Fort Warren (Massachusetts)
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.
Fort Warren | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
U.S. National Historic Landmark District | |
Fort Warren's sally port | |
| Location | Boston, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°19′12.84″N 070°55′39.5″W |
| Area | 40 acres (16 ha) |
| Built | 1834–1860 |
| Architect | Thayer, Lt. Col. Sylvanus; Army Corps of Engineers |
| Architectural style | Third System fort |
| Part of | American Civil War prison camps (1861–1865) Harbor Defenses of Boston (1899–1947) |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000540 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | August 29, 1970 |
| Designated NHLD | August 29, 1970 |
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.