Fort Mifflin, originally called Fort Island Battery and also known as Mud Island Fort, was commissioned in 1771 and sits on Mud Island (or Deep Water Island) on the Delaware River below Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1795, the fort was renamed for Thomas Mifflin, a Continental Army officer and the first post-independence Pennsylvania governor. Historic preservationists have restored the fort, which has been named a National Historic Landmark.
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During the American Revolutionary War, the British Armybombarded and captured the fort as part of their conquest of Philadelphia in autumn 1777. In 1795, the fort was renamed for Thomas Mifflin, a Continental Army officer and the first post-independence Pennsylvania governor. The U.S. Army began rebuilding the fort in 1794, and continued to garrison and build on the site into the 19th century. Fort Mifflin housed prisoners during the American Civil War. The U.S. Army decommissioned Fort Mifflin for active duty infantry and artillery in 1962.
FORT
EST. 1771
FORTIFICATION
The Philadelphia Committee of Public Safety soon restarted construction on the fort and finally completed it in 1776. After Washington's defeat at the Battle of Brandywine, the British took control of Philadelphia in September 1777 during their Philadelphia campaign. The British forces then laid siege to Fort Mifflin and Fort Mercer in early October 1777, unsuccessfully attacking the latter by land and river in the Battle of Red Bank on October 22.
The British Army intended the siege to open up its supply line via the Delaware River. Captain John Montresor, earlier designer and constructor of Fort Mifflin, planned and built the siege works used against Fort Mifflin. He then led the siege and destroyed much of the fort.
During the siege, four hundred American soldiers held off more than two thousand British troops and 250 ships until November 10, 1777, when the British intensified their assault, launching an incessant barrage of cannonballs into the fort. Among those stationed at the fort was private Joseph Plumb Martin, who later wrote an account of the battle.
HISTORIC PEOPLE
Samuel Smith
William Howe
Lieutenant General
Richard Lord Howe
Admiral
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