Fort Lee, Salem, Massachusetts
by Erik K. Smith
originally published in the Salem Gazette
The first anticipated Invasion of Salem was during the English conflicts with
the Dutch in the 1600s. The two nations were at war for much of the 17th
Century. There were four Anglo/Dutch Wars, referred to as the Dutch Wars in
the United Kingdom and the English Wars in the Netherlands. These were trade
disputes gone berserk, and they embroiled all the various colonies and ports of
trade.
The fish from Massachusetts Bay were vital provisions, and the British Crown
directed that fortifications be built in Salem. In the 1640s Fort William on
Winter Island was constructed. Later, probably in 1690, breastworks, low dirt
walls that are put up quickly for protection, were constructed with a gun
platform on a hill overlooking both Beverly and Salem Harbors. This structure
would later be modified substantially and given the name Fort Lee in later
times of turmoil.
In 1740 England became embroiled in the War of Austrian Succession. The part
of the war fought on North American soil was referred to here as King George’s
War. It was a European conflict that saw the participation of Austria,
Prussia, England, France, Spain, Bavaria, and the Netherlands.
In 1742, during King George’s War, what was then called “The New Fort” was
improved, as were Fort Anne (the new name for Fort William) and Fort Number 2,
which was located on Juniper Point of Salem Neck. It was recorded by the
Selectmen in Town history on August 16 of that year “The town accepts the grant
of the General Court for the erection of breastworks and a platform for 16
guns.”
The Forts of Salem were once again called into service during what Europeans
and Canadians call the Seven Years war. Americans refer to events in this war
in the North American Theater of Operations as the French and Indian War, which
took place between 1754 and 1763. The French allied with the Algonquin and
Huron tribes of Native Americans, and the English fought alongside the Iroquis
tribe.
The dispute was over the control of land that was rich with resources. In the
case of Newfoundland and the Atlantic Coast there were fish and timber, in the
area West of the Appalachians and East of the Mississippi River the focus of
trade was fur. Europeans had been trading with the Native Americans and slowly
taking over the territories. After this war there was an almost total loss of
direct French influence in North America.
There were many other results of the French and Indian war. English Colonists
learned the arts of war and defeated a major European country. The confidence
this inspired would prove a major contributor to the War for Independence.
Many of the acts passed by Parliament that outraged the Colonists were attempts
to recoup the costs of this war. One of the most significantly affected
participants in this war was George Washington, 21 years old and a Major in the
Virginia Militia when hostilities broke out in 1754.
Salem had long been at the forefront of preparations for a War for
Independence. On February 26, 1775, Governor General Thomas Gage attempted to
seize cannons and gunpowder in Salem’s Northfields by sending a detachment from
the Boston based 64th Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander
Leslie. This was one in a series of Powder Alarms, the most famous of which
was the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Massachusetts had been protesting
what was known locally as the Intolerable Acts for months. The Colony was
declared by Gage to be in a State of Open Rebellion on February 9, 1775. When
Falmouth, Maine, then a significant port and what would later become Portland,
was torched by the Royal Navy on October 16, the paranoia that had been
building in the colony became swift action.
General Henry Lee and Salem merchant Jonathan Peele toured the coastline and
decided that this position of the “New Fort” on Salem Neck was the most
strategic possible. Colonel Richard Gridley supervised the improvements. The
Fort was brought up to date with a stone walled gun magazine, and the star
shaped breastworks were heightened into much taller earthworks. The Fort was
garrisoned with 100 artillery men. History supports the concerns of the local
citizenry; orders had indeed been given to the Royal Navy to torch Salem,
Marblehead, Newburyport, and other ports. It was in 1775 that the fort on
Salem Neck was given the name Fort Lee.
