• Home
• History of the Fort
• The John Brown Song
• The Lady in Black
• Confederate Prisoners
• Gun Batteries
• Fort Warren Book
• Private Fort Tours
• Links

"Fort Warren has more memories
of the Civil War days
than any other place in New England"

Edward Rowe Snow

Photo by Ryan Vines

Fort Warren, located in Boston Harbor, is a historic Civil War fort that was also utilized as a prison for Confederate military and political prisoners. The fort continued to serve as an important US Army harbor defense facility from the Civil War throughout World Wars I and II. Fort Warren was under federal government control until 1958, when the Commonwealth obtained possession.

The fort's main entrance about 1861. The granite guardhouse is on the left,
and a wooden sentry box stands on the right.

The main entrance as it appears today with a concrete mine casemate addition from the early 1900s.

The pentagonal-shaped granite fort, started in 1833, is situated on George's Island, a 28-acre island in Boston Harbor, where it protected the main shipping channels at that time. The fort was named for Dr. Joseph Warren, a patriot leader, who sent Paul Revere and William Dawes to alert Lexington and Concord on the night before the Revolution. Dr. Warren was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Fort Warren was finished sometime towards the end of the Civil War, and it later became a mine control center and continued to protect Boston Harbor. Although the fort was designed for harbor defense, it never fired on any enemy ships.

Edward Rowe Snow
Photo courtesy of Dorothy Snow Bicknell

Edward Rowe Snow (1902-1982)
Famed historian Edward Rowe Snow wrote many tales about Fort Warren and two of his stories are featured on this site. Mr. Snow was one of the leaders in preserving this historic fort for generations to come after the fort was decommissioned by the army. A granite memorial dedicated to him is located at Fort Warren where he conducted tours for many years.

Today
Fort Warren is maintained by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and it is the centerpiece of the Boston Harbor Islands, a national park area. Thousands of tourists and students visit the historic fort each summer. There are frequent high-speed ferry boats from the T commuter boat landing at Long Wharf in Boston during the season when the fort is open to the public from May through early October.