Seven Things You Didn't Know About New York's Central Park-- Part 2: Fort Clinton and the Cannon

3.  The cannon at the War of 1812's Fort Clinton actually came from an American Revolution British ship.

Fort Clinton has views of Harlem Meer and the city's east side and served as a strategic overlook in the War of 1812.  It was named after the city's mayor at the time, DeWitt Clinton.  The fortification and its original remains were retained during the construction of Central Park.

A historic cannon and mortar can be found at the top that actually predate the War of 1812.  They came from the HMS Hussar, a British ship from the American Revolution that sank in the East River in 1778, and were later donated anonymously to the park in 1865.

This Revolutionary War cannon was placed in various sites around the park until placed at Fort Clinton in 1905.  When the staff of the Conservancy  cleaned the cannon in 2013, they found it was still loaded with cannonball and powder, all of which have since been removed.

I have already written about this.  Click on the Fort Clinton label below.

No Big Bangs Here.  --Brock-Perry

Another Thomas Chambers Marine Painting-- Part 5

Another painting by Thomas Chambers was "New York Harbor with Castle Garden and ships," circa 1846.

Castle Clinton (Fort Clinton) was once known as Castle Garden, a circular sandstone fort now located at Battery Park in Manhattan, New York City.

It was the United States' first immigration station (predating Ellis Island) where more than eight million people arrived between 1855 and 1890.

--Brock-Perry

HMS Hussar, Revolutionary War Ship-- Part 1: What Does Armed En Flute Mean?

From Wikipedia.

Although this ship did not fight in the War of 1812, nor did the two recovered cannons from the Hussar.  However, the cannons are now at a War of 1812 fort, Fort Clinton.

The HMS Hussar was commissioned in August 1763 and was 124 feet long, 33.10 foot beam, 200 crew and mounted 28 cannons with 24 9-pdrs. and 4 3-pdrs.  It was rated as a 6th rate frigate and of the Mermaid-Class.

It served off North America from 1768 to 1771 and went into ordinary in 1771.  It was repaired and refitted from 1774 to 1777 and recommissioned in 1777.

It captured the Spanish ship-of-the-line Nuestra Senora del Buen Confeso though armed en flute on 20 November 1779.  I had to look up armed en flute as it didn't make since that a 6th rate frigate mounting just 28 cannons, could take a ship-of-the-line.  Armed en flute means a warship being used in transport with a reduced armament.  At the time the Spanish government had just 26 12-pdrs.

Never Knew Armed En Flute.  --Brock-Perry

Central Park's Fort Clinton's Cannons-- Part 3: Not From War of 1812, But Fort Is

Originally thought to have been part of the city's defenses in the War of 1812, the cannons had actually been on the bottom of the East River in the HMS Hussar for 80 years before they were anonymously donated to Central Park in 1865.  They were originally displayed at the Arsenal, now the Parks Department headquarters on Fifth Avenue and later they were moved to the museum at Mount Saint Vincent convent at 105th Street.  The museum burned in 1881, but the cannons survived..  Their whereabouts for the next twenty years are unknown.

They re-emerged in 1905 when the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society persuaded the Parks department to install them, at the site of Fort Clinton.  They were displayed on a granite base (with a plaque wrongly saying they were War of 1812 cannons) until the 1960s and 1970s.

This is when New York City's budgetary problems caused them to be neglected and they became targets of vandalism.  The Central Park Conservancy retrieved them in 1996.  Last January, during restoration, it was discovered that the mortar/carronade had a cannonball with live powder in it.  The police bomb squad was summoned to disarm it.

Fort Clinton is within sight of where the HMS Hussar sank.

--Brock-Perry

Central Park's Fort Clinton's Cannons-- Part 2: Carrying Gold?

The guns were removed from Fort Clinton and taken to a warehouse on Randalls Island.  They were brought back because of the War of 1812 Bicentennial commemoration and because of the reconstruction of Fort Clinton and Nutter's Battery Overlooks.

It was originally thought that the guns protected the city during an expected British attack during the War of 1812, but that wasn't true.

The guns date back to 240 years to the British ship HMS Hussar, a 28-gun frigate commissioned in 1763.  It ran aground in New York's treacherous East River in the 1780 and sank.  Rumors abounded that the ship had been carrying gold to pay the British Army and as a result, many salvage efforts were made.  None was ever found, but many artifacts were recovered.

--Brock-Perry

Central Park's Fort Clinton's Cannons-- Part 1: Bringing the Guns Back

From the March 23, 2014, New York Times "Big Guns Will Return to Watch Over Park" by Sam Roberts.

I did some research on the two cannons which were reinstalled there.

A photo accompanied the article show the preservation of the two cannons.  One is classified as a cannon, the other one as either a carronade or mortar.