While Fort Lee may not have seen much action, it was the work of Army Engineer
Colonel Richard Gridley. He went on to supervise the construction of the
defensive positions at Breed’s Hill that were meant to protect the Charlestown
Peninsula next to Boston from being taken. The earthworks were created
overnight on June 16/ 17 of 1775, much to the surprise of Royal Army General
Howe. Gridley’s redoubt, although it was eventually breached by the British
Regulars, proved valuable to the Patriots in the Battle of Bunker Hill. It
was, for the British Army, a pyrrhic victory in that they suffered a nearly
forty percent casualty rate with just over 1000 (226 dead and 828 wounded) as
compared to the Colonial Militia’s approximately 450 (140 dead). Gridley
oversaw the installation at Dorchester Heights that resulted in the British
evacuation of Boston on March 17, 1776. The earthworks at Breed’s Hill and
Dorchester Heights no longer exist. As a surviving example of the work of
Colonel Richard Gridley, considered by the United States Army Corps of
Engineers to be their founder, Fort Lee in Salem is worthy of preservation.
The Massachusetts Provincial Congress recorded their praise for the efforts
“now erecting on an eminence not far distant from those already mentioned,
commands Beverly and Salem Harbours in a very advantageous manner. This Fort,
we must own, does credit to the Gentlemen of the Town of Salem.”
As the efforts of the Privateers out of Salem and Beverly increased, the Forts
of Salem provided protection from pursuing British Navy vessels. On October 10
of 1775, the schooner Hannah, commanded by Marbleheader Nicholson Broughton,
was chased into Beverly Harbor by His Majesty’s Ship Nautilus. Both ships ran
aground. The cannon were taken from Hannah and set up onshore. It was
reported that the men of Beverly and Salem harassed the Nautilus for several
hours, badly damaging the ship before it was able to escape with the rising
tide. Undoubtedly the events of this day gave the Royal Navy pause before
attempting any further action here lightly.
It could certainly be argued these installations helped serve as deterrents
since no action was taken on the Town of Salem after the Powder Alarm of
February 26, 1775. Boston and New York were occupied by the British Regulars
early in the American Revolution. The Royal Navy carried out a blockade of
Charleston, South Carolina that effectively crippled the Southern Colonies.
Richmond, Virginia, another major port, was torched, as were Falmouth, Maine;
Bristol, Rhode Island; Fairfield and Norwalk, Connecticut, and others. During
the Battle of Bunker Hill, the town of Charlestown had been burned.
When Independence had at long last been won, President Washington visited New
England to tour the countryside and thank and pay tribute to its citizens for
their contribution to the cause. It was October 1789, and the new President
had only been in office since April 30. He went through Lynn and made a stop
in Marblehead, the hometown of one of his more important comrades in arms,
General John Glover. President Washington was met at the Salem Town line by
several dignitaries, and his arrival was signaled by flag. Reverend Bentley
recorded in his diary “This flag was to be followed by another at the Old
Fort…and this was to be a signal for discharging 13 cannon from the New Fort,
on the Great hill west of the Old Fort on the Neck.” Three 12 pound cannons
aimed toward town were used for the Federal Salute, one shot for each of the
thirteen new States.
In 1794, during increasing hostilities with France, Fort Anne, Fort Lee, and
the Fort on Juniper Point were ceded by the Salem Board of Selectmen to the
United States Government. Fort Anne on Winter Island was rededicated Fort
Pickering for local patriot Timothy Pickering. During the War of 1812, Fort
Lee was rebuilt under the direction of Major General Amos Hovey and General
David Putnam.
The Forts were called back into service during the Civil War, modernized and
manned to protect shipping. This was Fort Lee’s last active role in a war, but
its four remaining post Civil War cannons were taken from the site as scrap
during World War II. In 1926 The U.S. Army returned the Forts to Salem. The
ruins of Fort Pickering and Fort Lee remain, but the installation at Juniper
Point has gone without a trace.
The mystery over its namesake seems unsolvable. It could have been a tribute
to General Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee, the father of Confederate General
Robert E. Lee. Perhaps it was named for Major General Charles Lee. It could
be that his court martial after the disastrous Battle of Monmouth made it
embarrassing for Salem to be the home of a Fort celebrating him, which might
explain why the story of the naming of it hasn’t become a local tradition.
Colonel Jeremiah Lee of Marblehead, who died of exposure in 1775 several weeks
after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, may be the Fort’s namesake. Colonel
Lee, a popular and very successful merchant, had been at a meeting of the
Committee of Safety in Cambridge when it was learned that 800 Royal Soldiers
were on the way to arrest them. The Patriots rushed out into the cold April
night to avoid arrest. Colonel Lee was considered one the first Martyrs of the
Revolution.
