Fort Tompkins

Infobox Military Structure
name=Fort Tompkins (I)(II)(III)(IV)
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location=


caption=
type=Star Fort
built=
builder=New York Army National Guard
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height=
used=1812-1815, 1860-1865
demolished=
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ownership=
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garrison=
commanders=
occupants=
battles=War of 1812;
American Civil War
events=Named for Governor Daniel D. Tompkins.

In the history of the New York Army National Guard, there have been four installations with the name Fort Tompkins. They were as follows:

Fort Tompkins (I): 1812-15, Jefferson County, Sackets Harbor. A minor redoubt in a fortified line of 4 such "forts" ( Kentucky, Virginia, Chauncey, Stark) anchored at Fort Pike on the Bay (later Madison Barracks) protecting the land side of Sackets Harbor.

Fort Tompkins (II): 1812, Erie County, Buffalo, Niagara River. Built in August 1812 on top of the bluff at the bend of Niagara Street. Location was street railway barns in 1914. Large earthwork mounting seven guns, and was the largest of eight batteries erected that summer. Also called Fort Adams. To the South was Old Sow Battery, and to the North was Gibson's Battery. British attacked Black Rock July 1813 and destroyed the Black Rock Blockhouse and spiked or carried off the guns at Fort Tompkins.

Fort Tompkins (III): 1814, Clinton County, Plattsburgh. After the British defeat at the Battle of Plattsburgh, two additional forts were added near Forts Brown, Moreau, and Scott. Fort Tompkins, was constructed South West of Brown and contained three cannons. Fort Gains was added between Tompkins and the lake which created a pentagon shaped complex which was later connected with curtain walls.

Fort Tompkins (IV): 1860, Staten Island. The site was first fortified with a 1663 blockhouse and then during the Revolutionary War as the American redoubt Flagstaff Fort (1776), taken by the British it was enlarged and used to 1783. NYS started a masonry fort in 1807 - 1812. In the early 1840s Cpt. Robert E. Lee from Fort Hamilton proposed rebuilding the Staten Island works, which was done in 1860. Controlled Forts Morton, Hudson, and Richmond (Water Battery, later Battery Weed). Later included as part of Fort Wadsworth.

Associated Articles

*Plattsburgh Battle Forts

ource

* [http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/forts/fortsT_Z/tompkinsFort.htm| New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs: Military History]