Vermont Forts

American Forts: East

VERMONT

Last Update: 23/SEPTEMBER/2006

Orlando Bridgman's Fort
(1738 - unknown), North Vernon
A settlers' two-story timber garrison house, fortified in 1742. Attacked by Indians in 1747. Located about one-half mile south of Sartwell's Fort. It stood until about 1824.

Josiah Sartwell's Fort
(1737 - unknown), North Vernon
A settlers' two-story timber garrison house fortified in 1740. It was dismantled in 1837 and replaced by a farmhouse using much of the original material.

Fort Dummer (State Park)
(1724 - 1763), Guilford
A fortification on the Connecticut River south of Brattleboro. It was a wooden stockade 180-feet square, with 12 guns, manned by 55 men. It was attacked by Indians in 1724 before the stockade was completed. The site was the state's first permanent settlement. The fort was built by the Massachussetts colonial militia. The fort was eventually dismantled. Because of the construction of the Vernon Dam just downriver, the original site of the fort is now underwater. The Fort Dummer Historical Association built a complete model of fort and is on display in Brattleboro.

Brattleboro Barracks
(1863 - 1865), Brattleboro
A Civil War training camp for units of the Union Regular Army.

Fort Putney
(1740's), East Putney
A town fort at "Putney Great Meadows" to defend against the French and Indians during King George's War. Also called Fort Hill.

Fort Defiance
(1780 - 1781), Barnard
Built by the state militia.

Fort Rutland
(1775), Rutland
A town stockade located at present-day North and South Main Streets.

Fort Ranger
(1778 - 1781), Gookin's Falls
Located at Mead's (Rutland) Falls, just east of Rutland, this fort served as the headquarters for colonial troops in the area. After the soldiers left for Fort Warren, the settlers used it as a gathering place.

Fort Warren
(1779 - 1780's), Hydeville
A state militia fort. The town later used the abandoned fort as a storehouse and as a meeting house until 1790. The site is now bisected by a road and a railroad, and occupied by a private home.

Fort Vengeance
(1780 - 1781), Pittsford
Built on Otter Creek west of Cox Mountain by the independent Republic of Vermont to garrison militia in the defense of local settlers in the Otter Valley from British and Indian atacks. Originally unnamed until one defender was killed by Indians and his comrades swore vengeance - so naming the fort.
(info provided by Christopher Borstel of the Louis Berger Group)

Fort Mott
(1777), Pittsford
A settlers' palisaded log fort on the east bank of Otter Creek, about a mile south of the future location of Fort Vengeance. It was also used by the local militia.
(info provided by Christopher Borstel of the Louis Berger Group)

Mount Independence (State Historic Site)
(1775 - 1777), near Orwell
An extensive fortification on a prominant headland jutting into Lake Champlain which worked in conjunction with Fort Ticonderoga across the lake in New York. It may have once been called Fort Mount Washington. Mount Independence tour | Another website at Middlebury.edu.

Chimney Point (State Historic Site)
(1690, 1731 - 1737, 1775), Chimney Point
Located across from Crown Point, New York. Capt. Jacobus de Warm's Stockade was built here by the New York militia in 1690 to observe French movements. The French built Fort Pointe à la Chevelure or Fort de Pieux in 1731. It was a 100-foot square stockade with four bastions, with three buildings. It was abandoned when Fort St. Frederic was completed at Crown Point in 1737. The settlement was abandoned in 1759 to the British. It was burned in 1760 by Mohawk Indians, leaving only smoldering chimneys, hence the modern name of the point. A small British garrison was here at the start of the American Revolution.

Champlain Arsenal
(1826 or 1828 - 1855, 1861 - 1872), Vergennes
A Federal arsenal with Officers' quarters, barracks, magazine, and ordnance and munitions storehouses. It was sold in 1873.
(thanks to Marshall Sitrin for additional info)

Fort Cassin
(1813 - 1815), near Vergennes
A seven-gun earthwork built to defend the temporary Naval Shipyard at Vergennes. It was attacked once by the British in 1814. Site located at the mouth of Otter Creek near Kingsland Bay State Park. No remains, no marker.

Fort New Haven
(1769 or 1772), New Haven
A blockhouse built by Ethan Allen to guard against New York land speculators.

Battery Redoubt
(1813), Burlington
Located at Battery Park. A 13-gun earthwork used against the British during the bombardment of Burlington in June 1813. This was also a state militia encampment site during the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

Fort Frederick ?
(1773 - unknown), Winooski
A blockhouse built by Ira Allen, Ethan Allen's brother, who also established a shipyard nearby in 1772. The site is located at the Winooski River bridge.

Fort Ethan Allen
(1892 - 1952/1960), near Winooski
This was one of the largest U.S. Cavalry and Field Artillery posts in the country at one time. During the two World Wars it was used as a Regular Army mobilization center and training area. Deactivated in 1943, it was then primarily used as a storage depot. It was taken over by the Air Force in 1952 and renamed Ethan Allen Air Force Base. Despite public protest, it was finally closed in 1960. Most of the former base is now owned by the University of Vermont and St. Michael's College.

Camp Olympia
(1898), near Winooski
A Spanish-American War muster camp for state troops, located adjacent to Fort Ethan Allen. The site is now part of Camp Johnson, the modern Vermont National Guard training camp.

Fort Ste. Anne
(1666 - 1676), Isle La Motte
Ste. Anne's Shrine (1893) marks the site of a French fort on Lake Champlain. The site is the state's oldest white settlement. The fort served as a defense against the Mohawk Indians. Also known as Fort La Motte. A small museum is on the grounds, which includes relics of the fort.
A British fort was here during the American Revolution, and was briefly held by Patriot forces in 1775. The British set up a temporary three-gun battery here in 1814.

Fort Loyal
(1781 - 1796), North Hero
A Loyalist-built blockhouse that the British refused to give up after the United States won independence in 1783. Dutchman's Point is now called Blockhouse Point.

Camp Baxter
(1861 - 1865), St. Johnsbury
A Civil War training camp also known as Baxter Barracks.

Cooke's Hill Fort
(1781), Corinth Center
A state militia fort on Cooke's Hill.