Fort Washington Park ⓘ

The smoke had scarcely cleared from the battlefields of the American Revolution when the new country found its maritime commerce threatened by France, its once friendly ally. The French experienced their own revolution and the new government encouraged their navy to help support the war by capturing commercial vessels in the West Indies. On March 20, 1794 the U.S. Congress responded to the threat by appropriating funds to organize a navy department and construct defensive forts at the most important seaports. The newly authorized navy sailed to the Mediterranean and after taking 85 French vessels, the Quasi War with France ended. From 1801 to 1805 the navy was engaged in the war with Tripoli but there was no threat to our shores. The forts were abandoned and allowed to fall into disrepair.

At the end of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor of France and a series of European conflicts known as the Napoleonic Wars began. The United States tried to resist being drawn into the fray by declaring neutrality but demanded free trade with all Europe. Britain and France declared a naval blockade of each other's ports and both countries preyed on the American merchant fleet. When the conflicts moved into the Caribbean, the United States Congress thought the war dangerously close and authorized a second fortification system. Almost every important seaport received a few batteries but like the first system most of these forts were built of earth and wood. Congress never intended the forts to be the only defense. They also provided funds for a large militia force to augment the small regular army and support the defensive forts. Fort Warburton was one of the forts built under the second fortification system.

When the first fort system was authorized in 1794, General George Washington wrote Secretary of War Henry Knox "The president of the United States, who is well acquainted with the River Potomac, conceived that a certain bluff of land on the Maryland side near Mr. Digges; a point formed by an eastern branch of the Potomac, would be a proper situation for a fortification to be erected." The $3,000 authorized for the project was spent trying to build a fort at Jones Point, on the Virginia side of the river. In 1798 Washington again urged that a fort be built at Digges Point but no work was done. Finally, in 1805 when Congress was contemplating a second fortification system the Secretary of War directed Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Williams to evaluate Digges Point for a "circular battery, say of twelve cannon."

While France and Britain were at war the British navy impressed over 6,200 American sailors and one of their warships fired on the USS Chesapeake killing and wounding several sailors. On June 19, 1812 war was declared to defend the principle of "free trade and sailor's rights." The U.S. Navy of 14 seaworthy ships took to the seas against 1,048 British war vessels. They soon demonstrated the excellent American ship design, seamanship, and gunnery but they could not overcome the dominating number of British warships. By 1813 most U.S. ships were forced into port to elude the Royal Navy while the British played havoc along America's Atlantic and Chesapeake shore.

A British squadron made an attempt to ascend the Potomac in July 1813 but turned back after meeting some resistance from militia and encountering the treacherous Kettle Bottom Shoals. In Washington, concern for the safety of the Capital caused the President and Secretary of the Navy to visit Fort Warburton. Afterward Major Pierre L'Enfant was sent to evaluate the fort and reported "the whole original design was bad and it is impossible to make a perfect work of it by any alterations." The Secretary of the Navy ordered and additional water battery of 9 guns to be built and manned by seamen under Lieutenant Decius Wadsworth. The name Fort Washington was gaining popularity but official correspondence often indicated Warburton, Digges Point, the Fort at Warburton, Fort Warburton and Fort Washington above the date line.

In April, while Sir John Cockburn's squadron was busy harassing the Atlantic and Chesapeake cities, Paris fell to the allied forces. The war with France was over so additional British troops were free to pursue the war in America. General Robert Ross, a veteran of the Peninsula War, was sent to America with orders to "effect a diversion on the coast of the United States of America in favor of the army employed in the defense of Upper and Lower Canada."

In early August part of the naval squadron entered the Patuxent River and sailed to Benedict, Maryland. The army landed and began to march northward. The remainder of the squadron under Captain James A. Gordon began ascending the Potomac River. The Secretary of War, General Armstrong did not see any military value to Washington. He believed that the British movement toward the Capital was a ruse and insisted that their destination was Baltimore so no effort was made to strengthen the Washington defenses.

