Fort Phoenix
- Address: US 6
- Vicinity: S of US 6, Fort Phoenix Park
On May 13-14, 1775, the first naval battle of the American Revolution took place off shore when the local militia, under the command of Nathaniel Pope and Daniel Egery, captured two British sloops in Buzzard's Bay. Shortly afterward, the town petitioned for the construction of a fort at Nolscot Point for the protection of the harbor. The original fort was built by Capt Benjamin Dillingham and Eleazer Hathaway between 1775 and 1777. The fort was attacked and destroyed when the British raided the harbor on September 5-6, 1778, landing 4000 troops in New Bedford. The British drove a small militia from the fort, burned the barracks, broke up the gun platforms and smashed all but one of the cannons. When the fort was rebuilt following the 1778 attack, it was named Fort Phoenix. Shortly before the War of 1812, Fort Phoenix was enlarged under the supervision of Sylvanus Thayer, who later became the "Father of the Military Academy" at West Point. In June of 1814, the fort helped repel an early morning attack by British in landing boats from the HMS Nimrod. In 1973, Fort Phoenix was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. - NPS