Constitution Island Fortifications

• Roman's Battery
• Marine Battery
• Gravel Hill/Greaton's Battery
• Hill Cliff Battery
• Redoubt 5
• Redoubt 6
• Redoubt 7

• Fort Arnold/Fort Clinton
• Fort Putnam
• Redoubt 4
• Forts Webb, Willys, Meigs

The Great Chain 

Hudson River

Marsh

 Sources and Author's Note  

West Point Fortifications Staff Ride Note Cards 14
USMA History Department 2d Edition, March 1998

 

ï Construction began in autumn 1778 in response to Duportailís recommendations following his
inspection of West Pointís defenses that year.
ï Construction
- Begun as SE curtain of Grand Bastion in Dec 1775
- Nicolls, Drake, and Palmer recommend in Dec 1775 that curtain be made into a battery of 4-6
cannon facing West Point
- Completed in Mar 1776
- Stone rubble rampart 130í long and 4í high with earthen parapet held in place by timber and
supported by a stone scarp or foundation
- Interior and exterior faces reveted with dry-laid stone masonry
- Rampart and parapet (at base) - 10í thick. Parapet constructed with timber revetments filled
with earth
- Rear foundation had a forward pitch to offset cannoní recoil and facilitate return to fireing
position
- Mounted seven 9-pdrs and one 6-pdr (eight embrasures)
ï Destroyed in 1777, but partially rebuilt in 1778 to protect eastern end of the Great Chain
ï Manpower: 40 men recommended by Duportail in 1779

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View from Marine Battery area to south--Trophy Point at right.  Ships moving north up the Hudson would have to round West Point, then face the Great Chain, which was anchored in the foreground under the battery.