In 1976, when the Bicentennial focused attention on the American Revolution,
Forts Pickering and Lee were cleaned up and designated National Historic
Sites. On Sunday, June 20 of that year, the people of Salem were invited to
visit Fort Lee. It had been newly landscaped with granite steps leading up
from the parking lot. Near the main entrance to the Fort, on top of the
earthworks on the backside, a plague was affixed to a rock that described the
importance of this site. The bronze plaque is gone now, pried from the rock by
vandals.
Photos can’t capture the strategic position this Fort commands. Walking up the
steep paths to it begin to give one a feeling of just how high it is. Trees
have overgrown Fort Lee and its surroundings, making it a little difficult to
imagine how imposing it must have appeared from the ocean. In the winter when
the trees are bare, the view from atop the earthworks gives a better idea of
the formidable advantage it.
The men of Salem built and rebuilt this Fort when threats loomed. Without any
of the modern equipment we use today, they undertook huge construction projects
in times of major community stress. We remember and cherish the words of those
patriots now known as the Founding Fathers. It is, in the phrasing of Abraham
Lincoln, “altogether fitting and proper” that we also pay tribute to the
actions of hundreds of unknown men and women who contributed their physical
exertion to projects like this all over the Colonies.
The National Park Service, on their Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Historic
Preservation Study website, calls Fort Lee “a rare survival of an earthwork
fort initially constructed late in the 18th century and not significantly
altered since that time. Dating to 1776, the fort is one of only a small number
of field work forts in the Commonwealth that have retained much of their
original earthwork configuration. In its construction during the Revolution,
and its subsequent repairs and remodelings during the War of 1812 and the Civil
War, it evidences the role of the Salem and Beverly harbors in the national and
regional defense.”
In tribute to the soldiers of another war, the Salem post of the American
Legion is constructing a memorial to the citizens of our city who served in the
Korean War of 1950-52. It will be at the base of what Reverend Bentley called
“The Great Hill” on the Beverly side of the Fort. Perhaps this monument will
bring attention to Fort Lee and help in a fundraising effort that can result in
a new city park, much like Fort Sewell in Marblehead, on a very old and
important Salem landmark.
by Erik K. Smith
originally published in the Salem Gazette
The first anticipated Invasion of Salem was during the English conflicts with
the Dutch in the 1600s. The two nations were at war for much of the 17th
Century. There were four Anglo/Dutch Wars, referred to as the Dutch Wars in
the United Kingdom and the English Wars in the Netherlands. These were trade
disputes gone berserk, and they embroiled all the various colonies and ports of
trade.
The fish from Massachusetts Bay were vital provisions, and the British Crown
directed that fortifications be built in Salem. In the 1640s Fort William on
Winter Island was constructed. Later, probably in 1690, breastworks, low dirt
walls that are put up quickly for protection, were constructed with a gun
platform on a hill overlooking both Beverly and Salem Harbors. This structure
would later be modified substantially and given the name Fort Lee in later
times of turmoil.
In 1740 England became embroiled in the War of Austrian Succession. The part
of the war fought on North American soil was referred to here as King George’s
War. It was a European conflict that saw the participation of Austria,
Prussia, England, France, Spain, Bavaria, and the Netherlands.
In 1742, during King George’s War, what was then called “The New Fort” was
improved, as were Fort Anne (the new name for Fort William) and Fort Number 2,
which was located on Juniper Point of Salem Neck. It was recorded by the
Selectmen in Town history on August 16 of that year “The town accepts the grant
of the General Court for the erection of breastworks and a platform for 16
guns.”
The Forts of Salem were once again called into service during what Europeans
and Canadians call the Seven Years war. Americans refer to events in this war
in the North American Theater of Operations as the French and Indian War, which
took place between 1754 and 1763. The French allied with the Algonquin and
Huron tribes of Native Americans, and the English fought alongside the Iroquis
tribe.
The dispute was over the control of land that was rich with resources. In the
case of Newfoundland and the Atlantic Coast there were fish and timber, in the
area West of the Appalachians and East of the Mississippi River the focus of
trade was fur. Europeans had been trading with the Native Americans and slowly
taking over the territories. After this war there was an almost total loss of
direct French influence in North America.
