Old Fort Mifflin Post Cemetery
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19153 USACoordinates: 39.87810, -75.21020 - This cemetery is marked as being historical or removed.
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Add PhotosFort Mifflin was designed in 1771 by a British engineer to defend the Port of Philadelphia and was subsequently built on Mud Island on the Delaware River. Occupied by Continental forces in 1775, it served as the primary fortification for the Americans in their blockade of Crown Forces-occupied Philadelphia in 1777.
When the British captured the fort in November 1777, they reportedly had found 50 American dead left behind and were said to have buried some bodies on Mud Island in unmarked trenches. About twenty other American dead, evacuated along with 300 or so living men by boat when Continental forces abandoned the fort, were reported to have been buried across the river in New Jersey at Red Bank, the Woodbury Friends Burial Ground, or a strangers' burial ground in that town that has since been moved to the Old Deptford Strangers' Burial Ground.
Later recaptured and repaired by Pennsylvania forces, it was finally taken under control by the U.S. Government in 1794 and reconstruction began the following year.
A frame hospital building was also constructed outside the fort's moat prior to 1798, and soon thereafter, an official post cemetery on that far end of Mud Island. The earliest known marked burials were that of the wife, daughter, and infant son of a Sergeant Pratt, U.S. Army, in 1802.
As a measure of protection for Philadelphia in the War of 1812, Fort Mifflin was actively manned. Captain James Nelson Barker was appointed commander of the fort on July 16, 1812. Although the fort was prepared to defend Philadelphia, it saw no action during the war, but at least two soldiers died during the war were buried there.
The little burial ground it was said was not used for long after the War of 1812, but burials in the 1820s through the 1850s were noted. About five burials, neighboring residents recalled, were reinterred to a new cemetery on the grounds of the Old Lazaretto a mile and a half above Fort Mifflin.
In 1879, a government survey recorded only six marked burials that could be found and "a great many graves . . . with out Tombstones or mark to designate them."
By the spring of 1896, the Philadelphia iPress/i described the cemetery thusly: "just without the wall of Fort Mifflin there was [a] burying ground. It is now a cow pasture. There is no excuse for neglect of the soldiers' graves in this pasture, which is within the inclosure of the Government grounds. In the pasture half a dozen slabs lean wearily. They are not inclosed, nor have they been cared for. They are simply so many marble slabs in a pasture."
Reporting forced the government to action. On October 1, 1896, those remains that could be identified were removed to Section A of the Philadelphia National Cemetery.
Fort Mifflin was designed in 1771 by a British engineer to defend the Port of Philadelphia and was subsequently built on Mud Island on the Delaware River. Occupied by Continental forces in 1775, it served as the primary fortification for the Americans in their blockade of Crown Forces-occupied Philadelphia in 1777.
When the British captured the fort in November 1777, they reportedly had found 50 American dead left behind and were said to have buried some bodies on Mud Island in unmarked trenches. About twenty other American dead, evacuated along with 300 or so living men by boat when Continental forces abandoned the fort, were reported to have been buried across the river in New Jersey at Red Bank, the Woodbury Friends Burial Ground, or a strangers' burial ground in that town that has since been moved to the Old Deptford Strangers' Burial Ground.
Later recaptured and repaired by Pennsylvania forces, it was finally taken under control by the U.S. Government in 1794 and reconstruction began the following year.
A frame hospital building was also constructed outside the fort's moat prior to 1798, and soon thereafter, an official post cemetery on that far end of Mud Island. The earliest known marked burials were that of the wife, daughter, and infant son of a Sergeant Pratt, U.S. Army, in 1802.
As a measure of protection for Philadelphia in the War of 1812, Fort Mifflin was actively manned. Captain James Nelson Barker was appointed commander of the fort on July 16, 1812. Although the fort was prepared to defend Philadelphia, it saw no action during the war, but at least two soldiers died during the war were buried there.
The little burial ground it was said was not used for long after the War of 1812, but burials in the 1820s through the 1850s were noted. About five burials, neighboring residents recalled, were reinterred to a new cemetery on the grounds of the Old Lazaretto a mile and a half above Fort Mifflin.
In 1879, a government survey recorded only six marked burials that could be found and "a great many graves . . . with out Tombstones or mark to designate them."
By the spring of 1896, the Philadelphia iPress/i described the cemetery thusly: "just without the wall of Fort Mifflin there was [a] burying ground. It is now a cow pasture. There is no excuse for neglect of the soldiers' graves in this pasture, which is within the inclosure of the Government grounds. In the pasture half a dozen slabs lean wearily. They are not inclosed, nor have they been cared for. They are simply so many marble slabs in a pasture."
Reporting forced the government to action. On October 1, 1896, those remains that could be identified were removed to Section A of the Philadelphia National Cemetery.
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- Added: 10 May 2023
- Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2777622
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