By Terrance McGovern
Fort Michie was a U.S. Army coast artillery post located on Great Gull Island, New York, from 1897 to 1948. Along with Fort H.G. Wright, Fort Mansfield, Fort Tyler, Fort Terry, and Camp Hero, it defended the eastern entrance to Long Island Sound as part of the Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound, thus defending Connecticut’s ports and the north shore of Long Island, as well as the back entrance to New York City’s East River. The fort was named after First Lieutenant Dennis M. Michie, who was serving with the 17th U.S. Infantry when he was killed in Cuba on 1 July 1898 during the Spanish-American War. Michie is also known for being the person who brought football to the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) by organizing the first Army-Navy game in 1890. Today, the USMA football stadium is named after him.
Fort Michie was approximately seventeen acres in area and included nearby Little Gull Island. Before the construction of Fort Michie, the U.S. Treasury Department purchased the land in 1803 to construct a lighthouse and accommodations on Little Gull Island. In 1896, Great Gull Island was transferred from the Treasury Department to the War Department to begin construction of a coast artillery post.
The Army constructed Fort Michie as part of the large-scale Endicott Program, which called for a comprehensive replacement of existing U.S. coast defenses in 1885. The forts were designed and built by the Army Corps of Engineers, the weapons were designed by the Army Ordnance Corps, and the forts were (by 1907) garrisoned by the Coast Artillery Corps (CAC).
The construction of the first two Endicott Period gun batteries at Fort Michie began in 1897. Battery North and Battery Palmer were accepted for service on the same day, 12 May 1900. The second set of three batteries was begun in 1902-03 and turned over for service in 1905-08. Battery Benjamin, Battery Maitland, and Battery Pasco completed the Endicott Period battery construction.
The five batteries at Fort Michie included the following armament:
| Name | No. of guns | Gun type | Carriage type | Years active |
| Palmer | 2 | 12-inch gun M1895 | disappearing M1897 | 1900-45 |
| North | 2 | 10-inch gun M1888 | disappearing M1896 | 1900-17 |
| Benjamin | 2 | 6-inch gun M1900 | pedestal M1900 | 1908-47 |
| Maitland | 2 | 6-inch gun M1900 | pedestal M1900 | 1908-47 |
| Pasco | 2 | 3-inch gun M1903 | pedestal M1903 | 1905-33 |
In addition to coast artillery guns, Fort Michie also contained a controlled submarine mine casemate and a mine prime station for a projected minefield covering the entrance to the Race, the prime channel into Long Island Sound. Three 60-inch seacoast searchlights (SL#7, SL#8, SL#9), installed in shelters and moved on rails to operating locations, supported the coast artillery batteries. In addition, the Army constructed a range of fire control stations around the post, including some located on three steel towers. Key to operating this small island post with no natural harbor was a wooden wharf with a 75-foot by 100-foot landing area on the end of a 28-foot by 241-foot dock that allowed access to deep water.
There were two periods of post garrison construction that coincided with the two periods of battery construction. The first period was completed in 1900 and included the construction of one set of officers’ quarters, one set of noncommissioned (NCO) officers’ quarters, a thirty- man barracks, a fourteen-bed hospital, a six-prisoner guardhouse, and some utility buildings. The second period was completed in 1905 and added two sets of officers’ quarters and a 105-man barracks. The fort’s armament required a garrison of 450 soldiers, so quarters built did not match the fort’s needs.
The U.S. entry into World War I in April 1917 resulted in a widespread removal of large caliber coast defense gun barrels for service in Europe. Many of the gun and mortar barrels removed were sent to arsenals for modification and mounting on mobile carriages, both wheeled and railroad. Most of the removed gun barrels never made it to Europe and were either remounted or remained at the arsenals until needed elsewhere. The two 10-inch guns from Battery North were ordered dismounted for service abroad on 24 Aug 1917 but before they could be shipped, they were ordered remounted and retained. The Army also constructed several temporary buildings at Fort Michie during World War I. During World War I, the new 16-inch gun M1919 was developed, and at the time, it was the most powerful weapon in the United States’ arsenal. The first of these was deployed at Fort Michie on a unique version of the Buffington-Crozier disappearing carriage, with the elevation increased to thirty degrees and a rare all-around-fire emplacement. This was the largest gun emplacement constructed to date by the United States and designated Battery J.M.K. Davis. It was named for Brigadier John Moore Kelso Davis, a Civil War veteran who later became a Regular Army general and who died in 1920. Battery North’s guns were shipped to storage and the battery was demolished to make room for the new gun emplacement, which was built in 1919-22 at a cost of $723,286.49 and transferred to the CAC on 17 May 1923.
