Fort Popham is a
Civil War-era coastal defense fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
at the mouth of the
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 river within the U.S. state of Maine. It ri ...
in
Phippsburg, Maine
Phippsburg is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States, on the west side of the mouth of the Kennebec River. The population was 2,155 at the 2020 census. It is within the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine, metropol ...
. It is located in sight of the short-lived
Popham Colony
The Popham Colony—also known as the Sagadahoc Colony—was a short-lived English colonial settlement in North America. It was established in 1607 by the proprietary Plymouth Company and was located in the present-day town of Phippsburg, Ma ...
and, like the colony, named for
George Popham
George Popham (1550–1608) was a pioneering colonist from Maine, born in the southwestern regions of England. He was an associate of English colonist Sir Ferdinando Gorges in a colonization scheme for a part of Maine.
Early life
He was born in So ...
, the colony's leader.
Predecessors
During the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
a minor fortification stood on this site; in 1808 the federal government built a small
battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
to accommodate guns on field carriages on this location as part of the
Second System of fortifications that guarded the coast. These forts and batteries were built shortly after the passage of
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
's
Embargo Act of 1807
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a general trade embargo on all foreign nations that was enacted by the United States Congress. As a successor or replacement law for the 1806 Non-importation Act and passed as the Napoleonic Wars continued, it repr ...
, which prohibited all exports from the US as an attempt to exert pressure on Britain and France, which had been taking actions against US shipping. The first use of some of these forts was to enforce the embargo. The embargo was deeply unpopular in New England and had severe economic effects there; the embargo was repealed in March 1809, but the situation with Britain ultimately led to the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
. It was felt that these forts were built as much to enforce the embargo as to defend the country, and they were derisively known as "embargo forts". The battery is mentioned in the
Secretary of War
The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...
's reports on fortifications for December 1808 and December 1811. It was called the "Battery on Hunnewell's Point" or the "Georgetown Battery" (at the time
Georgetown included Phippsburg).
[Coast Defenses of the Kennebec River at NorthAmericanForts.com](_blank)
/ref> In 1811 it was described as "An enclosed work, with a battery of six heavy guns mounted, a small magazine, and wooden barracks for 40". The battery remained manned until 1815 and saw minor action during the War of 1812. After the war four of the guns were relocated to a new battery at Cox's Head, north of Fort Popham on the west bank of the Kennebec. This was a brick fort with barracks for 105 men.
History
Construction of Fort Popham was authorized in 1857 as part of the Third System of fortifications but did not begin until 1861. The fort was built from granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
blocks quarried on nearby Fox and Dix Islands. It had a -high wall facing the mouth of the Kennebec River and was built in a crescent shape, measuring approximately in circumference.
During the closing months of the American Civil War, from October 1864 to July 1865, the fort was garrisoned by the 7th Unassigned Company of Maine Infantry. The 7th Company was commanded by Captain Augustin Thompson
Augustin Thompson (Union, Maine on November 25, 1835 – June 8, 1903) was a physician, businessman and philanthropist who created the Moxie soft drink and the company that manufactured it (now part of the Kirin Holdings Company of Tokyo, Japan). ...
, who is best known as the inventor of Moxie
Moxie is a brand of carbonated beverage that is among the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States. It was created around 1876 by Augustin Thompson as a patent medicine called "Moxie Nerve Food" and was produced in Lowell, Massac ...
soda.
Fort Popham was originally designed to mount 42 heavy guns, a mix of 10-inch and 15-inch Rodman gun
Drawing comparing Model 1844 8-inch columbiad and Model 1861 10-inch "Rodman" columbiad. The powder chamber on the older columbiad is highlighted by the red box.
The Rodman gun is any of a series of American Civil War–era columbiads designed by ...
s, but construction was halted in 1869 with only two of the planned three tiers completed. In the late 19th century, Fort Popham's armament consisted of 36 Rodman guns and some 300-pounder (10-inch) and smaller Parrott rifle
The Parrott rifle was a type of muzzle-loading rifled artillery weapon used extensively in the American Civil War.
Parrott rifle
The gun was invented by Captain Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point graduate. He was an American soldier and invent ...
s. One of the Rodman gun
Drawing comparing Model 1844 8-inch columbiad and Model 1861 10-inch "Rodman" columbiad. The powder chamber on the older columbiad is highlighted by the red box.
The Rodman gun is any of a series of American Civil War–era columbiads designed by ...
s was donated to the town of Bowdoinham to remember its soldiers who died in the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. The cannon is still there. A 100-pounder (6.4-inch) Parrott rifle sits near the fort grounds; it was listed as being at the fort in 1903.[FortWiki article on Fort Popham](_blank)
/ref> The back side of Fort Popham was built with a low moated curtain containing a central gate and 20 musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...
ports.