There were many other results of the French and Indian war. English Colonists
learned the arts of war and defeated a major European country. The confidence
this inspired would prove a major contributor to the War for Independence.
Many of the acts passed by Parliament that outraged the Colonists were attempts
to recoup the costs of this war. One of the most significantly affected
participants in this war was George Washington, 21 years old and a Major in the
Virginia Militia when hostilities broke out in 1754.
Salem had long been at the forefront of preparations for a War for
Independence. On February 26, 1775, Governor General Thomas Gage attempted to
seize cannons and gunpowder in Salem’s Northfields by sending a detachment from
the Boston based 64th Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander
Leslie. This was one in a series of Powder Alarms, the most famous of which
was the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Massachusetts had been protesting
what was known locally as the Intolerable Acts for months. The Colony was
declared by Gage to be in a State of Open Rebellion on February 9, 1775. When
Falmouth, Maine, then a significant port and what would later become Portland,
was torched by the Royal Navy on October 16, the paranoia that had been
building in the colony became swift action.
General Henry Lee and Salem merchant Jonathan Peele toured the coastline and
decided that this position of the “New Fort” on Salem Neck was the most
strategic possible. Colonel Richard Gridley supervised the improvements. The
Fort was brought up to date with a stone walled gun magazine, and the star
shaped breastworks were heightened into much taller earthworks. The Fort was
garrisoned with 100 artillery men. History supports the concerns of the local
citizenry; orders had indeed been given to the Royal Navy to torch Salem,
Marblehead, Newburyport, and other ports. It was in 1775 that the fort on
Salem Neck was given the name Fort Lee.
While Fort Lee may not have seen much action, it was the work of Army Engineer
Colonel Richard Gridley. He went on to supervise the construction of the
defensive positions at Breed’s Hill that were meant to protect the Charlestown
Peninsula next to Boston from being taken. The earthworks were created
overnight on June 16/ 17 of 1775, much to the surprise of Royal Army General
Howe. Gridley’s redoubt, although it was eventually breached by the British
Regulars, proved valuable to the Patriots in the Battle of Bunker Hill. It
was, for the British Army, a pyrrhic victory in that they suffered a nearly
forty percent casualty rate with just over 1000 (226 dead and 828 wounded) as
compared to the Colonial Militia’s approximately 450 (140 dead). Gridley
oversaw the installation at Dorchester Heights that resulted in the British
evacuation of Boston on March 17, 1776. The earthworks at Breed’s Hill and
Dorchester Heights no longer exist. As a surviving example of the work of
Colonel Richard Gridley, considered by the United States Army Corps of
Engineers to be their founder, Fort Lee in Salem is worthy of preservation.
The Massachusetts Provincial Congress recorded their praise for the efforts
“now erecting on an eminence not far distant from those already mentioned,
commands Beverly and Salem Harbours in a very advantageous manner. This Fort,
we must own, does credit to the Gentlemen of the Town of Salem.”
As the efforts of the Privateers out of Salem and Beverly increased, the Forts
of Salem provided protection from pursuing British Navy vessels. On October 10
of 1775, the schooner Hannah, commanded by Marbleheader Nicholson Broughton,
was chased into Beverly Harbor by His Majesty’s Ship Nautilus. Both ships ran
aground. The cannon were taken from Hannah and set up onshore. It was
reported that the men of Beverly and Salem harassed the Nautilus for several
hours, badly damaging the ship before it was able to escape with the rising
tide. Undoubtedly the events of this day gave the Royal Navy pause before
attempting any further action here lightly.
It could certainly be argued these installations helped serve as deterrents
since no action was taken on the Town of Salem after the Powder Alarm of
February 26, 1775. Boston and New York were occupied by the British Regulars
early in the American Revolution. The Royal Navy carried out a blockade of
Charleston, South Carolina that effectively crippled the Southern Colonies.
Richmond, Virginia, another major port, was torched, as were Falmouth, Maine;
Bristol, Rhode Island; Fairfield and Norwalk, Connecticut, and others. During
the Battle of Bunker Hill, the town of Charlestown had been burned.
