Dutch Island is an island lying west of

Conanicut Island Conanicut Island is the second-largest island in Narragansett Bay in the American state of Rhode Island. It is connected on the east to Newport on Aquidneck Island via the Claiborne Pell Bridge, commonly known as the Newport Bridge, and on t ...

at an entrance to

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sm ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, United States. It is part of the town of

Jamestown, Rhode Island Jamestown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island in the United States. The population was 5,559 at the 2020 census. Jamestown is situated almost entirely on Conanicut Island, the second largest island in Narragansett Bay. It also includes the u ...

, and has a land area of 0.4156 km² (102.7 acres). It was uninhabited as of the

United States Census, 2000 The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...

. The island was fortified from the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

through

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 ...

and was known as Fort Greble from 1898 to 1947.

History

Dutch Island's Indian name was ''Quotenis'' or ''Quetenesse''.

Abraham Pietersen van Deusen Abraham Pietersen van Deursen (before November 11, 1607 – c. 1670), aka Abraham Pietersen van Deusen, was an immigrant from Holland who settled in New Amsterdam and become one of the Council of twelve men, Council of 12 that was the first repres ...

of the Dutch West India Company established a trading post on the island around 1636 to trade with the

Narragansett Indians The Narragansett people are an Algonquian American Indian tribe from Rhode Island. Today, Narragansett people are enrolled in the federally recognized Narragansett Indian Tribe. They gained federal recognition in 1983. The tribe was nearly lan ...

, trading Dutch goods, cloths, implements, and liquors for the Indians' furs, fish, and venison. Several years later, the Dutch built

Fort Ninigret Fort Ninigret is a historic fort and trading post site at Fort Neck Road in Charlestown, Rhode Island, built and occupied by European settlers in the seventeenth century. At its 1883 dedication, Commissioner George Carmichael, Jr. referred to it ...

in Charlestown. In 1654, English colonists purchased the island from the Indians. In 1825, the federal government acquired at the southern end of the island, and Dutch Island Light was established on January 1, 1827 to mark the west passage of Narragansett Bay and to aid vessels entering Dutch Island Harbor. The first tower was built of stones found on the island. The government constructed a new brick tower in 1857 with a fog bell added in 1878. No remnants exist today of the Dutch trading post, but a lighthouse and military buildings remain on the island.

Fort Greble

Fort Greble was named in honor of 1st Lt.

John Trout Greble John Trout Greble (January 19, 1834 in Philadelphia – June 10, 1861 in Virginia) was a soldier in the United States Army and the Union army in the American Civil War. He was killed at the battle of Big Bethel, and was the first graduate of the ...

, 2nd Artillery, USA, who was the first officer 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 ...

killed in the Civil War. In 1863, the land was sold to the United States government, and the island was taken over by the Army by 1864.

American Civil War

During the

, the island was used as a training site by the

14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (Colored) The 11th United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment, previously designated the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Regiment (Colored), was an African American artillery regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Servi ...

. The soldiers of the 14th Rhode Island constructed the first earthwork defenses on the island, and sporadic construction continued after the Civil War ended. An eight-gun battery was built and armed by the 14th Rhode Island in 1863-64. A battery for eleven 10-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 b ...

s was also built at the south end of the island; it extended in a north-south line and had wide arcs of fire on either side. However, it was vulnerable to flooding and was never armed.

Spanish American War

More gun batteries were placed on Dutch Island after the Civil War. In 1870, a massive fort was proposed for Dutch Island mounting forty 15-inch Rodman guns, but funding for this was cut off in 1875, and nearly all coast defense funding was cut off nationwide within a few years. However, the recommendations of the

Endicott Board Several boards have been appointed by US presidents or Congress to evaluate the US defensive fortifications, primarily coastal defenses near strategically important harbors on the US shores, its territories, and its protectorates. Endicott Board ...

in the late 1890s resulted in the construction of Fort Greble as part of the

Coast Defenses of Narragansett Bay The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

. This was spurred by 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 ...

and included tunnels and gun emplacements, with the fort enlarged until 1902. The first of Fort Greble's works was Battery Hale, completed in 1897 with the emplacement of three 10-inch M1888

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. A battery was constructed for one 6-inch Armstrong gun shortly after the war started, but the gun was removed in 1903. This was followed by the establishment of Battery Mitchell on the Armstrong gun site with three 6-inch M1903 disappearing guns, and Battery Sedgwick with eight 12-inch M1890 mortars. Finally Battery Ogden was completed in 1900 with its two 3-inch M1898 rapid fire guns on retractable masking parapet carriages. The fort also had facilities for controlling an underwater minefield, and the mines were stored at Fort Wetherill.FortWiki article on Fort Greble
/ref>Berhow, p. 205 Battery Hale was named for Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale. Battery Mitchell was named for Captain David D. Mitchell, killed in the Philippine–American War. Battery Sedgwick was named for Major-General

John Sedgwick John Sedgwick (September 13, 1813 – May 9, 1864) was a military officer and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He was wounded three times at the Battle of Antietam while leading his division in an unsuccessful assault against Co ...

