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Fort Phoenix, Fairhaven, MA
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Ellsworth Sylvaria, the commander of the Fairhaven Village Militia, is among those who greet visitors to Fort Phoenix on Thursday and Sunday afternoons, June through September.
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Fort Phoenix History
On May 13-14, 1775, the first naval battle of the American Revolution took place off our shore when the local militia, under the command of Nathaniel Pope and Daniel Egery, captured two British sloops in Buzzard's Bay.
Shortly afterward, the town petitioned for the construction of a fort at Nolscot Point for the protection of the harbor. The original fort was built by Capt. Benjamin Dillingham and Eleazer Hathaway between 1775 and 1777. It was outfitted with eleven cannon, several of which had been captured in the Bahamas by John Paul Jones.
The fort was attacked and destroyed when the British raided the harbor on September 5-6, 1778, landing 4,000 troops in New Bedford. The troops marched inland along the west shore of the Acushnet River to Acushnet, then came south through Fairhaven to Sconticut Neck. At this time the British drove a small militia from the fort, burned the barracks, broke up the gun platforms and smashed all but one of the cannons.
When the fort was rebuilt following the 1778 attack, it was named Fort Phoenix after the mythical bird which rose from its own ashes.
Shortly before the War of 1812, Fort Phoenix was enlarged under the supervision of Sylvanua Thayer, who later became the "Father of the Military Academy" at West Point. In June of 1814, the fort helped repel an early morning attack by British in landing boats from the HMS Nimrod.
Fort Phoenix was manned throughout the Civil War by troops who rotated duty between the Fairhaven fort and the newer Fort Taber in New Bedford. Eight 24-pound cannon were installed at the beginning of the war, five of which remain at the fort today.
Fort Phoenix went out of service in 1876. In 1926, it was purchased for the town by Lady Fairhaven, Mrs. Urban H. Broughton of England, a daughter of the town's benefactor Henry Huttleston Rogers. Since then it has been maintained by the town as a public park.
In 1973, Fort Phoenix was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Lori, Christopher and Emily Richard portray a colonial family at Fort Phoenix.
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Frank Mathieu & Julie Moniz
interpret the fort's history.
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The Fairhaven Village Militia
Today, a group of local historical re-enactors man Fort Phoenix on Thursday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and on Sunday afternoons, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., June through September. Portraying colonial men, women, and children, the members of the Fairhaven Village Militia talk to visitors about the history of the fort and about life during the Revolutionary War period.
Flintlock musket firing demonstrations are given on the afternoons when the militia is on duty.
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Tours
At 2:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoons from June through September, the Fairhaven Office of Tourism offers a free "Fort Phoenix Minuteman Tour," guided by colonial militiamen and women. On the tour, you'll hear the history of the fort, see a musket firing demonstration and learn about the equipment a militiaman carried.
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Chuck Cromwell, retired militia commander, spends a great deal of time at the fort.
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Other Fairhaven Sites
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E-MAIL Office of Tourism
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Fort Phoenix illustration
from Harpers Magazine,
November 1865.
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