Fort Saulsbury: SOLD

Note: This property sold several years ago.

Fort Saulsbury was part of our Army's Coastal Defense from 1918 to 1947 and originally had 4 twelve-inch guns capable of reaching the 20 miles across the Delaware Bay to New Jersey. The two bunkers reach to about 75 feet high and allow a commanding view of the Delaware Bay.

       The twin bunkers are in excellent shape. It is 161 acres of waterfront property located near the state capitol of Dover. It has about 3000 feet of waterfront on Cedar Creek River where it joins Delaware Bay and currently includes 17 wharf slips which are rented. About 40 to 45 acres is good farming land and includes two large Butler style buildings, a trailer and a roomy bungalow with 2 bedrooms and a bath. There is also woods, about 90 acres of tidal and wetland areas, and two large and separated above ground bunkers as described on the Web which take up about 5 acres. About 10 acres of pine forests overlook wetland meadows. There is also about 4000 feet of road frontage on Delaware's Sussex County Route 36.

       The property is well known historically and as a superb area for wildlife, especially waterfowl and deer. The farming is excellent as the soil is rich and fertile.

       The asking price is $850,000, a good value for just the land from a commercial/residential and developmental standpoint and it already has some income producing boat slip rentals on the water. Perhaps more boat slips could be built for sufficient income to support the project, but would require public hearings and permits.

       Hopefully there is someone who will see it as a great site to preserve as an emblem and example of our American Military history. Perhaps a museum and historic destination site could be made of this remarkable property. Substantial incomes from the museum souvenir sales, entrance fees, and from the dock and wharf rentals would profitably offset the price that must be paid.

       There are already three other historic forts on the Delaware River that are part of a historic tour by road or by ferry boat. Hopefully this treasure will be retained as a historic site. It seems that only a private individual will be suited to obtain the property as Delaware has determined that it does NOT want to preserve the site.

       It is hoped that those who receive this will forward the information and otherwise pass the word to any groups or individuals that may be able to purchase Fort Saulsbury and in turn do some restorations and preservation for our heritage.

FORT SAULSBURY HISTORY
(from the book by Ray Bunting of War Relics

       In 1916 a fort was started near Cedar Beach, six miles east of Milford, Delaware. In 1917 the new fort was given the name Saulsbury, for Delaware Senator Willard Saulsbury. Senator Saulsbury is buried in Christ Church yard, in Dover, Delaware. He was born June 2, 1820, in Kent County, Delaware. After his education, he practiced law in Georgetown beginning in 1845. From 1850
until 1855 he was the Attorney General of Delaware. He became a United States Senator for Delaware in 1856. He served until 1871. From 1873 until his death in 1892 he was Chancellor of the State of Delaware.

BUYING OF THE LAND FOR FORT SAULSBURY

      On May 7, 1917 army men were talking to Mr. David W. Shockley about buying his farm land for a fort. July 1, 1917 the plan was to give $6500.00 for the land. A Mr. Mark H. Shockley who owned the land south of this farm had said he wouldn't sell and the government was thinking of condemnation of the land. The reason for locating the fort here was due to the range of guns of that day. Just as the range of guns of days long ago saw the building of forts in the upper Delaware River. It was said that building a fort in the Capes at Lewes would be too close to enemy guns and raids from the sea, and building in New Jersey would also be in danger of an attack from the rear through the Delaware Bay. The fort at the mouth of the Mispillion would guard the deeper water of the bay on the Delaware side and keep German submarines from the shelter of the Delaware breakwater. The plan was to add railway guns at Cape Henlopen in a non-fixed emplacement.

FORT SAULSBURY IS COMPLETED

In 1918 the new fort was finished. The World War was coming to an end. It wasn't until 1921 that the guns were first fired. The guns were fired a second time in 1930. The guns were on a barbette carriage or ones that could turn. Huge special shells were made for the tests. The shells were four feet long, filled with sand and weighed 2,000 pounds each. It was believed that the new guns could be camouflaged from the enemy, but by the start of World War II it was clear that guns out in the open couldn't last long. A new fort was built at Lewes, Delaware called Fort Miles. Here two of the 12-inch Fort Saulsbury guns were moved under concrete roofs.

       Before the May 1930 tests the army went from door-to-door warning people of the danger of the firing. The 4O-feet long guns would fire projectiles over Slaughter Beach to a point 20 miles near Lewes. The coast guard at Cape May would warn shipping. The local farmers tried to stop the tests saying their turkey eggs would be damaged. After the U .S. Government said they would pay for broken turkey eggs the tests began. Sixteen shots were fired, breaking most windows in the area. Reports of broken windows came from as far away as Lewes. No farmer brought in broken turkey eggs. The fort with its two dirt and grass-covered concrete casemates, battery hall, and battery haslet, became very quiet after the test firing and the years moved by. Battery Haslet was named for a Delaware colonel who became famous during the War of Revolution. Battery Hall was named for Delaware Governor John C. Hall. The road to the fort was not to get better for many years.

       When the huge guns were brought to Milford by train, the plan was to carry the guns down the small railroad used to carry materials to the fort. The little railroad was started in 1917. The Milford streets were made of brick, but the Cedar Beach road was mud. The guns were put on a barge for the trip. The bridge at Cedar Beach was torn down, and a better road built to the fort.

