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(9) Fort George
The British named the fort in honor of King George III. It was the last fort to be evacuated at the end of the war, primarily because it took so much time for news of the treaty to reach those stationed there. As they departed, the British soldiers burned all the buildings and inflicted as much damage as they could on the stone fort..
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Searsport Charters, LLC (1) Stockton Harbor
(2) Fort Point
(3) The River
(4) Narrows Bridge (5) Fort Knox (6) Bucksport
(7) Verona |
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On the eve of the Revolutionary War, the settlers were building ships and erecting sawmills, sending lumber from the Maine woods to the budding cities down the coast. Machias, just east of the Mid-coast region, was already well-populated by June 1775 when a British ship arrived in port accompanied by the cutter the British warship Margaretta. The ships were to return with lumber for the British. The citizens of Machias met at a town meeting , declared they would never contribute lumber to the British and erected a liberty pole in the town square to emphasize their declaration. The next day, the Patriots attempted to capture the Margaretta's captain, but he stood fast until he was hit by two musket balls. The Margaretta surrendered and the captain died. The Margaretta was appropriated by the patriots and renamed the Machias Liberty.
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To stage a presence along the Penboscot River, the British began building Fort George. When word of Castine’s seizure reached Boston, the aroused Commonwealth of Massachusetts, of which Maine was a dependency, dispatched a fleet of 42 ships and 1,400 men. The Yankees failed to capture Fort George and fled up the Penobscot River, where all their ships were either captured or scuttled by their crews. In 1783, after a peace treaty was solemnized, it passed into American possession.
Thirty-one years later, the English returned for the War of 1812, ousting the Americans from nearby Fort Porter and reoccupying Fort George. Before their evacuation in April 1815, they had addee Academyd outer batteries and built the canal, which crosses the peninsula. This fort existed up until 1819, when the British destroyed it. The earthworks, restored in 1961, are located on a hill above the Maine Maritim |
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