While the British Army was burning Washington there were only 56 men at Fort Warburton. The fort had 26 guns ranging from 50-pounder Columbiads to 6-pounder field pieces and over 3,000 pounds of cannon powder. Nine guns were capable of firing down river (many of the other cannons lacked implements). On the 27th the British fleet of 10 ships approached the fort. Captain Gordon's report states that "A little before sunset the squadron anchored just out of gunshot; the bomb vessels at once took up their position to cover the frigates in the projected attack at daylight next morning and began throwing shells until about 7:00pm. The garrison, to our great surprise, retreated from the fort; and a short time afterward Fort Washington was blown up." The next morning the fleet paused in front of the fort completed the destruction, then sailed to Alexandria. On August 29th the city capitulated. The British seized 21 merchant vessels and confiscated the tobacco, cotton and other produce on the docks. The Americans hastily constructed a couple of batteries on the Potomac to harass the fleet on their way down river. The Battery at White House Landing under the command of Capt. David Porter fired upon the British Fleet from September 3rd to 5th(the Battle of White House Landing was inconclusive). Once the British salied down river Major Pierre L'Enfant was sent to Digges Point to construct new defenses in case the British decided to return.

Captain Dyson was relieved of his command and ordered to his home in Alexandria. A court martial found him guilty of abandoning his post and destroying government property. He was dismissed from the service. The Secretary of War General Armstrong was forced to retire and abandon his ambition to become President because of his failure to protect the Capital.

After the War of 1812 the government began preparing for a new fortification system to resist the next American-European war. There was wide spread belief that Britain would never allow America to rise to national greatness or become an independent economic power. In 1816 a fortification board began to plan a new defense system. These forts were to be permanent and large enough to defend their position as well as the pass they guarded. On March 3, 1821 Congress appropriated funds to begin the new permanent seacoast fortification system. Although a new Fort Washington was started under the second fortification system it had many of the features of the third system. In the 1840s engineers were sent to the site to strengthen the walls and bring the fort up to the standards of the third system. The new Fort Washington was never challenged but served as the Capital Guardian until it was replaced with modern gun batteries.

"Battery Decatur, formerly known a Emplacement "B" was changed to its present name by General Order 43 dated April 4, 1900." This was the first modern artillery position built for the Defense of Washington. Battery Decatur is named in honor of Commodore Stephen N. Decatur, a native of Maryland who served with distinction during the War with Tripoli and the War of 1812.

Lieutenant Colonel Peter C. Haines was the engineer officer assigned to the Defenses of Washington. Plans for Emplacement "B" were approved in July 1891 and work began immediately. There was no approved plan for a 10-inch battery so those for an 8-inch battery were used for the initial work. The foundation was laid out, personnel assigned and engineering equipment collected at the site. In August, concrete specifications were released and excavation began in September. Construction continued until the fall of 1893 when it was suspended to await specifications for a 10-inch disappearing carriage. The plans were received in July 1895 and active operations began September 26, 1895. By then a small gauge railroad hauled supplies from the dock and a concrete mixing machine was set up at the battery site. The guns and carriages were received in 1896.

Troops were sent from Washington Barracks to mount the guns. In January 1897, Battery G, 4th U.S. Artillery mounted the gun and carriage at position number two. Battery I, 4th U. S. Artillery mounted gun number 1 in February 1897. Battery Decatur cost $128,492.00 when the it was formally turned over to the artillery garrison on July 6, 1899.

Battery Decatur was armed with two Model 1888 breech-loading rifles on disappearing carriages. Over 30 feet long, these guns weighed 67,200 pounds and used smokeless powder to fire a 575-pound shell for a distance of 6½ miles. The 196,000-pound carriage was visible above the concrete parapet for only a few minutes. When fired, recoil energy pushed the gun back and downward so that it disappeared from the enemy's view. The recoil motion also raised 73,000 pounds of weight suspended in a pit below the gun. The weights were locked in place while the gun was loaded and when released, they raised the gun back to the upright position where it could be fired immediately. Forty-five feet of concrete and 53 feet of earth protected the crew while they reloaded.

