Construction and Renaming of Fort Constitution
- When
- July–September 1776
- Where
- Fort Constitution, later Fort Lee, on the Hudson Palisades
- Part of
- Battle of Fort Lee
Washington ordered a fort on the Hudson's west side; construction began in July 1776, and it was renamed Fort Lee in September.
George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, ordered General Mercer to summon all available troops and erect a fort on the west side of the Hudson River. Construction commenced in July 1776 on the fort, initially called Fort Constitution. At the end of September 1776 it was renamed Fort Lee, honoring General Charles Lee of the Continental Army. The fort occupied the crest of the Hudson Palisades in Hackensack Township, opposite Fort Washington at the northern end of Manhattan Island, and served as a key defensive position protecting the Hudson River from British forces.
Sources
- Fort Lee Historic Park Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-22
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.