Fort Washington

Coming up for air after several weeks with my nose to the grind stone. Most of this weekend was family time. However, I did work in a stop at Gettysburg on the way to visit some of the wife’s family. Trip report to follow.

I also needed to catch up on some marker series. Several weeks ago I posted a set detailing Fort Washington (list) (map). The fort is a Civil War Trails site, but was never tested during the war. The site was more or less an active component of the defenses of the United States from around 1807 until the end of World War II. As such the site is a great place to study the changes in styles of fortifications and ordnance. Examples of smoothbore 24-pounder Seacoast Guns dating to the 1820s stand near concrete revetments for disappearing guns. During the Civil War period, the fort’s guns meshed with nearby Fort Foote and Battery Rodgers across the river to defend the river approaches to the capital.

Fort Warburton stood at the site during the War of 1812. Bypassed by British maneuvers inland, the fort was abandoned and destroyed. Fort Washington was built on the site in 1824 for a cost of just under half a million dollars. By the time of the Civil War, the fort had been updated in line with the “Third System” of coastal defenses. On improvement was a caponiere, for rear flank defense, added in the 1840s. When war broke out, it was enemy territory across the river:

However, with Alexandria and much of Northern Virginia firmly in Union hands early in the war, Fort Washington never saw combat. After the war, the fort remained on the active list. The Endicott System as implemented in the 1890s brought a series of disappearing gun positions, light quick firing water batteries, a seacoast mortar battery, and several command and control structures. The armament featured three pairs of 10-inch disappearing guns, ranging targets out to over six miles. Yet by World War I, that range was deemed insufficient to deal with the dreadnoughts. The 10-inch guns were removed and sent to France for service in the siege train. The lighter guns remained up until 1939. During World War II the fort served as a control station for shipping on the Potomac.

The main “old fort” is an easy walk from the visitor center, the only challenging sections are stair climbs up to the parapets and down to the galleries. The Endicott era concrete structures are accessible from the park roads, near the recreation areas, or by way of hiking trails.

The Fort Washington markers are linked to the ever expanding Defenses of Washington marker series.