Fort Philip
Plum Island, Newburyport, Massachusetts
Fort Philip Location in Massachusetts Show map of Massachusetts Fort Philip Fort Philip (the United States) Show map of the United States
Coordinates	42°48′55″N 70°49′5″W / 42.81528°N 70.81806°W / 42.81528; -70.81806
Type	Coastal defense
Site information
Condition	no remains, beach eroded
Site history
Built	1776, 1808
In use	1776–1781, 1808–1815
Materials	wood, earthworks
Demolished	circa 1830
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War War of 1812

Fort Philip (also spelled Fort Phillips)^[1] was a fort built in 1776 during the American Revolutionary War and rebuilt in 1808, which also served in the War of 1812 to around 1815. It was in Newburyport, Massachusetts on the northern end of Plum Island, known as Lighthouse Point, guarding the mouth of the Merrimack River.^[1][2][3] The 1808 rebuilding was part of the second system of US fortifications. The secretary of war's report on fortifications in December 1808 states that "...a battery of wood, filled in with sand and surmounted with sod, has been erected. It... was constructed of wood on account of the shifting sands."^[3] A subsequent report in December 1811 describes the fort as "...an enclosed battery, built of earth and timber, mounting five heavy guns... ."^[4] The site eventually washed away in the 1830s.^[2] A militia artillery battery was stationed in the area in the Spanish–American War.^[5]

• List of military installations in Massachusetts

• Roberts, Robert B. (1988). Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-926880-X.
• Wade, Arthur P. (2011). Artillerists and Engineers: The Beginnings of American Seacoast Fortifications, 1794–1815. CDSG Press. ISBN 978-0-9748167-2-2.