RESTORATION OF FORT SAULSBURY

       On February 28, 1941, officers of the quartermaster inspected the 1940-41 work of the Hugh M. Smyth company of Wilmington at Fort Saulsbury. The $60,000 project was for eight new wooden buildings. First there was a 30' x 96' barracks and mess hall for officers and three 30' x 90' barracks for enlisted men. The four buildings were each two story. Of the one story type were, one infirmary 25' x 90'; a recreation building 25' x 45'; a company storehouse and an administration hall 25' x 51 '. Fort Saulsbury was under the command of Fort DuPont as a sub-post. Fort DuPont was headquarters of the coast defenses of Delaware until October 1942 when headquarters was transferred to Fort Miles. Under this headquarters were Fort DuPont, Delaware; Fort Miles, Delaware; Fort Saulsbury , Delaware; Fort Delaware, Delaware; Fort Mott, New Jersey; and Cape May Point, New Jersey.

       The German and Italian prisoners-of-war under Fort Miles were kept in branch POW camps as follows: Detachment #1, Georgetown; also Detachment #1, New Castle; Detachment #2, Georgetown; Detachment #3, Lewes; Detachment #4, Fort Saulsbury; Detachment #5, Leipsic; Detachment #6, Bridgeville; Detachment #7, Harrington; and Detachment #8, Bethany Beach. The use of Fort Saulsbury was discontinued by the army, January 11, 1946. The fort was placed in the surplus category on March 13, 1946.

FORT SAULSBURY IN A STATE OF HOLDING

       Fort Saulsbury as of April 21, 1939 was in a state of holding. The fort was under the command of Sergeant Claude Fields. The fact that the ranking officer was a non-commissioned officer tells it all. The Garrison was a detachment from Fort DuPont at this time. Fort Saulsbury being a sub-post of the larger Fort DuPont. Soon in 1940 and 1941 workmen moved about the installation and a little life got into the place. When the men of the 261st Battery B came in May of 1941 the place looked more like a fort.

       By 1942 the fort was on the way out, as Fort Miles stood at the mouth of the bay now. The training of coast artillery men and guarding prisoners of less than the hardest Nazi types was all the old fort was called on to do. Fort Miles, after 1942 was "The Fort." The enemy was the dirt roads to all of the towers, the heat of the summers, the wind and cold of the winters, and the general conditions of life during this period of history. Everyone dressed in wool, from underwear to overcoat. ..everything a soldier wore was made of wool. The trucks were without heat. Coal was used for heating and every ton of it had to be hauled many times.

LOCATIONS OF TOWERS

       A word about those towers. First, the towers used by Fort Saulsbury were 48-feet and 72-feet metal fire control observation points. They stood on both sides of the Delaware Bay. Miles of lead-covered cables ran along the floor of the bay to the fire control center at Fort Saulsbury .The towers were the eyes of men who fired the huge guns. Today, only one of the Fort Saulsbury towers stands. It is located at Big Stone Beach, Delaware.

       Near the end of the war a plan was made to remove tower number 16 -72-feet, 3-level; and towers 17 and 18 48-feet,3-level; and to retain numbers 14 and 15. One by one they have been scrapped. On the New Jersey side they were at points on a map between names like, Fortescue and King Pond, between Egg Island Point and East Point, and two between Riggins Ditch and West Creek. Photographs are included showing what they looked like. Under each tower was a small concrete hut. Here twenty-six pair of cables ran from the towers across the Delaware Bay floor to Fort Saulsbury. It should be noted that the concrete hut for the Mispillion light tower was located not under the tower but on Cedar Beach, and the hut at the tower at Fowlers Beach was off to one-side. There is something about a military tower that is so military , as if the tower was watching when no one is around. Think of the men who spent the duration of the war in these little metal boxes.

THROUGH THE EYES OF THE TOWERS

       The black-painted monsters spit shells into the bay. Young men with cotton in their ears, and their mouths wide wait for the big wallop. Far out into the bay shells slam the targets. Army T-Boats pull sleds on the ends of long ropes. As the huge guns belch fire at the red painted targets other men go about their jobs. The days go by, the men in their observation towers watch for the enemy undersea craft hoping to see one in the mined-area.

       Just off Rehoboth Beach in an area well marked on a map in the concrete towers are army M4 mines, an early bottom mine designed to be controlled from a casemate at Fort Miles. One to thirteen mines are arranged in a mine group. At a telephone word from the observation tower the system is made active. The Navy took over the mine work at Fort Miles and turned the Army M4 into the Navy MK 51 MOD 0. The 3000 pound explosive could sink any ship on the seas. In June of 1942, the Nazi U-Boat ( U-373 ) laid fifteen mines off Lewes, Delaware. The tug John R. Williams was sunk with all hands. The Germans used a mine nine feet long fired through the torpedo tubes, with a charge weighing 2000 pounds. After the sinking word got around. If only a sub would stand and fight it out against the big guns and searchlights, but they moved to the south around July of 1942 and never came back in numbers again. At the end of the war U-858 came into the dock at Fort Miles.