War experience showed that masonry forts were vulnerable to modern rifled guns. As a result, in 1869 construction at Fort Popham stopped before the fortification was completed. The fort was garrisoned again after additional work was performed 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 ...
and 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 ...
. In the 1890s Fort Popham received new facilities for a controlled minefield in the river at the fort as part of the Endicott program of improved fortifications. In 1898, shortly after the Spanish–American War broke out, Congress made numerous emergency appropriations, including $3,200 to deploy the mines in the Kennebec.[ In 1899, following the war, a single ]8-inch M1888
The 8-inch gun M1888 (203 mm) was a U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps gun, initially deployed 1898–1908 in about 75 fixed emplacements, usually on a disappearing carriage. During World War I, 37 or 47 of these weapons (references vary) w ...
gun was mounted near the fort on a converted Rodman carriage, joining four 15-inch Rodman guns and the 100-pounder Parrott rifle that remains near the fort; the 8-inch gun was removed in 1910.[Congressional serial set, 1900, ''Report of the Commission on the Conduct of the War with Spain'', Vol. 7, pp. 3778–3780, Washington: Government Printing Office]
/ref> This was an emergency measure to provide modern guns at threatened locations until the Endicott program forts could be completed. Under this program, construction of Fort Baldwin
Fort Baldwin is a former coastal defence and fortification, coastal defense fortification near the mouth of the Kennebec River in Phippsburg, Maine, United States, preserved as the Fort Baldwin State Historic Site. It was named after Jeduthan Bald ...
on the headland above Fort Popham began in 1905 with longer-range guns, which eventually rendered Fort Popham obsolete.[FortWiki article on Fort Baldwin](_blank)
/ref> However, at the time Fort Baldwin was built, Fort Popham remained important due to the minefield facilities.
Fort Popham was probably part of the Coast Defenses of the Kennebec
The Harbor Defenses of Portland was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps Harbor Defense Command, harbor defense command. It coordinated the coastal defence and fortification, coast defenses of Portland, Maine, the mouth of the Kenneb ...
command at some point. However, references indicate this command was combined with the Coast Defenses of Portland
The Harbor Defenses of Portland was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps Harbor Defense Command, harbor defense command. It coordinated the coastal defence and fortification, coast defenses of Portland, Maine, the mouth of the Kenneb ...
at some time prior to 1917. During World War I, Forts Popham and Baldwin were garrisoned by about 200 men of the 13th and 29th Coast Artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications.
From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...
companies of the Coast Defenses of Portland.NRIS entry for Fort Baldwin
/ref> Although Fort Baldwin was disarmed in 1924, the mine facilities at Fort Popham may have remained operational through World War II, during which Fort Baldwin was rearmed with towed artillery.
Present
The fort, located two miles (3 km) from popular Popham Beach State Park
Popham Beach State Park is a public recreation area covering on the Atlantic Ocean in the town of Phippsburg, Sagadahoc County, Maine. It is the state's highest volume day use State Park. The state park occupies a dynamic shoreline landscape ...
, is open to the public as Fort Popham State Historic Site. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
as Fort Popham Memorial on October 1, 1969, reference number 69000012.
File:Etnier Fort Popham.jpg, The fort's setting
File:Fort Popham.jpg, Entrance
File:In Fort Popham.jpg, Interior
See also
*
References
Further reading
For this fort's role in Jefferson's embargo, see Smith, Joshua M. "Maine's Embargo Forts", ''Maine History'', Vol. 44, No. 2 (April 2009), pp. 143–154.
For this fort's role in the War of 1812, see Burrage, Rev. Henry S. "Captain John Wilson and Some Military Matters in the War of 1812", ''Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society'', second series, 10 (1899), pp. 403–429.
External links
Fort Popham State Historic Site
– official site
*
*
Coast Defense Study Group, information on all US forts
American Forts Network, lists forts in the US, former US territories, Canada, and Central America
FortWiki, lists most CONUS and Canadian forts
Information and photos about Fort Popham (unofficial Maine Historic Sites page)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popham, Fort
Infrastructure completed in 1869
Popham
Tourist attractions in Sagadahoc County, Maine
Protected areas of Sagadahoc County, Maine
Maine state historic sites
Popham
1869 establishments in Maine
Closed installations of the United States Army
National Register of Historic Places in Sagadahoc County, Maine
Popham Colony