In the nature of the case field fortifications
are temporary erections,
earthworks thrown up for an immediate
emergency; but, occasionally
some bright deed or some
momentous consequence gives these
defences a fame more enduring
than walls of stone planned with deliberation and executed
with leisured care.
Who has not heard of Valley Forge and the heroic
winter of 1777–1778 which Washington spent there
with his meagerly clad men? Valley Forge is now a
public reservation about twelve miles north of Philadelphia,
on the Schuylkill River. Excursion trains
run out from that city to the park, so it is easy of
access. The grounds cover hundreds of acres, but the
principal points are plainly marked and may be quickly
reached.
One of the most interesting souvenirs of Washington’s
immortal encampment at Valley Forge is the little
stone house which the great commander used as his
headquarters. An unpretentious, substantial structure
of the typical style of building of the days in which it
was constructed, it is in excellent preservation, strong
and sturdy as on the day of its erection. The building
contains numerous Washington relics and curios collected
by the State authorities or presented to the park
by men and women of various parts of the nation.
One of the most conspicuous objects of the reservation
is the Memorial Arch erected by the United States
government to the memory of the men and officers who
shared the privations of that terrible winter at this spot.
It is of Roman character and stands on a commanding
eminence in the central part of the grounds. Near at
hand is planned the Washington Memorial Chapel,
which the Future may complete, or leave unbuilt, as it
sees fit.
Fort Washington, a small redoubt or earth, is not
far from the Arch and has been carefully preserved
against the encroachments of Time. The lines of the
earthworks may also be made out.
A historic site is Yorktown, Virginia, the sleepy
little village on the peninsula between the James and
York rivers Cornwallis surrendered to Washington and
the French allies in 1781, thus making sure of American
Independence, and where the Army of the Potomac encamped
under McClellan in 1862, throwing up massive
earthworks. The traces of both Cornwallis’ and McClellan’s
encampments are easily to be made out to-day.
The American and French forces marched from
Williamsburg, September 28, 1781, driving in the
British outposts at Yorktown as they approached and
taking possession of the abandoned outworks. Forming
a semicircular line about two miles from the British
intrenchments they completely invested the enemy, the
York River enclosing his forces to the northeast. October
17, Cornwallis offered to discuss terms of surrender.
The beginning of the year 1863—to make a jump
from the Revolution to the Civil War—saw the turning
of the tide for the United States, and it was in this
year that the decisive battles of Vicksburg, Gettysburg
and Chattanooga were fought. The battle-grounds of
each of these engagements have been created national
parks and are maintained in such a fashion that the
visitor may follow the movements of the troops in those
great clashes.
After the capture of the posts north of Vicksburg,
on the Mississippi, and the opening of the mouth of the
river by Farragut’s taking of New Orleans in 1862,
Vicksburg was the only remaining defence of the Confederacy
on the Mississippi, and the sole remaining link
between the Confederacy’s east and west portions. The
principal works of the city were on a commanding eminence,
giving a clear sweep of the river and the surrounding
country, which was swampy and almost impassable.
They were competently manned, capably officered
and well supplied.
The place, altogether, was deemed almost impregnable.
To follow out all of the steps by which its reduction
was brought about is not the province of this
chapter. The United States troops under the comparatively
unknown commander, U. S. Grant, began to
operate at the end of January, 1863, and on July 4
concluded their task in the unconditional surrender of
the main fortification of the Confederates. The surrender
of Vicksburg came one day after the conclusion
of the battle of Gettysburg which occupied the first
three days of July.
The reservation of the Vicksburg National Park
contains 1,255.07 acres and was acquired pursuant to an
Act of Congress approved February 21, 1899.
The grounds of the Gettysburg National Park,
Adams County, Pennsylvania, comprise 2,054 acres
and their acquisition was commenced in 1873. The
scenes of the principal movements of the battle have
been marked with suitable monuments. The battle of
Gettysburg proved conclusively that the South could
not invade the North. It was the last gallant attempt
of a completely invested country to strike a fatal blow
before the strangle-hold of its enemy should bring the
end.
The largest of the national military parks is Chickamauga
and Chattanooga National Park, which comprises
5,688 acres in the State of Georgia, in addition to nearly
150 acres in the State of Tennessee, the park being
situated on the line between the States. In Tennessee
is located Lookout Mountain. The acquisition of this
reservation began under the provisions of an Act of
Congress approved August 19, 1890.
