Fort Mifflin

From Wikidelphia
Revision as of 19:50, 29 April 2016 by PaulSank (talk | contribs) (new page)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

fortmifflin.us

Fort Mifflin gives the following descriptive information:

History LIVES at Fort Mifflin! Experience history first-hand at National Historic Landmark Fort Mifflin – one of the only intact Revolutionary War battlefields and the only fort in Philadelphia!

Events throughout the year highlight the Fort’s long service to the United States featuring uniformed or period attired interpretive guides and reenactors. In one visit to Fort Mifflin, a guest stands on a Revolutionary War battlefield, inside a Civil War prison and next to a magazine storing gunpowder during World War II. Extraordinary – and real.

As the British marched triumphantly into Philadelphia during the last days of September in 1777, a strategic dilemma faced General William Howe, commander of the army. Surrounded by rebel forces from the north, east and west, his troops were in desperate need of supplies—gunpowder, clothing, food, and munitions. Without these items the capture of Philadelphia might become meaningless and the British would be unable to pursue and destroy Washington’s Army before winter.

South of Philadelphia in the Delaware Bay sat a fleet British ships carrying the army’s much needed supplies. General Howe gave orders to sail the fleet up the river to provide new provisions to his occupying troops.

The Americans had secured a British built fortification, sitting on Mud Island, just below the city and across the river from New Jersey’s Fort Mercer in 1775. By the fall of 1777 approximately 200 men were garrisoned at this fort, now known as Fort Mifflin, charged with the duty of holding the British off “to the last extremity” so that Washington and his exhausted army could successfully move into winter quarters. ...