Decatur's guns could fire 15 rounds per hour or approximately one round every 4 minutes. The rate of fire and accuracy was greatly improved with the installation of the fire control system and projectile hoist. By the end of the Coast Artillery period, disappearing guns could fire one round every 15 seconds, or 240 rounds an hour.

In 1902, Battery Decatur was placed out of commission and underwent major alterations to the carriage and modifications to the structure and grounds. A wood staircase, at the south end of the battery was rebuilt, doors were repaired, manhole covers replaced, and floors refinished to improve drainage. Work on a 9-foot platform to connect the two gun positions started in 1903. Chain projectile hoist and electric storage batteries were added in 1904 along with a continuous chain ammunition hoist. In May and June 1905, the battery was turned over to the artillery for use during the joint Army-Navy Exercise. Although the modifications were not completed, the overall appearance of the freshly painted battery had changed. Just before turning the structure over to the artillery, the loading cranes were removed and shot trucks issued for loading the guns.

A Coast Artillery Company consisting of the three officers and about 90 enlisted men was assigned to serve each 10-inch battery. The company was further divided into a fire control (or Range) section and two gun sections. The Range Section operated the plotting board and observation stations while each Gun Section was responsible for the complete service of one gun. Part of the Gun Section was called the ammunition crew and worked in the magazines deep inside the structure. The gun crew served the gun on the platform above.

Battery A, 4th U. S. Artillery was the first company to serve Battery Decatur. They arrived on July 21, 1897 and remained seven years until 1904. The battery was renamed 37th Company, Coast Artillery Corps while they were stationed at Fort Washington. On October 15, 1909, the 119th Company, C.A.C. joined Fort Washington and was assigned to Battery Decatur. The 119th Company served until May 22, 1914 when they were transferred to the Panama Canal Zone.

Battery Decatur was constantly improved and updated until 1911. The latest equipment was incorporated into the battery as soon as it became available. From 1912 to 1917 preservation and repairs made up most of the engineer's work at Fort Washington. On January 8, 1904, the post commander was ordered to install uniform white signs on each named battery. The black letters of the sign were to be 6 inches tall.

In 1898 the superior slope was painted with a mixture of alum, lye, cement and lamp black. It was recommended that a plank walkway be laid over this mixture when it was dry so the guard could walk across it without damaging the waterproof surface. Later, the vertical surfaces were painted green and horizontal surfaces painted black to reduce heat and glare caused by reflections off the white concrete.

The ground in front of the battery was maintained to resemble a natural earth slope and care was taken to insure that the exact position of the battery was not easily ascertained from the water. For most of the history of the battery, you could see the river from the gun platforms. In 1898, shrubs and small trees were planted in front of the battery and cedar trees added later the same year. The shrubs masked the exact location of the guns and made the area appear as a garden attached to the Commandant's House. In 1901, the upper branches of the trees, in front of the battery, were trimmed to open a field of view for the range finders. The trees were trimmed again in 1905 and an attempt to control the growth was continued throughout the structure's history.

A coast artillery battery includes the structures and surrounding grounds used for the emplacement, protection and service of the guns. Battery Decatur's, structures include the Battery Commander's station and lower parade behind the battery. The commander's station houses the instruments for directing the two guns at Battery Decatur. The range crew uses a position finder to determine the vertical angle to the target. They use the angle to find the distance and combine it with the horizontal angle to compute the azimuth and elevation for the gun.

Two unique characteristics of this battery are the land defense rifle ports of the south caponaire and the sunken "road to nowhere" behind the structure. There is no record of why the engineers felt that rifle portholes were necessary but we do know that galvanized iron shutters were placed over the caponaire embrasures in July 1900. The sunken road was originally designed to connect Battery Decatur with the gatehouse of the old fort and the 12-inch battery planned for the south end of the parade ground. The 12-inch battery was not built so the road was never finished.

Battery Decatur was the first modern artillery position constructed for the defense of Washington. When the Spanish American War began in April 1898, this battery and three smooth bore guns in front of the old fort were the only protection for Washington. On February 9, 1897 Battery Decatur also became the first gun fired when four shots were fired up river. Battery Decatur's guns were dismounted in 1917 and sent overseas for use as railroad guns in Europe. The mixture of two different types of concrete and use of river sand has caused this 100-year-old structure to age rapidly. Today, only broken concrete remains to remind us of Battery Decatur's 20-year service to the protection of Our Nation's Capital.