, killed in the Civil War. Battery Ogden was named for Frederick C. Ogden, an officer killed in the Civil War.

Inter-war period training exercises

The ''New York Times'' reported that a combined arms training exercise was conducted on 26 June 1908 involving regular and militia military units from Fort Adams and Fort Grebl

Soldiers and their commanders launched a simulated land and sea attack on the island, and the residents of Newport and Jamestown were kept awake all night by the sound of the fort's guns. Corporal William W. Lee loaded two pounds of the wrong powder into Fort Greble's reveille gun on 2 April 1912, which typically used only 4 ounces or 8 tablespoons of black powder, and the breech blew up when he pulled the lanyard. His wounds were fatal, and his grave is located in Jamestown's town cemetery on Narragansett Ave.

World Wars 1 and 2

The fort was home to as many as 495 soldiers during

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 ...

under the command of Colonel Charles Foster Tillinghast Sr. Several of its guns were dismounted for potential service on the Western Front in 1917-18. One 10-inch gun of Battery Hale was dismounted for conversion to a

railway gun 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 ...

; it was replaced by a similar gun from Fort Wetherill in late 1918. The three 6-inch guns of Battery Mitchell were dismounted in 1917 and sent to France for use on wheeled carriages; they were not returned to Fort Greble. None of the 6-inch gun regiments completed training before the

Armistice of 11 November 1918 The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...

and thus did not see combat.History of the Coast Artillery Corps in World War I
/ref> Four of Battery Sedgwick's eight 12-inch mortars were dismounted in 1918 for potential use as railway artillery and to improve reloading efficiency. Battery Ogden's 3-inch guns were withdrawn from service in 1920 as part of a general retirement of the M1898 3-inch guns. The fort was active till the mid-1920s as part of the

. It was placed in caretaker status because the fort's cisterns were defective and could not hold sufficient water to support the garrison. During World War II, Fort Greble was used as a German prisoner-of-war camp and was discontinued from service in 1947. The fort's guns were scrapped in 1942 once improved defenses were constructed centered on Fort Church and

Fort Greene Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the wes ...

Since World War 2

There have been no redevelopment or preservation efforts on Dutch Island since World War 2, and it has been used as a training site for the

Rhode Island National Guard The Rhode Island National Guard consists of the: *Rhode Island Army National Guardbr>*Rhode Island Air National Guardbr>** 102nd Information Warfare Squadron ** 143d Airlift Wing ** 281st Combat Communications Group ** 282nd Combat Communication ...

. The island is owned by the State of Rhode Island and is designated as a wildlife management area by the state's Department of Environmental Management (DEM). In 2016, the Army Corps of Engineers completed a project to mitigate safety hazards on the island.

Gallery

File:Fort Greble, R.I. (4515412788).jpg, 12-inch mortar pit at Fort Greble. File:Fort Greble, R.I. (4515412250).jpg, 6-inch disappearing gun at Fort Greble. File:Gun3MaskPar01.gif, 3-inch gun M1898 on retractable masking parapet carriage M1898, the type that was at Fort Greble File:Fort Greble, R.I. (4515414276).jpg, Fort Greble from the ferry. File:Fort Greble, R.I. (4515410786).jpg, Testing a mine, Fort Greble.

References

Dutch Island: Block 4050, Census Tract 415, Newport County, Rhode Island
United States Census Bureau

Lighthouse Details
* * Frederic Denlson, ''Narragansett Sea and Shore'', (J.A. & R.A. Reid, Providence, RI., 1879) * * * George L. Seavey, ''Rhode Island's Coastal Natural Areas.''

External links

List of all US coastal forts and batteries
at the Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. website
FortWiki, lists all CONUS and Canadian forts
{{Coord, 41, 30, 14, N, 71, 24, 00, W, display=title Islands of Newport County, Rhode Island Jamestown, Rhode Island Islands of Narragansett Bay New Netherland Forts in Rhode Island Former Dutch colonies Fur trade 1636 establishments in Rhode Island 1636 establishments in the Dutch Empire World War II prisoner-of-war camps in the United States Islands of Rhode Island