Fort Phoenix, Fairhaven, MA

Fort Phoenix

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Fort Phoenix stands on a granite ledge overlooking Buzzard's Bay on the east side of New Bedford Harbor in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. It is a public park owned by the Town of Fairhaven and is open year round.

It is directly adjacent to the Fort Phoenix State Beach and Reservation, a public bathing beach operated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Click the links for information about Free Tours or School Field Trips and Historical Encampments.

Fort History

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On May 13-14, 1775, the first naval battle of the American Revolution took place off our shore when the local militia, under the command of Nathaniel Pope and Daniel Egery, captured two British sloops in Buzzard's Bay.

Shortly afterward, the town petitioned for the construction of a fort at Nolscot Point for the protection of the harbor. The original fort was built by Capt. Benjamin Dillingham and Eleazer Hathaway between 1775 and 1777. It was outfitted with eleven cannon, several of which had been captured in the Bahamas by John Paul Jones.

The fort was attacked and destroyed when the British raided the harbor on September 5-6, 1778, landing 4,000 troops in New Bedford. The troops marched inland along the west shore of the Acushnet River to Acushnet, then came south through Fairhaven to Sconticut Neck. At this time the British drove a group of 34 local militiamen under the command of Timothy Ingraham from the fort, burned the barracks, broke up the gun platforms and smashed all but one of the cannons.

When the fort was rebuilt following the 1778 attack, it was named Fort Phoenix after the mythical bird which rose from its own ashes.

Shortly before the War of 1812, Fort Phoenix was enlarged under the supervision of Sylvanus Thayer, who later became the "Father of the Military Academy" at West Point. In June of 1814, the fort helped repel an early morning attack by British in landing boats from the HMS Nimrod.

Fort Phoenix was manned throughout the Civil War by troops who rotated duty between the Fairhaven fort and the newer Fort Taber in New Bedford. Eight 24-pound cannon were installed at the beginning of the war, five of which remain at the fort today.

Fort Phoenix went out of service in 1876. In 1926, it was purchased for the town by Lady Fairhaven, Mrs. Urban H. Broughton of England, a daughter of the town's benefactor Henry Huttleston Rogers. Since then it has been maintained by the town as a public park.

In 1973, Fort Phoenix was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The "John Paul Jones Cannon"

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One cannon at Fort Phoenix dates back to 1777 when guns were first installed at the site. It is a 6-pound, iron barreled naval gun known as the “John Paul Jones cannon.” The nickname came from the fact that it was one of a number of British guns captured in the Bahamas by the crew of the ship Alfred. Young John Paul Jones was an officer on the ship at the time. The captured guns were stored by the Americans in Connecticut and were used to outfit forts throughout the colonies.

The “John Paul Jones cannon” was one of the eleven iron guns at Fort Phoenix during the Revolution. It would have fired a cannonball weighing six pounds. During the British raid in September 1778, the gun’s trunnions were hammered off by the enemy, but the barrel remained sound. The rest of the fort’s cannons were damaged beyond repair.

The gun was remounted and set up in the village at Meeting House Hill, near the intersection of Main and Center streets during the War of 1812. Later it was kept at the unofficial “town green” on the property of Wilson Pope near Union and Middle streets.

In May of 1882, at the suggestion of Captain Alexander Winsor, the cannon was firmly planted muzzle-down into the sidewalk outside the drug store on the northeast corner of Main and Center streets. In 1885, a bronze plaque was attached to it by the Fairhaven Improvement Association. (The plaque incorrectly says “Placed Here 1883,“ when earlier newspaper accounts indicated the gun was mounted in the sidewalk a year earlier than that.) When center street was widened in 1950, the gun was moved to the Town Hall lawn. Later, it was moved back to Fort Phoenix.

The barrel of the “John Paul Jones Cannon” is said to have been cast in England in 1690. It bears “the King’s Arrow” and a Royal seal, indicating its British heritage. Since the 1970s the gun has been mounted on a traditional naval carriage, the latest one having been made by Fairhaven Shipyard in the 1990s.