On the outskirts of Petersburg, Virginia, the remains
of Forts Haskell and Steadman, the scene of the
“Crater” episode, and part of the defences of the
capital of the Confederacy which fell before Grant in
1865, have been preserved as a private enterprise. For
a small consideration the “Crater” and the earthworks
will be shown to the visitor. The Federal forces opposed
to Fort Steadman—at the suggestion of a miner
from Chambersburg, Pa., it is said—constructed a long
tunnel from their lines to beneath the Confederate
stronghold. An enormous quantity of powder was
here, and when it was set off a body of soldiers was to
charge through the breach and take the Confederate
positions.
The powder was exploded and the plan was successful
in so far that it blew several hundred men into
eternity, but when the attacking column reached the
cavity in the ground its men became confused, giving
the Confederates time to reform and to pour in a terrible
fire upon the Union men concentrated in the broken
ground below. The result was terrible carnage of
United States troops. The “Crater” had become a
death trap. Nearly three thousand men were killed in
it in thirty minutes, the most disastrous loss the Federal
forces suffered in so short a time during the war.
The “Crater” to-day is a peaceful spot glorified by
tall trees which keep the scene in continual gloom. The
depression in the ground is ten feet or more in depth
and about two hundred feet in diameter. A short walk
brings one to the entrance to the tunnel where the lines
of the United States were stretched.
Adams, Fort, Newport, R. I.,
222-231
Alamo, Texas,
279-284
Allen, Ethan,
63,
70
Amsterdam, Fort,
37
André, Major,
156
Andros, Edmund, Royal Governor of Mass.,
29,
107
Annapolis Royal,
2,
84-92
Arnold, Benedict,
64,
82;
his treason, 154 et seq., 169, 171, 238
Atares Castle, Havana,
206
Baltimore, Fort at,
180-189
Battery, The, New York City,
46
Belfast, Me.,
90
Belle Rive, Louis St. Ange de, Commanding Chartres,
12;
stationed at Vincennes, 14;
surrenders Chartres to English, 14
Boston, Fort at,
25-35
Boston Tea Party,
31
Bourbon, Fort, on the Mississippi,
263
Bowie, James, inventor of Bowie knife,
281
Braddock,
18;
his march and death, 19, 53, 127
Bradford, Wm.,
106
Brownsville, Pa.,
21
Burgoyne, General,
64
Burnet, Governor of New York,
122,
123,
124
Cadillac, La Motte,
132
Caen, Emery de,
75
Canseau, Nova Scotia, expedition against,
2;
fleet arrives at, 7
Castine, Baron Vincent de,
103,
104
Castle Garden, New York City,
46
Castle St. Louis, Quebec,
72,
77,
82
Castle William, Boston,
25,
35
Castle Williams, New York Harbor,
46
Champlain, Memorial Light House,
67
Champlain, Samuel,
49,
50,
51,
52,
60,
72,
73;
dies at Quebec, 76
Charles, Fort, Me.,
107
Charleston, South Carolina, Fort at,
241-250
Chartres, Fort, site selected,
11;
disastrous expedition leaves, 12;
second fort built, 12;
surrenders to English, 14
Chebucto Bay,
93,
94,
97
Chicago, Illinois,
21;
historical Society, 23
Cincinnati, Ohio,
24
Citadel of Halifax,
93-97
Citadel of Quebec,
72-83
Clark, Fort, Illinois,
24
Clark, George Rogers,
23,
24,
144,
145
Clinton, Fort, New York City,
46
Clinton, Fort, New York,
148,
149
Columbus, Fort, New York,
36-48
Constitution, Fort, New Hampshire,
161-166
Constitution, Fort, New York,
150
Cornbury, Governor of New Amsterdam,
41
Covington, Fort,
187
“Crater,” The, near Petersburg, Virginia,
303
Crevecœur, Fort,
15
Crockett, Davy, falls at Alamo,
283
Crown Point,
53,
66-71
Damariscotta,
3
Davenport, Captain Richard,
28
Davis, Jeff, cell at Fort Monroe,
235
Dearborn, Fort,
21,
22,
23
Dearborn, General, Secretary of War,
35
Defiance, Mount,
64
De Soto,
142,
201
Diamond, Fort,
45
Dieskau,
54,
55,
56,
69
Donop, Count,
177
Dorchester, Mass.,
32
Douglas, Fort, Utah,
289 et seq.