When Independence had at long last been won, President Washington visited New
England to tour the countryside and thank and pay tribute to its citizens for
their contribution to the cause. It was October 1789, and the new President
had only been in office since April 30. He went through Lynn and made a stop
in Marblehead, the hometown of one of his more important comrades in arms,
General John Glover. President Washington was met at the Salem Town line by
several dignitaries, and his arrival was signaled by flag. Reverend Bentley
recorded in his diary “This flag was to be followed by another at the Old
Fort…and this was to be a signal for discharging 13 cannon from the New Fort,
on the Great hill west of the Old Fort on the Neck.” Three 12 pound cannons
aimed toward town were used for the Federal Salute, one shot for each of the
thirteen new States.
In 1794, during increasing hostilities with France, Fort Anne, Fort Lee, and
the Fort on Juniper Point were ceded by the Salem Board of Selectmen to the
United States Government. Fort Anne on Winter Island was rededicated Fort
Pickering for local patriot Timothy Pickering. During the War of 1812, Fort
Lee was rebuilt under the direction of Major General Amos Hovey and General
David Putnam.
The Forts were called back into service during the Civil War, modernized and
manned to protect shipping. This was Fort Lee’s last active role in a war, but
its four remaining post Civil War cannons were taken from the site as scrap
during World War II. In 1926 The U.S. Army returned the Forts to Salem. The
ruins of Fort Pickering and Fort Lee remain, but the installation at Juniper
Point has gone without a trace.
The mystery over its namesake seems unsolvable. It could have been a tribute
to General Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee, the father of Confederate General
Robert E. Lee. Perhaps it was named for Major General Charles Lee. It could
be that his court martial after the disastrous Battle of Monmouth made it
embarrassing for Salem to be the home of a Fort celebrating him, which might
explain why the story of the naming of it hasn’t become a local tradition.
Colonel Jeremiah Lee of Marblehead, who died of exposure in 1775 several weeks
after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, may be the Fort’s namesake. Colonel
Lee, a popular and very successful merchant, had been at a meeting of the
Committee of Safety in Cambridge when it was learned that 800 Royal Soldiers
were on the way to arrest them. The Patriots rushed out into the cold April
night to avoid arrest. Colonel Lee was considered one the first Martyrs of the
Revolution.
In 1976, when the Bicentennial focused attention on the American Revolution,
Forts Pickering and Lee were cleaned up and designated National Historic
Sites. On Sunday, June 20 of that year, the people of Salem were invited to
visit Fort Lee. It had been newly landscaped with granite steps leading up
from the parking lot. Near the main entrance to the Fort, on top of the
earthworks on the backside, a plague was affixed to a rock that described the
importance of this site. The bronze plaque is gone now, pried from the rock by
vandals.
Photos can’t capture the strategic position this Fort commands. Walking up the
steep paths to it begin to give one a feeling of just how high it is. Trees
have overgrown Fort Lee and its surroundings, making it a little difficult to
imagine how imposing it must have appeared from the ocean. In the winter when
the trees are bare, the view from atop the earthworks gives a better idea of
the formidable advantage it.
The men of Salem built and rebuilt this Fort when threats loomed. Without any
of the modern equipment we use today, they undertook huge construction projects
in times of major community stress. We remember and cherish the words of those
patriots now known as the Founding Fathers. It is, in the phrasing of Abraham
Lincoln, “altogether fitting and proper” that we also pay tribute to the
actions of hundreds of unknown men and women who contributed their physical
exertion to projects like this all over the Colonies.
The National Park Service, on their Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Historic
Preservation Study website, calls Fort Lee “a rare survival of an earthwork
fort initially constructed late in the 18th century and not significantly
altered since that time. Dating to 1776, the fort is one of only a small number
of field work forts in the Commonwealth that have retained much of their
original earthwork configuration. In its construction during the Revolution,
and its subsequent repairs and remodelings during the War of 1812 and the Civil
War, it evidences the role of the Salem and Beverly harbors in the national and
regional defense.”
In tribute to the soldiers of another war, the Salem post of the American
Legion is constructing a memorial to the citizens of our city who served in the
Korean War of 1950-52. It will be at the base of what Reverend Bentley called
“The Great Hill” on the Beverly side of the Fort. Perhaps this monument will
bring attention to Fort Lee and help in a fundraising effort that can result in
a new city park, much like Fort Sewell in Marblehead, on a very old and
important Salem landmark.
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