Fort Sullivan/Fort Sherbrooke/Fort Sullivan

 

Fort Sullivan in Eastport, Maine, on Moose Island in Passamaquoddy Bay, was built about 1808 to bolster the United States' claim to the area, before the border was officially drawn, and to disrupt smuggling after the Embargo Act of 1807. It was presumably named in honor of one of the Sullivan brothers of Berwick, Maine; either General John Sullivan (1740-1795) or Massachusetts Governor James Sullivan (1744-1808), who in 1795 published a history of his beloved District of Maine. The fort was initially conceived as a militia post but instead became a garrison for the regular military, as part of the Second System of fortifications.

The fort was captured by the British on July 11, 1814 and subsequently renamed Fort Sherbrooke, in honor of Sir John Coape Sherbrooke (1764-1830), then Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. During a four year occupation, the British built a powder house, which still stands, though in ruins. Because they expected the island to stay in the realm, the British fostered good relations with the citizens who remained - after agreeing to swear an oath of allegiance to King George III. In 1818, finalized negotiations awarded Moose Island to the United States, and the British subsequently vacated the fort.

With the name Fort Sullivan resumed, it was maintained until the early 1870s, ready for any border action that might arise, including during the Aroostook War, and for raids during the Civil War and the Fenian Uprisings of 1866 to the early 1870s. In 1873 activities at the fort started to wind down, and many components of the fort were sold at auction in 1877. About a year later, what remained was turned over to the Interior Department for eventual dispersal. 

The two vestiges remaining are the powder house on the original site on Fort Hill (Clark's Hill) and the Officers Quarters building, a barracks reportedly built in the early 1820s, that was moved to another site in Eastport, where it eventually became the museum for the Border Historical Society. The Fort Sullivan site, including the barracks in its moved location, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.