Drake, Sir Francis, menaces Havana,
203
Duchambon, successor to Duquesnel,
8
Dufferin Terrace, Quebec,
72,
83
Dummer, William, Governor of Mass.,
29
Dumplings, Fort, near Newport, R. I.,
231
Duquesne, Fort, erected,
18;
falls to England, 19
Duquesne, Governor-General of Canada,
18
Duquesnel, Commandant of Louisburg,
2
Edward, Fort, New York,
57
Erie, Pa.,
20
Falls of Minnehaha,
268
Federal Hill Fort, Baltimore,
188,
189
Fetterman, Wyoming,
288 et seq.
Franklin, Pa.,
21
Frederick, Fort, Maine,
105-112
Frenchman’s Bay, Me.,
88
Frontenac, in command at Quebec,
77,
78,
79,
110
Frontenac, Fort (Kingston, Canada),
114,
127
Gage, Fort,
23,
24
George, Fort, at mouth of Columbia River, Ore.,
292
George, Fort, Me.,
98-104
George, Fort, New York City,
37
Gettysburg,
302
Governor’s Island, New York Harbor,
36,
37,
41,
42,
43,
44-48
Griswold, Fort, Conn.,
167-172
Hamilton, Fort, New York,
45
Havana, Cuba, Forts at,
201-206
Heald, Captain Nathan,
22,
23
Heights of Quebec,
72-83
Hennepin, Friar Louis, and his map,
114
Holmes, Major,
140
Holmes, Fort, Michigan,
131-140
Howe, Sir William,
59
Independence, Fort, Boston,
25-35,
148
Irving, Washington,
36
Jackson, Fort, Louisiana,
263-267
Jay, Fort, New York,
36-48
Johnson, William, of New York,
53,
54,
55,
56,
69,
104,
117,
119
Johnston, General Albert Sidney,
284
Kaskaskia, Illinois,
143
Keogh, Fort, Montana,
289
Key, Francis Scott,
180,
187
Kirke, Admiral Sir David, attacks Quebec,
74
Kosciuszko,
151
Lafayette, Fort,
45
La Fuerza, Cuba,
201-206
Laramie, Fort, Wyoming,
273-278
Larrabee, Captain Lieutenant John,
30
La Salle, Robert Cavelier,
114,
131
Laurel Moat, Havana,
206
Leavenworth, Fort, Kansas,
287 et seq.
Le Bœuf, Fort,
20,
21
Lee, Robert E.,
181;
resigns from U. S. Army, 284
Lescarbot, Marc,
86
Louisburg, Nova Scotia, importance of,
1;
incentives to attack, 2;
preparations against, 4;
a novel plan, 5;
expedition sails, 6;
strongest outlying work, 8;
siege progresses, 10;
restored to France, 10
Louis de la Mobile, Fort, Alabama,
257
McHenry, Fort, Maryland,
180-189
McHenry, James, Secretary of War,
184
McKenzie, Sir William’s experiment in Nova Scotia,
88,
89
M’Lean, Colonel Francis,
100
Mackinac Island, State park commission,
140
Marion, Fort, Florida,
190-200
Marion, General Francis,
199
Marquette, Father,
131-132
Massac, Fort, Illinois,
21,
141-146
Matanzas Inlet, Florida,
192
Menendez, Juan, de Aviles,
193
Mercer, Fort, New Jersey,
175
Mermet, Father,
142,
143
Metropolis, Illinois,
141
Michillimackinac, Michigan,
131-140
Mifflin, Fort, Pa.,
173-179
Monitor and Merrimac, seen from Fort Monroe,
240
Monroe, Fort, Virginia,
232-240
Montcalm, Marquis de,
57,
59,
60,
62,
69,
127,
128
Montgomery, Fort, Alabama,
212
Montgomery, Fort, New York,
148,
149
Montgomery, Richard,
82,
83
Montmagny, Governor of Canada,
76
Monts, Sieur de, discovers Annapolis basin,
82
Morgan, Fort, Alabama,
257,
262
Morro Castle, Cuba,
201-206
Moultrie, Fort, South Carolina,
200,
241-250
New London, Conn.,
167 et seq.
Newport, R. I., Forts at,
222-231
Newport Artillery Co.,
222
Niagara, Fort, New York,
113-121
Nonsense, Fort,
170
Ontario, Fort, New York,
122-130
Ordre de la Bon Temps,
86
Osceola, Monument at Fort Moultrie,
244
Oswego, New York,
122,
130
Pell, S. H. P., of New York, restores Ticonderoga,
65
Pell, William F., of New York, acquires Ticonderoga,
65
Pemaquid, Maine,
105,
106,
111
Pensacola, Florida, Fort at,
207-214
Pentagoet, or Castine,
103,
105,
107
Peoria, Illinois,
24
Pepperell, William, of Kittery, Maine, chosen to head expedition,
5;
home still standing, 5, 30, 125
Phil Kearney, Fort,
285 et seq.
