Fort Michie was a

United States 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, cla ...

coastal defense site on

Great Gull Island Great Gull Island is a island separating the Long Island and Block Island sounds, located approximately southwest of Little Gull Island. Both islands are located in the town of Southold in Suffolk County, New York, and lie roughly midway be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Along with

Fort H. G. Wright Fort H. G. Wright was a United States military installation on Fishers Island in the town of Southold, New York, just two miles off the coast of southeastern Connecticut, but technically in New York. It was part of the Harbor Defenses of Long Isla ...

Fort Terry Fort Terry was a coastal fortification on Plum Island, a small island just off Orient Point, New York, United States. This strategic position afforded it a commanding view over the Atlantic entrance to the commercially vital Long Island Sound. ...

, and

Camp Hero Camp Hero State Park is a state park located on Montauk Point, New York. The park occupies a portion of the former Montauk Air Force Station. History Military use The site known as Camp Hero, or the Montauk Air Force Station, was original ...

, it defended the eastern entrance to

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

as part of the

Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound The Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of Long Island Sound and Connecticut from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program. These ...

, thus defending Connecticut's ports and the north shore of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

.Berhow, p. 208 The fort was named after First Lieutenant Dennis Michie, who was killed at San Juan Hill during 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 = (clock ...

. Michie is also known for being the first person to bring

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

to the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

by organizing the first Army-Navy game, where the

football stadium Football stadium may refer to: * A stadium used in gridiron football, association football or Australian rules football * A soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sp ...

is also named after him. The fort was first developed at the turn of the 20th century and was active in World War I and World War II. After World War II it was deactivated as a coast defense fort.Fort Michie at FortWiki.com
/ref> Since the 1950s the island has been used by the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

to study migratory

tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...

History

Construction and armament

Fort Michie was built as part of the large-scale Endicott Program, which recommended a comprehensive replacement of existing coast defenses. The forts were designed and built by the Army Corps of Engineers, the weapons were designed by the Army Ordnance Corps, and the forts were (by 1907) garrisoned by the

Coast Artillery Corps The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was an Corps#Administrative corps, administrative corps responsible for coastal defence and fortification, coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft Seacoast defense in the United States, defense of the United S ...

. Construction of gun batteries at Fort Michie began in 1897. By 1908 the following batteries were completed:

World War I

Following 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 ...

in April 1917, changes were made at the stateside forts with a view to putting some coast artillery weapons into the fight on the Western Front. Battery North's pair of 10-inch guns was dismounted in August 1917 for potential use as

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 ...

, but the guns did not leave the island during the war.

Between the wars

During World War I the new 16-inch gun M1919 was developed, at the time the most powerful weapon in the United States' arsenal. The first of these was deployed at Fort Michie on a unique version of the Buffington-Crozier disappearing carriage, with the elevation increased to 30 degrees and a rare all-around-fire emplacement.Ordnance, pp. 147-149 This was the largest gun emplacement constructed to date by the United States. It was named for John Moore Kelso Davis, a general and Civil War veteran who died in 1920. Battery North's guns were shipped to storage and the battery demolished to make room for the new gun emplacement, which was built 1919-1922. Other weapon transfers took place at Fort Michie between the wars. In 1930 a 12-inch gun of Battery Palmer was dismounted to replace a gun at Fort H. G. Wright; it was replaced by a gun of the same model the following year. In 1933 the pair of 3-inch guns in Battery Pasco were sent to

Fort Mills Fort Mills ( Corregidor, the Philippines) was the location of US Major General George F. Moore's headquarters for the Philippine Department's Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays in early World War II, and was the largest seacoast f ...

Corregidor Corregidor ( tl, Pulo ng Corregidor, ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of the Province of Cavite. Due to this location, Corregidor has historically b ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

; these guns were not replaced. Many of the fort's administrative buildings were destroyed in the

1938 New England Hurricane The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express Hurricane) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Long Island, New York, and New England. The stor ...

; the fort was probably in caretaker status at the time with a minimal garrison.

World War II

In 1940, when the United States reviewed its coast defense needs in earnest, Fort Michie was relegated to a secondary role. The fort lacked protection against air attack, and even its 16-inch gun had a relatively short range due to the obsolescent disappearing carriage. New long-range carriages for 16-inch guns were developed about the time Fort Michie's emplacement was built. However, due to the need for a garrison of almost 500 men, numerous temporary buildings were constructed in early 1941. The defense of Long Island Sound centered on building two batteries of two 16-inch guns each at

in Montauk, with a third battery at

Fishers Island Fishers Island (Pequot: ''Munnawtawkit'') is an island that is part of Southold, New York, United States at the eastern end of Long Island Sound, off the southeastern coast of Connecticut across Fishers Island Sound. About long and wide, it i ...

that stopped just short of completion. In 1944, with the batteries at Camp Hero complete, Battery Davis was taken out of service; Battery Palmer followed soon after. The only battery built at Fort Michie during the war was Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat battery (AMTB) 912 in 1943, with four 90 mm guns on dual-purpose mounts, two fixed and two towed.

Postwar

In 1946 Fort Michie was disarmed and all its guns scrapped; it was abandoned in 1948. The

acquired the island in 1949 to study migratory

s, which it has continued to this day.

References

* * *

External links

Fort Michie at NY State Div of Military and Naval Affairs

List of all US coastal forts and batteries
at the Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. website
FortWiki, lists most CONUS and Canadian forts
{{coord, 41, 12, 08, N, 72, 07, 07, W, display=title Michie Southold, New York Closed installations of the United States Army Long Island Sound Buildings and structures in Suffolk County, New York 1897 establishments in New York (state)