Fort Defiance (Brooklyn) was one of the forts constructed by General Nathanael Greene in 1776 to provide for the defense of New York.[1]
Early on the morning of the battle the British fleet, anchored off Staten Island, proceeded up the harbor and encountered stiff north-easterly winds. All were forced to turn back, except for H.M.S. Roebuck. Stalled at Buttermilk Channel, it came under fire from Fort Defiance, and returned same. By midmorning the Carronade from Roebuck had silenced the redoubts, but she had been damaged and retired to anchorage.[8]
The fort was abandoned after the war, the embankments leveled, the dredges filled in the ponds and the Atlantic Basin was hollowed out to be made into a protected wharf. The Indian path to the fort was named the Red Hook Road from the fort to Fulton St. By the 1850s, it was becoming the largest port in NYC. Valentino Park has a plaque commemorating Fort Defiance (a stop on the Revolutionary War Heritage Trail) about 2 blocks from its actual location at Conover and Van Dyke Streets.[1] In the 1950s a plaque was placed in a wall at Todd Shipyards Corporation on the corner of Dwight and Beard streets.[9] The bronze plaque was installed by the historian of Brooklyn; it is now lost.[10]