Portal:Philadelphia/Selected picture archive/13

Fort Mifflin, 2010

Fort Mifflin was commissioned in 1771 and is situated on Mud Island, along the Delaware River at the southern tip of Philadelphia, just east of the airport. During the American Revolutionary War, the British Army bombarded and captured the fort as part of their conquest of Philadelphia in autumn 1777. The United States Army began to rebuild the fort in 1794 and continued to garrison and build on the site through the 19th century. The fort housed Confederate prisoners during the American Civil War. The army decommissioned Fort Mifflin in 1962; however, a portion of the fort's grounds are still used by the United States Army Corps of Engineers making it the fort with the longest continuous military use in the country. Historic preservationists have restored the fort, and it has been designated a National Historic Landmark.