At the turn of the twentieth century Fort Washington was a large military post and headquarters for the Artillery District of the Potomac, a modern defense system that included works on both sides of the Potomac River.

In 1808 a small fort was built to protect the cities of Washington and Alexandria, Virginia. It was destroyed during the War of 1812. Fort Washington was completed in 1824 and armed with large seacoast cannons in 1842. When wood sailing ships mounted smoothbore cannons on their sides, Fort Washington could prevent any enemy from reaching the District of Columbia. During the Civil War, Fort Foote and Battery Rogers were constructed up river and 68 forts were built around the Capital to protect against land attack.

After the Civil War, our government dismantled the circle of forts and sent over a million militiamen home. Fort Washington and Fort Foote were retained as seacoast forts and plans were made to reinforce the outdated structures with heavy guns. In 1875, all work on seacoast fortifications stopped and until 1890 no money was spent to construct or repair any coast defenses.

In 1887, President Cleveland found a treasury surplus. Two years earlier, a Board of Engineers, presided over by Secretary of War William C. Endicott, recommended a new system of seacoast defense that employed heavy steel breech-loading rifled guns, large mortars, rapid fire guns and underwater mines. The entire plan called for the installation of the new defenses at 27 sites along our coast and rivers.

Work did not begin on the new system until Benjamin Harrison became president in 1889. The Fifty-first Congress found a solution to the treasury surplus that had plagued Cleveland during the last two years of his Administration. New public buildings, river improvements and even a pension for the Civil War veterans, that had been promised but not delivered, were among the spending bills introduced and passed by the Congress. Some of the surplus money, $1,221,000 in 1890 and $750,000 in 1891 was appropriated for coast defenses.

The Endicott Board's recommendation for the defense of Washington was thirteen 10 and 12-inch guns and 150 submarine mines. They were to be placed at Fort Washington, Maryland and Sheridan Point, Virginia at an estimated cost of 1.3 million dollars.

On January 11, 1890 a Board of Engineers was ordered to investigate the points and submit a project for the defense. They recommended that most of the defenses be constructed at Fort Washington. Part of their plan was for an underground mine control room to be built on the north end of Fort Washington and at Sheridan Point. Fort Hunt was to receive two 12-inch guns, three 8-inch guns.

Work on the new defenses began with the Mining Casemate, an underground room for firing electrically detonated mines. The following year ground was broken for Battery Decatur but was suspended to await final design of the 10-inch disappearing carriage. Construction resumed in 1896 and the guns were mounted in early 1897. The same year work also began at Sheridan Point later named Fort Hunt in honor of Major General Henry J. Hunt who died in 1889.

Lieutenant Colonel Peter C. Haines, president of the Engineer Board planning the defense of Washington described the purpose of the works in a letter of June 26, 1891 . "The defensive works at Fort Washington are designed to prevent a hostile fleet from reaching positions within bombarding distance of the Capitol and the Washington Navy Yard. It is scarcely within the range of possibilities that any other than a naval attack would be made on this position. The defenses are therefore designed to resist such attack only."

Work on the defenses progressed slowly until the War with Spain in 1898. When the Battleship Maine went down, the Washington defenses consisted of the two guns of Battery Decatur and one gun at Battery Emory. The threat of a Spanish invasion created new interest in defense and work on seacoast fortifications began almost immediately. By 1906, Fort Washington had two mining casemates and eight gun batteries.

The primary armament was designed to fire against the armored sides of ships and included three 10-inch batteries at Fort Washington and an 8-inch battery at Fort Hunt. Battery Decatur was started in 1891 and named for Commodore Stephen Decatur, naval hero of the War of 1812. Work at Battery Emory, named for Major General William H. Emory, commenced in 1897. Battery Humphreys was started in 1898 and named for Major General Andrew A. Humphreys. Battery Mount Vernon, at Fort Hunt boasted three 8-inch guns. One 6-inch battery, Wilkin was started in 1899. Batteries Porter and Robinson, at Fort Hunt carried one 5-inch gun each. These intermediate batteries were for general defense.

