Place of refuge
Joseph Plum Martin, in his 70s, wrote a memoir of his time as a Continental soldier. The memoir is at places self-deprecatory, but he fought through the war and did not lack for courage. He survived the bombardment of Fort Mifflin. He described what he considered to be the safest place in the Fort during the near continuous bombardment:
Between the stone wall and the palisadoes was a kind of yard or pen, at the southern end of which was a narrow entrance not more than eight or ten feet wide, with a ditch about four feet wide in the middle, extending the whole length of the pen. Here, on the eastern side of the wall, was the only place in the fort that any one could be in any degree of safety. Into this place we used to gather the splinters, broken off the palisadoes by the enemy’s shot, and make a little fire, just enough to keep from suffering. We would watch an opportunity to escape from the vigilance of Col. Fleury, and run into this place for a minute or two’s respite from fatigue and cold. When the engineer found that the workmen began to grow scarce, he would come to the entrance and call us out. He had always his cane in his hand, and woe betided him he could get a stroke at. At his approach I always jumped over the ditch and ran down on the other side, so that he could not reach me; but he often noticed me, and as often threatened me, but threatening was all, he could never get a stroke at me, and I cared but little for his threats.[1]
This part of his story is so human as to make one want to find the place of the common soldiers’ respite and the officer’s frustration. The area has seen reconstruction to the point where the outlines of the Revolutionary fort are hard to find. But the reference to “stone wall” provides some clue. Martin had earlier, in describing the fort, said the following: “On the eastern side , next the main river, was a zigzag wall built of hewn stone, built, as I was informed, before the revolution at the king’s cost.” So, given the bombardment from the west, it appears that the place of refuge was actually outside the fort, on the eastern/southern side of the zigzag wall.
Another Continental soldier, Jeremiah Greenman, likely though not certainly was at Fort Mifflin for part of the time during the bombardment. He was undoubtedly at Fort Mercer across the river and would have known of conditions because soldiers passed back and forth between the two forts. His diary entry for October 19, 1777, says the following: “could not find any means to secure against the bombs & Carecases [carcases, i.e. incendiary shells], except under the wall which faced the Jersey shore.”[2]
The so-called “English wall” survived the bombardment and was apparently incorporated in the fort that was constructed on the site and exists still. A sign at the site concerning the gate, built after the Revolution, facing the river states that “The eleven foot wall of cut stone blocks to the left of the gate dates from John Montressor’s plan of 1772 with repairs from after the Revolution.” It is unclear, however, how much of the wall was there at the time, as the current fort has a stone component all of the way around, while it is clear that only the southeast to southwest river-facing part of that wall was there in 1777. This is the wall to the left of the new gate, showing hewn stone with later-added brick topping:
This is a map of the fort, purportedly as it was at the time of the battle:
EXPLANATION. – A, the inner work or redoubt; b b b, a high, thick stone wall, built by Montressor, with indentations, where the men boiled their kettles. This wall was pierced with loop-holes for musketry. cccc, block-houses, built of wood, with loop-holes, and mounting four pieces of cannon each, two on the lower platform; d d d, barracks; e e e, stockadoes; f f f, trous de Loup; g g, ravelins. On the southeast side were two strong piers, and a battery mounting three cannons.[3]
If the wall was reused, albeit topped off with brick, for the fort that survives today, it is interesting to consider whether any of the wall bears marks of the 1777 bombardment. In a couple of places repairs in the stone part of the wall can be seen, as in this picture from a visit in October 2021:
It must be admitted, however, that the patches may just as well cover natural defects in the stone or the effects of two plus centuries of erosion.
For more on the attack, see Fort Mifflin Timeline.
[1] The Adventures of A Revolutionary Soldier (1830) by Joseph Plumb Martin, pg. 65,
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Adventures_Of_A_Revolutionary_Soldier
[2] Diary of a Common Soldier in the American Revolution, 1775- 1783, pg. 81.
[3] The Pictorial Field-book of the Revolution Or, Illustrations, by Pen and Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence, pg. 296, Benson John Lossing · 1851