Fort Winthrop
Fort Winthrop, built in 1808 and named Fort Warren until 1834, was a defensive fortification in Boston Harbor named after John Winthrop, an early governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. History The fort was built on Governors Island (Massachusetts), Governors Island, which was named Conant's Island until it was granted to Winthrop in 1632. His family owned the island until 1808, when the United States acquired land in the center of the island for the construction of a fort under the Seacoast defense in the United States, Second System of US fortifications. Between 1808 and 1812 the government built an earthen fort on that land, in the form of an eight-pointed star. Sylvanus Thayer, later famous as Superintendent of West Point, was in charge of the fort's construction. Secretary of War Henry Dearborn's report on fortifications for December 1811 described it as "...a star fort of masonry, mounting twelve guns...and brick barracks for 40 men...On the West head, a circular battery ...
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Sylvanus Thayer
Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer (June 9, 1785 – September 7, 1872) also known as "the Father of West Point" was an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an early advocate of engineering education in the United States. Early life and education Sylvanus Thayer (9 June 1785-7 Sept. 1872) was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, the son of Nathaniel Thayer, a gentleman farmer, and his wife Dorcas Faxon.Herman Hattaway, Michael D. Smith. "Thayer, Sylvanus"; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000, accesse American Council of Learned Societies. Published by Oxford University Press. In 1793, at the age of 8, Thayer was sent to live with his uncle Azariah Faxon and attend school in Washington, New Hampshire. There he met General Benjamin Pierce, who, like Faxon, was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. In 1803 Thayer matriculated at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1807 as valedictorian of his class. However, he never gave ...
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