Fort Edgecomb was one of four U.S. batteries built in the area, each with waterfront earthworks protecting four cannons, with the others located at the mouth of the Keenebec River, on an island in the Damariscotta Kiver, and on the St. George River in Thomaston. In 1809, Capt. John Binney took command of Fort Edgecomb and the other three batteries, but funding was so limited that he could not even buy a horse to travel among the posts. The War of 1812 grew from British actions hostile to American shipping and trade and tested the nation’s small navy and coastal defenses as attacks struck along the east coast, including Washington DC, where British forces burned the capitol building and the President’s home in 1814. Fort Edgecomb saw little activity at first except from May through August 1813, when nearly fifty prisoners of war captured from three British ships by American privateers were held there. In 1814, concern over the British Navy led local militias to build more batteries, including Fort McDonough across from Fort Edgecomb on Westport Island, and after the sieges of Eastport and Castine the British occupied the District of Maine as far south as the Penobscot River. Reports that Wiscasset might be attacked spread alarm through the area in September 1814, militia units marched there to strengthen defenses, and Fort Edgecomb became a center of activity, though British ships never attacked and the militia went home after two months. On February 14, 1815, news of peace between Britain and America brought rejoicing and cannon fire at Wiscasset and at the fort. In 1816 the garrison was transferred to Boston and the cannons were removed. The site remained quiet until the summer of 1861 during the Civil War, when the Confederate cruiser Tallahassee raided the Union’s commercial fishing fleet, destroying or capturing numerous vessels including boats from nearby Southport and Boothbay. Rumors that the Tallahassee’s captain planned to raid Wiscasset stirred new alarm, volunteers armed Fort Edgecomb with smaller cannons and guarded it day and night for about a month, and after the cruiser left Maine waters the fort again fell quiet.