Fort Warren (Massachusetts)

Fort Warren
Fort Warren's sally port
Fort Warren (Massachusetts) is located in Massachusetts
Fort Warren (Massachusetts)
Fort Warren (Massachusetts) is located in the United States
Fort Warren (Massachusetts)
LocationBoston, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°19′12.84″N 070°55′39.5″W / 42.3202333°N 70.927639°W / 42.3202333; -70.927639
Area40 acres (16 ha)
Built1834–1860
ArchitectThayer, Lt. Col. Sylvanus; Army Corps of Engineers
Architectural styleThird System fort
Part ofAmerican Civil War prison camps (1861–1865)
Harbor Defenses of Boston (1899–1947)
NRHP reference No.70000540[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPAugust 29, 1970
Designated NHLDAugust 29, 1970
Aerial photo of Georges Island and Fort Warren

Fort Warren is a historic fort on the 28-acre (110,000 m2) Georges Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor. The fort is named for Revolutionary War hero Dr. Joseph Warren, who sent Paul Revere on his famous ride, and was later killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The name was transferred in 1833 from the first Fort Warren – built in 1808 – which was renamed Fort Winthrop.[2]

Fort Warren is a pentagonal bastion fort, made with stone and granite, and was constructed from 1833 to 1861, completed shortly after the beginning of the American Civil War. Fort Warren defended the harbor in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1861 through the end of World War II, and during the Civil War served as a prison for Confederate officers and government officials, including Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens. The fort remained active through the Spanish–American War and World War I, and was re-activated during World War II. It was permanently decommissioned in 1947, and is now a tourist site. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 as a masterpiece of coastal engineering of the pre-Civil War period, and for its role in the Civil War.

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ Fort Warren at NorthAmericanForts.com