On September 17, 2011 my girlfriend, her two younger sisters, and I had visited Fort Williams, specifically Battery Erasmus Keyes. The fort is located in Cape Elizabeth. My girlfriend had showed me Cape Elizabeth a few years back. We actually rented a couple stand-up paddle boards there a few weeks before and I can honestly say that Cape Elizabeth is among the few places in Maine that I would live. I’m sure everyone who is not from Maine says the same thing. Anyway, we went around 2 in the afternoon and surprisingly there were only a few people at the battery (it was open lighthouse day). Call me a nerd but I always think seeing old military bases and batteries are pretty cool. Anyway, Battery Keyes had a lot of graffiti on it unfortunately. You can’t miss it. If anyone has been there they know of the three dark walkways that go inside and back around the fort. I had a pretty fun time scaring my girlfriend’s sisters. I was the only guy, I had to do something. The fort looked over the channel and to each side there were two tiny rooms. I’m not sure but I think these rooms were used for ammunition, although they were pretty small.
Historical Background:
There wasn’t anyone there that knew a lot about the battery and there are only a few websites online that give decent information about this specific battery. Thanks to those few websites and the Battery Keyes information stone, I was able to gather some information. The battery was built and finished in 1905 and made out of concrete. It was constructed during the Endicott Period. This period was between 1890-1910 under President Grover Cleveland who had recommended a $127 million dollar construction of coastal defenses plan. It was not until 1906 when it was transferred to the Coast Artillery that it was put into use. The Coastal Artillery was basically a division in the military that was stationed on coastal bases to protect the waterways from invading forces. Battery Keyes was named after a Civil War volunteer, who would become major general, Erasmus D. Keyes. He had also helped lead the IV Corps of the Union Army of the Potomac during the war. Keyes was actually born in Massachusetts, but lived in Maine. It is unclear exactly why the battery was named after him. The battery actually served in not only the First World War, but the second as well. The fort had two 3inch coastal guns located on the top part of the battery. The guns looked over the mined channel (submarine mines were part of this battery) in front to protect the waterway and also Cape Elizabeth. According to the stone, there was a range finder to the right of the guns that determined the distance of the target and had also been used as the command center. The same two guns were also used during the Second World War. It served almost the same purpose during the second war; protecting Cape Elizabeth and firing on any ship unwilling to property identify itself.
This battery was highly significant to the Union and the Americans during the First and Second World Wars. Due to Maine’s jagged coast, the batteries had a distinct advantage over any incoming threats. Thankfully for Maine, the jagged coast was just as intimidating because it allowed the battery to be in a significant spot that if an enemy would to come into the channel, their maneuverability would significantly drop, unlike if a battery was located on a straight, flat coastal line. The military utilized Maine to its fullest and correctly so. Maine sometimes if forgotten about, at least through my observations, so I think it is important that these historical societies preserve these forts. They clearly show how coastal Maine was significant in the defense of the Union and the United States in the first two world wars.
Sources: http://fortwiki.com/Battery_Keyes
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