 Fort Independence on Castle Island "Castle Island" is a 22 acre (89,000 m²) major recreation site located in South Boston on Boston Harbor, owned by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. First named Fort William by the British, it was renamed Fort Independence in 1779 and is one of the oldest fortified sites in British North America. Long recognized for its stategic location, the fort helped protect Boston from British attack during the War of 1812. The current "Castle" is a five sided fort built before the American Civil War, while the "Island" is now connected to the mainland by pedestrian and vehicle causeways. South Boston is a heavily populated neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, located south of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. ...
The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. ...
1779 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
Combatants United States United Kingdom Strength United States Regular army : 99,000 Volunteers: 10,000* Rangers: 3,000 Militia: 458,000** Naval and marine: 20,000 Indigenous peoples New York Iroquois: 600 Northwestern allies: ? Southern allies: ? United Kingdom Regular army: 10,000+ Naval and marine: ? Canadian militia: 86,000+** Indigenous...
A castle (from the Latin castellum) is a structure that is fortified for defence against an enemy and generally serves as a military headquarters dominating the surrounding countryside[1]. The term is most often applied to a small self-contained fortress, usually of the Middle Ages. ...
The Civil War is by far the most common term for this conflict; see Naming the American Civil War. ...
Local lore has it that an unpopular officer was walled up in the fort's dungeon following a duel in which he slayed a more popular man. Edgar Allan Poe learned of the legend while serving on Castle Island in the Army, and his short story "The Cask of Amontillado" is said to be based on it. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ...
The Cask of Amontillado is a horror short story by Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1846. ...
During the Second World War the U.S. Navy used the site for a ship degaussing station. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the use of images on this page may require cleanup, involving adjustment of image placement, formatting, size, or other adjustments. ...
The United States Navy (also known as USN or the U.S. Navy) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations. ...
Degaussing is the process of reducing or eliminating an unwanted magnetic field. ...
Today the Castle Island fort is open to tours in the summer. There is a monument to Donald McKay who built the clipper ships Flying Cloud and Sovereign of the Seas. Donald McKay (1810-1880) was a Canadian-born American shipbuilder. ...
The Flying Cloud of 1851 was the most famous of the extreme clippers built by Donald McKay in East Boston, Massachusetts. ...
Several well-known ships have been named Sovereign of the Seas: HMS Sovereign of the Seas was a British Royal Navy warship of 100 guns, later known as just Sovereign and then Royal Sovereign. ...
External links
Coordinates: 42°20′16.87″N, 71°00′40.06″W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...
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