Tours and Field Trips

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NEW
Goodwife Spooner's Fort Phoenix Tour
Tuesday afternoons, 2:00 p.m.
July and August
Begins at Fort Phoenix flagpole, Fort Street.
Learn the history of Fort Phoenix and about life during the American Revolution from the point of view of an 18th century woman from Fair-Haven Village.

Fort Phoenix Minuteman Tour
Thursday afternoons, 2:00 p.m.
June through September
Tour begins at Fort Phoenix, Fort Street.
A Revolutionary War period militiaman guides this one-hour tour about the fort that guarded Fairhaven's harbor through three wars. Tour includes flintlock rifle firing demonstration.

Tours for school classes, scout troops, bus tours, clubs and civic groups, and private groups may be arranged in advance through the Fairhaven Office of Tourism. Call 508-979-4085 or email FairhavenTours@aol.com.

The 24-Pound Cannons

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The five large cannons at Fort Phoenix were installed before the Civil War. Their trunnions are marked, “W.F.” on one side and “1828” on the opposite side, indicating they were cast at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York, in the year 1828. All of the guns were originally smooth bore, firing a 24-pound ball. Three of them were shipped to Boston where the bores were rifled. These guns were then capable of firing a 48-pound conical projectile.

The fort was equipped with eight large cannons during the Civil War, but at the end of the war three were transferred elsewhere.

After the fort was decommissioned in 1876, the carriages for these guns fell into disrepair and were chopped up for firewood. The barrels lay on the ground for some time until an out-of-town buyer asked to purchase them for display on a private estate. At that time, Warren Delano II, the grandfather of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, offered to buy the guns to keep them in Fairhaven if the Improvement Association would raise funds to build new carriages for them. This was done so these guns would never leave Fairhaven.

Cannons pre-1960 on less accurate mounts.

The carriages have been rebuilt several times since then. While reminiscent of the style of carriage used during the Civil War, they lack the large side wheels that would have been used to move the upper section of the carriage forward prior to firing.

These cannons have been fired during historical reenactments during the 1970s and 1980s. Since 1996 they have been fired each year on the morning of July 4th. They are also fired at dusk during a historical encampment staged each September by the Fairhaven Village Militia.

Field Artillery

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The newest additions to Fort Phoenix are the two cannons mounted on field carriages. The barrels of these guns may have been at Fort Phoenix during the War of 1812, but that cannot be documented. The barrels, thought to be 4-pounders, are on permanent loan to the Town of Fairhaven from the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

The carriages were built by Fairhaven Historical Commission member Charles Cromwell, who also served as the first commander of the Fairhaven Village Militia. They were mounted at the fort in June 2009.

Fairhaven Village Militia

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From June through September, a group of local historical re-enactors man Fort Phoenix on Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and Friday afternoons from noon to 3:00 p.m. Members of the group may be on duty some Sunday afternoons as well.

Portraying colonial men, women, and children, the members of the Fairhaven Village Militia talk to visitors about the history of the fort and about life during the Revolutionary War period. Flintlock musket firing demonstrations are given on the afternoons when the militia is on duty.

The Fairhaven Village Militia also holds Historical Encampments at Fort Phoenix.

Historical Encampments

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In 2011, the Fairhaven Village Militia will hold two weekend-long historical encampments at Fort Phoenix. Visitors will be able to see a Revolutionary War era camp, military drilling, camp cooking, musket and cannon firing demonstrations, and learn about 18th Century medical and dentistry practices. They may also try their hand at tomahawk throwing or a variety of children's games.

Memorial Day Weekend Encampment 2011
Saturday, May 28 to Sunday, May 29
Public Hours: Saturday 9:00 a.m. to sunset and Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

September Historical Encampment 2011
Saturday September 17 to Sunday, September 18
Public Hours: Saturday 9:00 a.m. to sunset and Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Cannon Firing Saturday at dusk, (approx. 6:30 p.m.)