Fort Mercer

Coordinates: 39°52′09″N 75°11′15″W / 39.8692°N 75.1874°W / 39.8692; -75.1874
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Fort Mercer in the video games Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 or Mercer's Fort in Pennsylvania.

Fort Mercer
Earthwork
Site history
Built1777
Built by
In use1777–1781
Materialsearth, logs
Red Bank Battlefield
Location100 Hessian Ave., National Park, NJ 08063
NRHP reference No.72000796[1]
NJRHP No.1405[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 31, 1972[1]
Designated NHLNovember 28, 1972[3]
Designated NJRHPAugust 16, 1979
Battles/warsAmerican Revolutionary War
Garrison information
Past
commanders		Christopher Greene

Fort Mercer was an earthen fort on the eastern shores of the

Thaddeus Kosciuszko under the command of George Washington. Along with Fort Mifflin on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River to its west, Fort Mercer was designed to block the British advance on the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia during the Philadelphia campaign
.

Fort Mercer was located in an area called Red Bank in what is now the borough of

Brigadier General Hugh Mercer who died earlier that year in fighting at the Battle of Princeton
.

The fort's site is now part of Red Bank Battlefield Historical Park, which includes a monument and museum. Several cannons attributed to British warships lost supporting the attack on the fort, and others found buried at the fort itself, are in the park.[4]

Background

Map with detail of Fort Mercer (Red Banke)
Fort Mercer Flag

Fort Mercer was built and

chevaux de frise obstacles across the Delaware River. Fort Billingsport was built downriver to protect another line of these obstacles. Fort Mercer had earthen walls with a surrounding ditch, topped with a log palisade. The fort was about 320 yards (290 m) long and 50 yards (46 m) wide and mounted 14 cannons, with bastions
on the landward corners. A separate outer redoubt was located north of the fort, but this was not garrisoned.

The fort could accommodate a garrison of 1,500 men, but only 600 were available, mostly Rhode Island troops of the Continental Army commanded by Colonel Christopher Greene, also a Rhode Islander. French officer Thomas Duplessis made the fort more defensible by the small garrison by having a wall built inside the river side of the fort.[5]

On October 22, 1777, in the

Francis Reynolds
were also involved, two of which ran aground while avoiding the chevaux de frise and were soon destroyed by fire during the battle.

Fort Mifflin and the Pennsylvania Navy engaged the stranded ships the next morning, with cannons and fire rafts, respectively. HMS Augusta of 64 guns caught fire and within an hour the fire reached the magazine and the ship exploded, though the loss was attributed to accidental ignition by the British. One account states a British Marine accidentally fired his musket into a hammock, with the fire resulting from subsequent smoldering. HMS Merlin was also lost. After the later loss of Fort Mifflin, Fort Mercer was abandoned when Lord Charles Cornwallis landed 2,000 British troops nearby on November 18, 1777.

As British artillery breached the walls, the defenders of Fort Mercer blew up their magazine before abandoning the fort.[6][7][8]

The British abandoned Fort Mercer as they evacuated Philadelphia on June 18, 1778. The Patriots retook the site and rebuilt the fort, manning it until 1781, when the fighting moved to Yorktown, Virginia, culminating in an American victory and leading to the cessation of hostilities.[9][5]

Gallery

  • During the
    Philadelphia Campaign, the British had several maps drafted of the Delaware River, Fort's Mifflin, and Fort Mercer, as they attempted to seize the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia
    .

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places - Gloucester County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. April 1, 2010. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 18, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  3. ^ "Red Bank Battlefield". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. June 23, 2008. Archived from the original on February 25, 2009.
  4. ^ a b "Fort Mercer". RevolutionaryWarNewJersey.com.
  5. ^ a b "Fort Mercer". FortWiki.com.
  6. ^ "Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings". National Park Service. Retrieved September 24, 2007.
  7. ISBN 0-02-926880-X
    .
  8. ^ "The story of the battle of Red Bank". friendsofredbank. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  9. ^ "Fort Mercer". American Forts Network.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fort Mercer (New Jersey).

39°52′09″N 75°11′15″W / 39.8692°N 75.1874°W / 39.8692; -75.1874

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