Battery Hobart-- Part 4: A 6-Inch Armstrong Gun

Battery Hobart, names after the War of 1812 casualty Henry A Hobart, was part of the harbor defense for Portland, Maine.

It was originally built as an Endicott Period concrete coastal gun battery  mounting a single  6-inch M1898 Armstrong gun (40 caliber) mounted on a M1898 Pedestal carriage.

This was a two story battery with the gun mounted on the upper story and the magazine below.  Shells were moved from the lower story magazine to the gun loading platform by hand.  No shell or powder hoist was provided.

Electrical power was furnished by  the central power plant.

The gun and carriage were removed to Fort Kamehameha in Honolulu, Hawaii,  on 23 August 1913.

Fort Wiki  Historic U.S. and Canadian Forts has pictures and diagrams of it.

Fort Fisher had a 150-pdr. Armstrong gun during the Civil War (now at West Point).

--Brock-Perry

Battery Hobart-- Part 3: An Endicott Period Fortification

From Fort Wiki.

Battery Hobart  (1900-1913).  Battery Hobart was a concrete reinforced, Endicott Period  6 inch  coastal gun battery on Fort Williams, Cumberland County, Maine.  It was named in G.O.78, 25 May 1903, after 1st Lt.  Henry A. Hobart (the 56th cadet to graduate West Point, U.S. Light Artillery, who was killed 27 May 1813, at Fort George, Upper Canada.

Battery construction started in 1898, was completed in 1898 and transferred to the Coast Artillery for use 6 January 1900 at a cost of $6,545.33.

Deactivated  in 1913.

More.  --Brock-Perry

Battery Hobart-- Part 2: Gun Sent to Pearl Harbor

Battery Hobart was no longer needed after the construction of Battery Keyes in 1905  which mounted more modern American-made guns.

When the U.S. Army afterwards determined that the defenses in the Pacific Ocean needed more guns, Battery Hobart's gun was removed in the summer of 1913 and sent to  protect the Navy and Army facilities at Pearl Harbor during World War I.

The battery's magazine continued to be used for the storage of ordnance supplies for Fort Williams until 1929.

--Brock-Perry

Battery Hobart-- Part 1: Fort Williams, Maine

In the last post I mentioned that I couldn't find anything else on Henry A. Hobart, but came across this on a battery named for him in Maine.

From the Maine Attraction.

Visited the battery and took a picture of it.  Located in Fort Williams, Maine.

Battery Hobart was built in 1898 and named after Lt. Henry A. Hobart,  one of Maine's first graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, who was killed in action during the War of 1812.  The battery mounted one six-inch Armstrong gun whose function was  to help protect the mine field laid in the main channel in time of war from hostile minesweepers.

Battery Hobart was manned during the Spanish-American War.

I was unable to find a photo of what the gun looked like at Battery Hobart, but the Fort De Soto Park Six-inch Armstrongs has a picture.

--Brock-Perry

Henry A. Hobart, USMA Class 1811, Killed At Capture of Fort George in 1813

From For What They Gave On Saturday Afternoon.

Born Maine.  Appointed from Maine.

Cadet of the Military Academy, Jan. 20, 1808, to March 1, 1811, when he was graduated and promoted to Second Lieut. , Light Artillery, March 1, 1811.

Served:    In garrison at Atlantic ports, 1811-1812; and in War (First Lieut., Light Artillery, Aug. 15, 1811) of 1812-1815 with Great Britain, being engaged in the capture of York (now Toronto), Upper Canada, April 23, 1813, and capture of Fort George, Upper Canada May 27, 1813, where he was killed while valiantly leading his company to attack.

Age 22.

I am unable to find out anything else on him.

--Brock-Perry

West Point Class of 1811: Five Died in the War of 1812

From the Civil War in the East site.

Four other members of the West Point Class of 1811 besides George Ronan were killed during the War of 1812.

Marie V. Boisaubin   First Lt.  Died in 1813 in the capture of Fort George, Upper Canada.

Henry Burchstead   First Lt.     Killed 1813 in Alabama in Creek Indian campaign.

Henry A. Hobart   First Lt.  Killed 1813, Capture of Fort George, Upper Canada.

Alexander J. Williams    Captain     Killed 1814 in defense of Fort Erie, Upper Canada

George Ronan   Ensign    Killed 1812 in Fort Dearborn massacre.  First West Point graduate to be killed in action.

--Brock-Perry