| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — 1872 Construction — Battery Control Station No. 2 |
| | The original 1872 plans specified that eleven gun emplacements with twenty guns and a mortar battery with six emplacements were to be built. Only two gun emplacements and two magazines were ever completed, the magazines are still visible to your left. The battery control station for Battery Arnold, a fifty-five foot high steel tower, was built in 1902 and turned over to the artillery on May 27, 1902. This tower was outfitted with a single ten by ten foot observation room. It was used to assist . . . — Map (db m22040) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Ammunition Hoist |
| | Emplacement #1 magazine had a capacity of 494 rounds in cases and 96 rounds in rack or total of 590 rounds. Ammunition was served to this passageway by two endless chain hoists with hooks. The hoists were connected by belts to small motors. These could be used only with projectiles. A request had been made to have trays attached to the hooks so that separate cartridge bags and projectiles may be combined, but this was found to be too dangerous. Powder bags were always kept in wooden trays or in ones arms. — Map (db m22018) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Battery Arnold |
| | The three 12-inch guns were mounted at Fort Mott between February and June, 1898. The guns and carriages were unloaded from vessels at the government wharf and transported down the rail lines behind the parapet. The guns were hauled up inclined trestles that were constructed at each emplacement. 12-inch gun: Model 1888 Overall length 36.66’ Weight of Gun 116,480 Pounds Muzzle Velocity 1,975 Feet per Second Maximum Recorded Range Fired 17,320 Yards . . . — Map (db m21770) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Battery Commander’s Station |
| | After the two 5-inch guns were removed in 1917, an observation station was built over one of the original gun emplacements. This structure, the battery commander’s station for Battery Arnold, was made of reinforced concrete at a cost of $850.00. It was partially concealed by the parapet wall. Power was supplied from the power plant and data transmission was done by telephone. Second Marker: Because technologies such as radar and aerial reconnaissance did not exist when Fort Mott was . . . — Map (db m22019) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Battery Edwards |
| | Named in honor of Captain Robert Edwards, who was killed in action near Frenchtown, Michigan in 1813. Battery Edwards has two casemates for 3-inch rapid fire guns, and was partially constructed using two magazines from the 1872 fortification. The magazines were converted into casemates by removing the fronts and replacing them with embrasures arranged to allow the guns to sweep the mine field in the river. The earth cover over the old batteries was cut down to render them less conspicuous and . . . — Map (db m21790) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Battery Gregg |
| | Battery Gregg is named in honor of Captain John C. Gregg, who served as Captain in the 4th Infantry and was killed in action near Mariquana, Philippine Islands, on March 31, 1899. Completed in December 1900, Battery Gregg was the fourth of Fort Mott’s five batteries to be constructed. This battery contained emplacements for two 5-inch rapid fire guns (model 1900) mounted on pedestal mounts with shields. Both guns were not mounted at the battery until 1906. In 1913, they were removed and later . . . — Map (db m21735) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Battery Harker |
| | Battery Harker was named in honor of General Charles G. Harker, who served in the 2nd, 9th and 11th Infantry and was killed in action at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864. This battery has three emplacements for 10-inch guns mounted on disappearing carriages. Battery Harker shares the continuous parapet wall with Battery Arnold. Each gun emplacement has individual powder and shell magazines located beneath the gun platform. An electric hoist was installed at each . . . — Map (db m21772) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Battery Krayenbuhl |
| | Named in honor of Captain Maurice Krayenbuhl, who was killed in action near Meycausyan, Philippine Islands in March 1899. Battery Krayenbuhl’s two 5-inch rapid fire guns on the right flank of the heavy caliber battery, in conjunction with the rapid fire guns at Battery Gregg on the left flank, were an important component to the defensive scheme at Fort Mott. These guns were positioned to protect a minefield in the river from small fast moving vessels that could potentially evade the large . . . — Map (db m22015) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Battery Krayenbuhl’s 5-inch rapid fire guns |
| | The 5-inch gun platforms, finished in the summer of 1899, had to be changed to conform to changes in the type of gun mount to be installed. The platforms had to be cut down approximately one foot, and the new platform was ready by December 2, 1899. The battery was finally turned over to the artillery the next year in December, 1900. Two 5-inch rapid fire guns (model 1897, no’s 6 and 8, Watervliet Arsenal) were mounted on a pair of 5-inch Barbette balanced-pillar mounts (Model 1896, no’s 24 and . . . — Map (db m21794) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Confederate Monument |
| | Erected by the United States to mark the burial place of 2436 Confederate soldiers who died at Fort Delaware while prisoners of war and whose graves cannot now be individually identified. — Map (db m21655) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Finn’s Point National Cemetery |
