort in South Portland, Maine, United States, built in 1808 and progressively added to through 1906. The fort was active during all major wars from the War of 1812 through World War II. The fort was deactivated in 1950 ...
.
Fort Scammel
House Island is a private island in Portland Harbor in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the City of Portland. The island is accessible only by boat. Public access is prohibited, except for an on-request tour sanctioned by the isl ...
and
Fort Gorges, once strongly fortified and guarding the harbor entrance, were decommissioned earlier than the previous three forts, and were not modernized after the 1870s. The forts were built by the
, maintained by the Army's
Ordnance Department
The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army comb ...
, and after 1907 were manned by the
United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was an administrative corps responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States and its possessions between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery ...
.
Namesake
Fort Levett was named for English explorer Captain
Christopher Levett
Capt. Christopher Levett (15 April 1586 – 1630) was an English writer, explorer and naval captain, born at York, England. He explored the coast of New England and secured a grant from the King to settle present-day Portland, Maine, the first ...
, an early explorer of the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
coast and the first European to settle what is today
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...
.
King Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...
granted Levett to found a city the explorer proposed to call
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, after his English birthplace. Levett founded a plantation in 1623, leaving a group of
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
men and women behind, and he returned to England. The settlement subsequently failed, and the colonists were never heard from again. Levett never returned to Maine.
Construction and armament
Fort Levett's construction began in 1898 (on land acquired in 1894) and was largely completed in 1903. The fort initially comprised five batteries. Battery Bowdoin was named for
James Bowdoin, former governor of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
(which included Maine in his day), and had three
12-inch M1895 disappearing gun
A disappearing gun, a gun mounted on a ''disappearing carriage'', is an obsolete type of artillery which enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. The overwhelming majority of carriage designs enabled the gun to rotate back ...
s. Battery Kendrick was named for Henry Lane Kendrick, an Army officer and professor at
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
, and had two
10-inch M1895 disappearing guns. Battery Ferguson was named for Major William Ferguson, killed in action against Native Americans in 1791, was completed in 1906, and had two
6-inch M1900 guns on pedestal mounts. Battery Daniels was named for Lieutenant Napoleon Daniels, killed in action against Native Americans at
Crazy Woman's Fork in 1866, and had two
3-inch M1898 guns (also called 15-pounder guns) on retractable masking parapet mounts.
[Fort Wiki article on Fort Levett](_blank)
/ref>[Berhow, p. 202] The fort also briefly had several 6-pounder rapid-fire guns on field mounts.
In addition to its artillery, the fort also operated as a wireless telegraph
Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for t ...
station. In order to furnish its base with water, the army dug four wells on Cushing Island. The island presented other challenges as well. In full view of the battery of artillery was a large summer hotel. "This hotel", noted a War Department War Department may refer to:
* War Department (United Kingdom)
* United States Department of War (1789–1947)
See also
* War Office, a former department of the British Government
* Ministry of defence
* Ministry of War
* Ministry of Defence
* D ...
report, "is so near that the guns can not be fired without causing much damage to the building. The occupants of this hotel, if it is allowed to remain there, will be practically in the fort, while the soldiers who garrison the fort will live in barracks at a considerable distance from their guns." Although the owners of the hotel wished the army to purchase it to billet its men, the army resisted the offer, and chose instead to erect its buildings nearby. The army subsequently erected cook tents and frame buildings at the fort. The fort had a base field hospital for the soldiers. All of the initial post buildings were completed by 1905. The fort was a sub-post of Fort Williams, and by 1910 was in caretaker status, with only a small garrison for maintenance, as there was no immediate threat to the area.
World War I
In 1915, with World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
raging in Europe and with rapidly improving dreadnought battleship
The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...
s providing an increased threat, the Board of Review recommended that Fort Levett receive a new, modernized battery as part of a program to increase the range of coastal forts. The battery was named Battery Foote in 1919, after Colonel Stephen M. Foote, a Coast Artillery officer who died in that year. Battery Foote had two 12-inch M1895 guns on new, high-angle M1917 barbette
Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships.
In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protectio ...
carriages for increased range and was completed in 1920. This type of battery was initially built in the open, relying on camouflage for concealment, and was incredibly vulnerable to air attack, as were the older disappearing batteries. The two 10-inch guns of Battery Kendrick were ordered dismounted as part of a railway artillery
A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval artillery, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best-known are ...
program in 1917, but were not shipped out and were soon remounted.
Fort Levett was operationally manned during the war, but probably not until the American entry into World War I
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
in 1917. After World War I the two 3-inch guns of Battery Daniels were removed as part of a decommissioning of several types of guns. At some point between the wars the fort reverted to caretaker status.
World War II
In June 1939 a quartermaster
Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...
survey showed that most of the 28 buildings at Fort Levett were in "poor" or "uninhabitable" condition. In June 1940 the post was in similar condition and still in caretaker status, but things were about to change. Shortly after the Fall of France in mid-1940 the United States manned its coast defenses, activated the National Guard, and developed a coast defense modernization program that was partially implemented during the war. During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
the Harbor Defenses of Portland
The Harbor Defenses of Portland was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of Portland, Maine, the mouth of the Kennebec River, and surrounding areas from 1895 to 1950, beginni ...
were garrisoned by the 8th Coast Artillery Regiment of the Regular Army
A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following:
* a standin ...
and the 240th Coast Artillery Regiment of the Maine National Guard The Maine Department of Defense, Veterans, and Emergency Management (DVEM) is a government agency of Maine. It comprises the two components of the Maine National Guard, the Maine Army National Guard and the Maine Air National Guard, the Bureau of V ...
until late 1944, when the Coast Artillery was reorganized and reduced in strength. At Fort Levett, by June 1941 the older buildings had been rehabilitated and 26 temporary buildings had been added or planned, increasing the fort's capacity from 124 to 758 men. The basis of the World War II modernization program was to add new 16-inch gun batteries, retain long-range 12-inch batteries such as Battery Foote, and also add new long-range 6-inch gun and 90 mm gun batteries. The disappearing gun batteries that had served for 25–45 years would be scrapped. The 16-inch battery that anchored the Harbor Defenses of Portland was Battery Steele on Peaks Island. Battery Foote was casemated against air attack during the war, and a four-gun 90 mm Anti- Motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) battery designated AMTB 962 was added. The other batteries of Fort Levett were scrapped by 1943 except the two 6-inch guns of Battery Ferguson, which were retained until after the war.
Postwar
With the end of World War II in 1945 all US coast defense guns were scrapped by 1948, and subsequently the obsolete Fort Levett was sold by the government, which asked $177,000 for the property. It was bought by a group of Cushing Island residents after it was decommissioned. Forts Levett and McKinley ultimately became private condominium associations.''Creating Portland: History and Place in Northern New England''
Joseph Conforti, Published by UPNE, 2007,
See also
*
Casco Bay
Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its s ...
*
Port of Portland (Maine)
*
Seacoast defense in the United States
Seacoast defense was a major concern for the United States from its independence until World War II. Before airplanes, many of America's enemies could only reach it from the sea, making coastal forts an economical alternative to standing armies o ...
*
United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was an administrative corps responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States and its possessions between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery ...
*
List of coastal fortifications of the United States
References
*
*
*
External links
List of all US coastal forts and batteriesat the Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. website
FortWiki, lists all CONUS and Canadian fortsGun types at FortWikiFort Levett and Ram Island Ledge, New York Public Library Digital Gallery
{{Authority control
Levett
Levett is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from eLivet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories.
Origins
This surname comes from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, no ...
Casco Bay
Buildings and structures in Cumberland County, Maine
History of Portland, Maine