Philadelphia, Fort at,
173-179
Phips, Sir William,
29,
78,
79,
90,
108,
109
Pickens, Fort, Florida,
213
Pike, Lieutenant C. M., secures Fort Snelling reservation,
269
Pipon, Captain John,
29
Pitt, Fort, Block-house at Pittsburgh,
17
Plains of Abraham,
81
Port Henry, New York,
68
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Fort at,
161-166
Potrincourt, Baron, founds Annapolis Royal,
84,
85,
87
Presidio of San Francisco, Cal.,
215-221
Presque Isle, a memorial of,
20
Principe Castle, Havana,
206
Pulaski, Fort, Georgia,
251-256
Putnam, Fort,
152
Putnam, General Israel,
148,
151
Quebec,
49,
51,
62;
Historic Forts at, 72-83
Redstone Old Fort,
21
Renault, Phillippe Francois de, introduces negro slavery to Illinois,
11
Revere, Lieutenant Colonel Paul,
33,
100,
163
Ribaut, Jean,
192
Richelieu Cardinal,
73
Robinson, Col. Beverly,
156
Roxbury, Mass.,
32
St. Augustine, Florida, Fort at,
190-200
St. Clair, General Arthur,
64
St. Denis, Juchereau de,
141,
142,
143
St. Frederic, Fort, New York,
67,
68,
69,
70
St. Louis, Fort,
14
St. Paul, Minn., foundation,
272
St. Philip, Fort, Louisiana,
263-267
Sam Houston, Fort, Texas,
279-284
Samoset sells land at Pemaquid,
106
San Antonio, Texas, Forts at,
284-289
San Carlos, Fort, Florida,
207-214
Sandusky, Ohio,
21
San Francisco, Cal., Presidio at,
215-221
San Marco, Fort,
197,
198
Scott, Fort Winfield, San Francisco,
220
Screven, Fort, Georgia,
254
Shippen, Margaret,
157-158
Shirley, William Governor of Mass., organizes expedition against Louisburg,
3;
his list of instructions, 6, 53, 116, 125
Smith, Capt. John, sees Hampton Roads,
236
Snelling, Fort, Minn.,
268-272
Stanwix, Fort,
129
Star Spangled Banner,
188
Starved Rock, Ill.,
14
Stony Point, New York,
158-160
Sumter, Fort, South Carolina,
241-250
Ticonderoga, New York,
49-65,
147
Tracy, Uriah,
137
Travis, Col. William B., of the Alamo,
280
Trumbull, Fort, Conn.,
167-172
Turnbull, Col. John,
33
Valesca, Luis de, his settlement at Pensacola Bay,
207
Valley Forge,
179
Vancouver, Fort, Washington,
290-294
Van Twiller, Wouter, or Walter, Governor of New Amsterdam,
37,
38
Vauban,
1,
56,
79
Vaudreuil, last Governor of New France,
81
Vaughan, William, of Damariscotta, suggests attack on Louisburg,
2;
his career, 3;
captures grand battery, 8, 9
Venango,
21
Vicksburg, Miss.,
301
Vincennes, Ind.,
12
Wadsworth, Peleg,
100,
102
Walker, Admiral Sir Hovenden,
81
Warren, Fort,
35
Washington, Fort, Valley Forge, Pa.,
300
Washington, Fort, Cincinnati, Ohio,
24
Washington, George,
18,
32,
33,
129,
155,
157,
168,
176,
226,
228
Waterford, Pa.,
20
Wayne, “Mad” Anthony,
145,
159
Wentworth, Sir John, Governor of New Hampshire,
162
West Point, New York,
147-160
White Hall, New York,
55
Wilkinson, James,
145
William Henry, Fort, Mass.,
109,
110
William and Mary, Fort, New Hampshire,
161-166
William Henry, Fort, New York,
54,
56,
57,
58,
59,
119
Winthrop, Fort, Boston,
26
Winthrop, Governor of Mass.,
27,
34
Wolcott, Fort, Torpedo Station,
231
Wolfe, captures, Quebec,
81
Yorktown, Va.,
64
Yuma, Fort, Cal.,
295-298