| | Though located far from any site of armed conflict, Finn’s Point National Cemeter exists as a direct result of the American Civil War. It is the resting place for the remains of 2,436 Confederate soldiers whose military careers ended as prisoners of war under the Union forces. These men were interned 1½ miles from here at Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island. One hundred thirty-five Union soldiers who died while serving as guards at the prison camp, are also buried here. Additional . . . — Map (db m21651) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Finn’s Point National Cemetery |
| | This cemetery contains the graves of 2,436 Confederate soldiers who died while pisoners of war at Fort Delaware. — Map (db m21657) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Generator Room |
| | The forts electrical plant was placed in a room sixteen feet by thirty feet in the west end of the main battery. The original plans for generating electrical power at the battery used a coal fired steam system. Two 25 kilowatt General Electric dynamos, two 50-horsepower boilers, a switchboard, a Worthington pump, a feedwater heater, a water cistern, and a Sturevant blower were placed in the dynamo room. Later modifications and improvements led to the installation of a gasoline powered system. . . . — Map (db m22035) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Pea Patch Island |
| | Fort Mott was one of three forts built at this location on the Delaware River. At this section of the Delaware estuary, the waterway narrows from a broad bay into a river. Considered a strategic location early in the nineteenth century, military officials selected this area for a coastal defense fortification. Fort Delaware was built on Pea Patch Island during the first half of the nineteenth century. However, the advent of steam-powered naval vessels necessitated a more elaborate . . . — Map (db m21710) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Peace Magazine: 1904 |
| | A Special emphasis was placed on keeping the interiors of the defensive magazines under the various batteries dry. According to an excerpt from, “Reports on 5-inch Guns, Fort Dupont and Fort Mott, December, 1900, Operations” which references Battery Gregg.. “ . . . ceilings of the magazines consist of flat arches of 6-inch hollow tile and the vertical walls are covered with 2-inch hollow tile furring and both ceilings and side walls are plastered with a thin layer of . . . — Map (db m21792) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Switchboard Room / Plotting Room |
| | Switchboard Room A central Switchboard room is where all the important communications emanated. By means of this switchboard, all base lines were made interchangeable. A distribution switchboard was installed in a switchboard room as a standard part of the armaments system. Plotting Room Several aiming techniques were developed and used after 1905, but the most precise method made use of two or more widely spaced sighting structures technically known as base end stations. Observers . . . — Map (db m22036) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — The Latrines — Fort Mott State Park |
| | Two latrines were built within the parados for soldiers assigned to the gun batterys. The bathrooms each had several toilets for enlisted men, a private stall for officers and a large cast-iron urinal. Toilets were similar to our modern flush toilets, except that the plumbing took the waste directly to the moat and not to a septic system. Since the moat was tidal and controlled by a sluice gate, the sewage was flushed out into the Delaware River with each tidal change. In addition to . . . — Map (db m22021) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — The Wharf |
| | The construction of a fortification the size of Fort Mott required the delivery of a large amount of materials and equipment. The river provided an excellent “highway” and the government constructed a wharf to receive the construction materials. Equipment, materials, and supplies were unloaded at the wharf onto a rail line which was built from the wharf to the fortification site. Once the fort was completed, the rail line additionally served to transport ammunition and supplies to . . . — Map (db m22022) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Two Batteries in one |
| | Battery Harker and Battery Arnold share the continuous 750 foot long parapet wall. Battery Harker (right) contains three 10-inch gun emplacements and Battery Arnold (left) has three 12-inch gun emplacements. A protective earthwork, the parados, was built behind the gun emplacements to protect the fortification from enemy fire from the rear. Material for the parados was excavated from a moat that was created behind it. From the bank, wheeled scrapers were used to take the material to the top of . . . — Map (db m21749) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Union Monument |
| | Near this stone lie the remains of 105 United States soldiers whose names so far as known are hereon inscribed, but whose graves cannot be identified. They died for their country. — Map (db m21656) |
| New Jersey (Salem County), Pennsville — Welcome (to Fort Mott) |
| | Fort Mott is an Endicott-era fortification (ca. 1896) that was begun prior to the Spanish-American War. Construction of an earlier fortification, known as the Battery at Finns Point, was begun in 1872 but never completed. Components of the earlier fortification were incorporated in the 1896 construction plan and are visible today at the west end of the main batteries. The fort was officially named in 1897 in honor of Major General Gershom Mott of Burlington, New Jersey, who served with . . . — Map (db m21660) |
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