Battery J.M.K. Davis comprised of one 16-inch M1919 gun mounted on an M1917 disappearing carriage. This was a single-story reinforced concrete battery with the gun and the magazine on the same level. The carriage was equipped with retracting, traversing, and elevating electric motors. This was an open battery, not casemated, with a one-of-a-kind disappearing carriage. Within the battery was a plotting room with the battery commander’s station directly above it, connected by stairs and a voice tube. Electrical power was furnished from an emplacement power plant with three twenty-five kilowatt gasoline-driven motor generator sets and interconnected with three other emplacement power plants. Also internal to the battery was a controlled submarine mining casemate.
Other weapon transfers took place at Fort Michie between the wars. In 1930, a 12-inch gun of Battery Palmer was dismounted to replace a gun at Fort H.G. Wright; it was replaced by a gun of the same model the following year. In 1933, the pair of 3-inch guns in Battery Pasco were sent to Fort Mills on Corregidor in the Philippines; these guns were not replaced. Two 3-inch M1917 antiaircraft gun positions (AA#3), were in place by at least 1926. The unarmed Battery Pasco was used for the storage of antiaircraft battery ammunition, and several mobile .50 caliber antiaircraft guns were added to the post’s armament. Many of the fort’s administrative buildings were destroyed in the 1938 New England Hurricane; the fort was on caretaker status at the time with a minimal garrison.
In 1940, when the United States reviewed its coast defense needs in earnest, Fort Michie was relegated to a secondary role. The fort lacked protection against air attack, and even its 16-inch gun had a relatively short range due to the obsolescent disappearing carriage. New long- range carriages for 16-inch guns were developed about the time Fort Michie’s emplacement was built. However, due to the need for a wartime garrison of almost 500 men, numerous temporary buildings were constructed by early 1941. “The World War II defense of Long Island Sound centered on building two casemated batteries (each with two 16-inch guns) at Camp Hero at Montauk Point. A third 16-inch casemated battery was located at Wilderness Point on Fisher Island (which was not completed). In 1944, with the batteries at Camp Hero complete, Battery J.M.K. Davis was taken out of service; Battery Palmer followed soon after.
By 1940, most of the original Endicott Period permanent post buildings were in very poor condition and they were scrapped in May and June. Early in 1941, the threat of war resulted in an emergency construction project for Fort Michie that added temporary buildings and expanded the post capacity to twenty-five officers and 441 enlisted men. The construction program included seven sixty-three-man barracks, two 250-man mess halls, two company day rooms, two sets of NCO quarters, an officers’ mess, and a theater.
The only battery built at Fort Michie during the war was Anti-motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) #912, with four 90mm guns on dual-purpose mounts, two fixed and two towed, as well as mobile 37mm or 40mm antiaircraft guns. AMTB#912 was emplaced in 1943 but was later placed in storage due to a lack of manpower. Supporting these batteries were two new seacoast searchlight positions (SL#13 and SL#14) that were installed inside concrete shelters and used rail to move the 60-inch searchlights to operating positions. Also installed by 1943 was a SCR-296A radar set on a steel tower. Several new fire control stations were constructed by 1944, including a concrete fire control tower and a harbor entrance command post. By the beginning of 1945, only Battery Maitland, Battery Benjamin and AMTB#912 were still part of the Long Island Sound Harbor Defense Plan.
In 1946, the Army disarmed Fort Michie and scrapped all of its guns; it abandoned the post in 1948. In 1949, Fort Michie was declared surplus and was transferred to the War Assets Administration. From 1949 to 1954, the property was conveyed to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), which is the current owner. AMNH uses the island as an educational research facility and a bird sanctuary to investigate the common and roseate tern population. Over 27,000 terns use this island nesting habitat each year.
About the Author
Terrance (Terry) McGovern has authored eight books and numerous articles on fortifications, four of those books being for Osprey’s Fortress Series (American Defenses of Corregidor and Manila Bay, 1898-1945; Defenses of Pearl Harbor and Oahu 1907-1950; American Coastal Defenses, 1885-1950; Defenses of Bermuda 1612-1995). He has also published fourteen books on coast defense and fortifications through Redoubt Press or Coast Defense Study Group (CDSG) Press. Terry was Chairman of the U.S.-based CDSG and continues to be a longtime officer. He has also been the editor of the Fortress Study Group annual journal, FORT. He is a director of the International Fortress Council and the Council on America’s Military Past. He can be contacted at tcmcgovern@att.net.
