Lewes As A Target

LEWES AS A TARGET

There were the pirates in the 1600's that were sailing by, who made several attacks on the coast. In 1689 pirates actually ransacked Lewes after which citizens complained “ Lewestown, on Delaware, is very open to danger and very naked for defense”.

During the American Revolution, British ships roamed the coastal waters of Cape Henlopen at will,

The War of 1812 saw a British flotilla anchored of Lewes, demanding provisions for their ships and troops, whereas , when refused, they bombarded the town for a day or so. This is the attack when Lewes lost a chicken and had one pig wounded with a broken leg.

Fifty years later during the Civil War among the states, on the third of November, 1864, it was reported by a member of the Associated Press, W. W. Fulton, to the Secretary of the Navy , Gideon Welles, that the Confederate pirate Tallahassee was in the Delaware Breakwater, destroying vessels. Then a report that the town was burned. Neither report could be traced and Lewes residents told there as no truth to the stories.

Spanish American War, a generation later, there was fear that the Spanish fleet would arrive off shore and fire , but these ships failed to appear.

!916, World War I, reports of the lights of enemy aircraft over the bay, turned out to be optical illusions caused by the close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the night sky.

World War II, we had made preparations, Fort Miles was built. Lewes had protection at last.

The source of information for this abstract is the July 8 , 2016 issue of the Coast Press article , Delaware Diary, by Michael Morgan.