The 12-inch mortar battery designed to direct vertical fire at the thin decks of modern war ships was named for Major General Montgomery C. Meigs and started in 1898. It originally had eight 12-inch mortars but later two mortars were removed from each pit

The three rapid-fire batteries at Fort Washington mounted two guns each. Battery White was started in 1898, Smith in 1899 and James Many in 1902. Battery Sater, at Fort Hunt had three 3-inch guns. The rapid-fire guns protect the minefield and fire across the decks of ships to destroy fire control and maneuvering equipment.

The first military unit to serve the new guns at Fort Washington was Company A, 4th U. S. Artillery who were assigned to Battery Decatur on July 21, 1897. In 1898 Company K, 4th Artillery was assigned to Fort Hunt. In 1901, Company A was re-designated 37th Company, Coast Artillery Corps and remained at the post until 1904. Other units included the 44th, 104th and 116th Companies of Coast Artillery were stationed at Fort Washington

Until 1917, Fort Washington's defensive works were constantly upgraded by modifying the structures and adding new equipment. Even modern convenience, such as electric lights, telephones and rest rooms were added to the batteries. Additional structures were built to house the meteorology stations, the fire control system and electric power plants. A narrow gage railroad ran from the engineer wharf to each battery.

The new technologies employed in these batteries provided for accurate fire onto any ships attempting to approach Washington from the river. Fire could be directed against ships from the time they rounded Marshall Hall Point until they were well past Fort Washington. However, newer technologies, such as the military aircraft made these defenses obsolete.

Fort Hunt's guns were removed in 1917 and 1918 and the post became a service school. During World War I three of Fort Washington's 10 inch-guns were removed and sent to Europe for use on railroads. After the war, the 12th Infantry occupied the post and only a caretaker detachment of Coast Artillerymen remained. Finally, in 1939, a detachment of ordnance personnel from Fort Monroe removed the remaining Coast Artillery guns and equipment from Fort Washington and the Artillery District of the Potomac ceased to exist. Only a few concrete shells remain to remind us that the security of our borders was sometimes in doubt and American technology created one of the best coast defense systems in the world.

Submarine mines have been part of our arsenal since the American Revolution. On Christmas Day 1776 David Bushnell received permission from General George Washington to release kegs filled with powder into the Delaware River above Philadelphia. Ice floes redirected and slowed the drifting kegs so that they did not reach the British fleet until ten days later. One keg exploded while being retrieved from the water and the British destroyed the others with cannon fire. Known as the Battle of the Kegs, this and other attempts to deploy sea mines resulted in failure, but attempts to develop an effective mine continued.

Robert Fulton invented the word torpedo to describe his underwater explosive device and successfully destroyed a ship in 1805. In the 1840s Samuel Colt began experimenting with underwater mines fired by electric current and in 1842, he blew up an old schooner in the Potomac River from a shore station five miles away.

The progression of sea mines slowed until the American Civil War. The Confederate States Navy, being much smaller and having less ordnance to defend the coast, organized a Torpedo Bureau to experiment with and develop underwater explosives. At Mobile Bay Admiral Farragut was heard to declare "damn the torpedoes" but he was lucky that most of the mines did not explode. Other Union vessels were not as lucky. The Confederate States sank 36 Federal ships, nine by cannon and 27 by explosive mines.

The 1885 Fortification Board designed a new coast defense system that included concrete emplacements armed with rifled steel guns. They also recommended that submergible mines be part of the defense system. In 1890 a Mine Board approved 147 mines for the Potomac and planned to place the minefield two miles down river and one mile up river from Digges Point. Underground mine control rooms called casemates were to be placed at Fort Washington and Fort Hunt. Mine operations were under the control of the Army engineers.

