Fortifications.
When the question of taking measures for the defence of the colonies was proposed in Congress, a discussion arose that was long and earnest, for many members yet hoped for reconciliation.
On the very day that a British reinforcement at
Boston, with
Howe,
Clinton, and
Burgoyne, entered that harbor,
Duane, of New York, moved, in the committee of the whole, the opening a negotiation, in order to accommodate the unhappy disputes existing between
Great Britain and the colonies, and that this be made a part of the petition to the
King.
But more determined spirits prevailed, and a compromise was reached late in May (25th), when directions were given to the Provincial Congress at New York to preserve the communications between that city and the country by fortifying posts at the upper end of
Manhattan Island, near
King's Bridge, and on each side of the
Hudson River, on the Highlands.
They were also directed to establish a fort at
Lake George and sustain the position at
Ticonderoga, on
Lake Champlain, which the “
Green Mountain boys” (q. v.) and others had seized a fortnight before.
The first bill for the fortification of American harbors was reported in Congress, March 4, 1794, by a committee of one from each State, while the bill for the construction of a navy was under consideration.
The act authorized the
President to commence fortifications at
Portland,
Portsmouth,
Gloucester,
Salem,
Boston,
Newport,
New London, New York,
Philadelphia,
Wilmington,
Baltimore,
Alexandria,
Norfolk, Ocracoke Inlet,
Cape Fear River,
Georgetown,
Charleston,
Savannah, and St. Mary's.
Annapolis was added by a subsequent act. For this purpose only $136,000 were appropriated.
The President was authorized to purchase 200 cannon for the armament of the new fortifications, and to provide 150 extra gun-carriages, with 250 tons of cannon balls, for which purpose $96,000 were appropriated.
Another act appropriated $81,000 for the establishment of arsenals and armories in addition to those at
Springfield and
Carlisle, and $340,000 for the purchase of arms and stores.
The exportation of arms was prohibited for
[
408]
one year, and all arms imported during the next two years were to come in free of duty.
In recent years the national government has been giving a larger degree of attention to the question of coast defences, and a board of ordnance and fortification has in charge the erection of new works, the strengthening of old ones, and the provision of the most approved ordnance for the protection of the principal coast cities of the country.
The plans under which the board has been working will require many years' time, even with unusually liberal appropriations by Congress, to complete.
After the
United States declared war against
Spain in 1898 one of the first works of importance was the preparation of the principal harbors of the
Atlantic coast to be able to successfully resist any hostile naval attacks.
For the adequate defence of the coast not only were the existing fortifications at once put on a war footing and supplied with the latest style of ordnance, but the harbors of the cities that were likely to invite attack were reinforced by the most complete system of mines and torpedoes.
In this work the navy also bore an important share, as the exceptionally swift cruisers
Columbia and
Minneapolis were kept constantly patrolling at sea for many weeks, while a special fleet of smaller vessels aided them in keeping watch nearer shore for the two Spanish fleets that were expected to menace the coast from
Maine to
Florida.
Similar precautions were taken also at
San Francisco.
