Editing History of Bermuda (section)

===Naval and military base===
[[File:Devonshire_Redoubt_(Bermuda).png|left|thumb|An illustration of the Devonshire Redoubt, Bermuda, 1614.]]
[[File:The_Harbor_at_St._George,_Bermuda_from_Sugar_Loaf_Hill.jpg|right|thumb|The harbour at St. George in 1854]]
[[File:The_Commissioner's_House.jpg|thumb|The Commissioner's House, 1857]]
[[File:St. George's Harbour circa 1864.jpg|thumb|right|A Confederate [[blockade runner]] at anchor at [[St. George's Harbour, Bermuda|St. George's]], {{circa|1864}}]]
[[File:AmCyc_Bermudas.jpg|thumb|View in the Bermudas, with Hamilton in the distance, 1879]]

{{main article|Military of Bermuda}}

Following the [[American Revolution]] and the loss of Britain's ports in its former continental colonies, Bermuda was also used as a stopover point between Canada and Britain's Caribbean possessions, and assumed a new strategic prominence for the Royal Navy. [[Hamilton, Bermuda|Hamilton]], a centrally located port founded in 1790, became the seat of government in 1815. This was partly resultant from the Royal Navy having invested twelve years, following American independence, in charting Bermuda's reefs. It did this in order to locate the deepwater channel by which shipping might reach the islands in, and at the West of, the Great Sound, which it had begun acquiring with a view to building a [[Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda|naval base]]. However, that channel also gave access to Hamilton Harbour.

In 1811, the [[Royal Navy]] started building the [[Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda|large dockyard]] on [[Ireland Island, Bermuda|Ireland Island]], in the west of the chain, to serve as its principal naval base guarding the western Atlantic Ocean shipping lanes. To guard it, the [[British Army]] built up a large [[Bermuda Garrison]], and heavily fortified the archipelago.

During the [[War of 1812]] between Britain and the United States, the British attacks on [[Burning of Washington|Washington, D.C. and the Chesapeake]] were planned and launched from Bermuda, where the headquarters of the Royal Navy's North American Station had recently been moved from [[Halifax Regional Municipality|Halifax, Nova Scotia]].

In 1816, James Arnold, the son of [[Benedict Arnold]], fortified Bermuda's Royal Naval Dockyard against possible US attacks.<ref>Howes, James: [http://www.atlascom.us/keys.htm "Attack on Baltimore Launched from Bermuda in 'War of 1812'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315162318/http://www.atlascom.us/keys.htm |date=15 March 2008 }} 2005</ref> Today, the [[National Museum of Bermuda]], which incorporates Bermuda's Maritime Museum, occupies the [[Keep]] of the Royal Naval Dockyard, including the Commissioner's House, and exhibits artifacts of the base's military history.

In the 1860s, the major build-up of naval and military infrastructure brought vital money into Bermuda at a time when its traditional maritime industries were giving way under the assault of steel hulls and steam propulsion. The American Civil War, also, briefly, provided a shot-in-the-arm to the local economy.

As a result of Bermuda's proximity to the southeastern US coast, during the [[American Civil War]] [[Confederate States]] [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|blockade runners]] frequently used it as a stopping point base for runs to and from the Southern states or England to evade Union naval vessels on blockade patrol, delivering much needed war goods from England and for transporting much needed cotton back to England. The old Globe Hotel in St George's, which was a centre of intrigue for Confederate agents, is preserved as a public museum.

[[File:HM_Dockyard_on_Ireland_in_Bermuda_ca_1860_by_Andrew_Chisholm_Jack.jpg|thumb| An engraving of the HM Dockyard on [[Ireland Island, Bermuda]], {{circa|1860}}, by Thomas Chisholm Jack]]

With the buildup of the Royal Naval establishment in the first decades of the 19th century, a large number of military fortifications and batteries were constructed, and the numbers of regular infantry, artillery, and support units that composed the [[British Army]] garrison were steadily increased. The investment into military infrastructure by the War Office proved unsustainable, and poorly thought out, with far too few artillery men available to man the hundreds of guns emplaced. Many of the forts were abandoned, or removed from use, soon after construction. Following the [[Crimean War]], the trend was towards reducing military garrisons in colonies like Bermuda, partly for economic reasons, and partly as it became recognised that the Royal Navy's own ships could provide a better defence for the Dockyard, and Bermuda. Still, the important strategic location of Bermuda meant that the withdrawal, which began, at least in intent, in the 1870s, was carried out very slowly over several decades, continuing until after [[World War I]]. The last Regular Army units were not withdrawn until the Dockyard itself closed in the 1950s.

Tourism and agricultural industries would develop in the latter half of the 19th century. However, it was defence infrastructure that formed the central platform of the economy into the 20th century.