For most of the 20th century, two 18th century cannons were located at the Fort Cklinton site ij New York's Central Park.  They had been recovered from a British frigate that had mysteriously sunk off Hell's Gate in the East River.  The ship had reportedly also been carrying gold.

These cannons survived the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and a fire at the nearby Conservatory Gardens.  New York's financial crisis  in the 1970s resulted in the cannons becoming victims of vandalism and neglect.

--Brock-Perry

Castle Clinton in New York City

From Wikipedia.

After some initial confusion between Fort Clinton and Castle Clinton, I figured out which was which.  Fort Clinton was part of New York defenses built quickly in 1814 to defend against an expected British attack.  Castle Clinton, so called because of its appearance, was also a Fort Clinton at one time and also called West Battery.

It was built on a small artificial island at the south end of Manhattan Island which has since been filled in with land fill.  It is located about two blocks from where the Dutch built Fort Amsterdam in 1626.

It was built between 1808 and 1811, designed in part by Jonathan Williams, and was to complement the three-tiered Castle Williams on Governor's Island for the city's protection.  Castle Williams was called East Battery.

Today, Castle Clinton is used as a departure point for visitors going to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

--Brock-Perry

Central Park's Fort Clinton-- Part 3:

Fort Clinton was named for the city's mayor, DeWitt Clinton.  The site had previously been used by British Hessian troops during the occupation of New York City 1776-1783.

From the Central Park web site.

In the 1860s, designers of Central Park recognized the scenic and historic value of Fort Clinton and returned the location to its original topography and the remains of the fort.  By 1900, the remains had eroded and the site was turned into a scenic overlook with rustic fencing, benches and flag pole.

The Central Park Conservancy rebuilt Fort Clinton in 2014 for the War of 1812 bicentennial.  Two cannons were also reinstalled.

--Brock-Perry

Central Park's Fort Clinton-- Part 2: A Tale of Two Clintons, a Castle and a Fort

Last night, I was talking with my friend Kevin, who grew up in Brooklyn, at the American Legion and told him I was writing about McGowan's Pass, Fort Fish, Nutter's Battery and Fort Clinton.  He said he knew all of these places on Manhattan.  But he referred to Fort Clinton as the "Castle."

I didn't know about the Fort Clinton in Central Park being anything like a castle since it was built very quickly.

When I did the search for Fort Clinton this morning, I found out why it was the castle.

It turns out that Manhattan has two fortresses known as Clinton.  The one Kevin was referring to is now called Castle Clinton and is at the south end of the island.  Both of them were named for mayor DeWitt Clinton, though.

So, this is so you won't get confused about the two Fort Clintons.

--Brock-Perry

Central Park's Fort Clinton-- Part 1: Part of City Defenses

From Wikipedia.

Yesterday, I posted about a line of fortifications in New York City's Central Park that were hurriedly built in 1814 for use in stopping a possible British attack that was expected.  This included McGowan's Pass, Fort Fish, Nutter's Battery and Fort Clinton, a line connected with earthworks.

Fort Clinton was in present-day Central Park and was an 1814 stone and earthwork fortification on a rocky escarpment near the present line of 107th Street and slightly west of Fifth Avenue.

It was the easternmost of a connected series of forts, connecting Nutter's Battery on the west by a series of earthworks and a gatehouse over Old Post Road (evidently Kingsbridge Road) at the bottom of McGowan's Pass.

Fort Clinton and Nutter's Battery were in turn commanded by Fort Fish which had a sweeping view of Long Island Sound, northern Manhattan and Westchester County.

--Brock-Perry

Remnant of War of 1812 Fortification Found In New York's Central Park-- Part 2

Other fortifications rebuilt included Fort Clinton, Nutter's Battery and Fort Fish.  But, fortunately, the British never came.  All the above mention fortifications are long gone except for those at McGowan's Pass, which still remain.

In 1990, the Conservancy worked with archaeologists to identify breastworks that have eroded over time at the pass.

On the north side of the pass, citizens drilled a line of holes into rock outcroppings.  Iron rods inserted in them could have helped build a wall linking the three small forts listed in the first paragraph.  These forts guarded the pass and surrounding countryside.

You can still see the holes.  They were recently found during reconstruction of the $2 million Fort Landscape Project in the north end of the park.Foundations of the southeast side of the gate house that had been constructed, almost like a bridge across McGowan's Pass over Kingsbridghe Road.  Evidence of the stone-splitting process known as plug-and-feather was used in the fort built atop rock they were composed of.

The northwest side of the gatehouse and part of the original Kingsbridge Road was also found.

And, You Didn't Think Much Happened in New York City During the War.  --Brock-Perry