The purpose of the torpedo defenses was not to destroy enemy ships. It was believed that a minefield placed 4,000 to 8,000 yards from the main defense would demand that an approaching enemy slow down to navigate through the minefield. At this range the heavy guns were most effective against ship armor. This is also the interior limit of mortar fire so that the 12-inch mortars could be used against the decks an approaching fleet. This distance would also give warning when an enemy ship hit a mine at night or during periods of limited visibility so that other defenses could be activated in time to prevent a run-by.

The Potomac defenses used buoyant mines that float in position and are held in place by a 1,000-pound anchor. They were fired electrically from the Mining Casemate located on the north end of the reservation. Since the mines were in a fixed location their function was purely defensive. They were also susceptible to enemy raids so rapid-fire shore batteries were needed to prevent tampering and to guard against fast moving torpedo boats. The rapid-fire guns at Batteries White, Many and Smith at Fort Washington, and Battery Sater at Fort Hunt, were assigned to the Mine Commander. After the planting crew placed the mines in the river they return to the post to man the batteries and protect the minefield.

The mine system cannot be effective without command and control. The Mine Commander was located in the primary Fire Control Station containing range finders, plotting boards and telephones connected to other defense elements. As the mines were planted the distance and azimuth from two control stations was used to indicate the location of each mine on the plotting board. When under attack, enemy vessels are tracked and word sent to the Mining Casemate when the ship approaches a mine. One of the control stations was located on the ramparts of the fort's southwest demibastion and the secondary station was located at Fort Hunt.

The Mining Casemate was protected from enemy attack by 15 feet of earth and contains the switchboard used to fire the mines. When directed, the mines can be exploded individually or in groups.

Fort Washington's first Mining Casemate was in a ravine about 700 yards north of the old fort. Work began in 1890 and the structure was completed by 1892. In 1906 a new casemate was built in the courtyard of the fort's southwest demibastion and the south casemates filled to protect the structure from enemy gunfire.

There were also areas for storing mines and related equipment during peace times. In 1895 the torpedo material was received and temporarily stored in the quarters at the north end of the old fort. Later the material was moved to the nearby casemates and a Torpedo Storehouse built near the Engineer Wharf in 1897. Next to it, a Cable Tank held 28 four-foot diameter spools of lead-sheathed cable to connect the mines to the casemate firing switchboard. There is also a Loading Room where mines are filled, attached to their mooring cables and connected to the electrical cable. When assembled, the mines are loaded onto the Mine Planter, a boat rigged to hoist the mines, with their anchor and attached cables and placed in the river.

Although not for the exclusive use of the Mine Commander, searchlights were assigned to the Mine Command. Both Fort Washington and Fort Hunt received 30-inch searchlights during the emergency of 1898 and a 60-inch light in 1904. Fort Washington's 30 inch light was placed on the old fort wall. Later a frame building was built on the lower level of the demibastion to house the engine and generator.

When the battleship Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898 the engineers were in the process of extending the Mining Casemate. The earth was quickly replaced over the structure and preparations made to lay the minefield. Most of the equipment and material for the minefield was on hand but there was no gun cotton to fill the mines or electrical connectors. Dynamite was substituted for gun cotton to fill the mines and 4.5 tons was purchased from Wilmington, Delaware. The electrical connectors were purchased from local hardware stores as far away as New York.

The first group of mines was filled and laid between April 23 and 30. When additional connectors were received a second group was laid upstream. The third group was placed downstream, extending to Bryant's Point and set to fire automatically when struck by a ship. The Spanish fleet never visited Washington but five mines accidentally exploded during a thunderstorm in June. In July the U.S. Navy destroyed the Spanish fleet and there was no threat to our shores. By July 27th the mines were removed. From April 23 to July 27, 1898 was the only time that live mines were placed in the Potomac River. Most of the dynamite was later used in modifying the concrete gun batteries for electric ammunition hoist.

By World War I the defenses at the mouth of the Chesapeake were complete and it was unlikely that any enemy ship could pass Fort Story, Fort Monroe and Fort Wool. The Potomac Coast Defense was downgraded to harbor defense. The large guns and mine system was removed leaving only the rapid-fire guns. After the war the switchboard and other electrical systems were removed to build a post telephone system. After Fort Washington became a park other buildings were removed to make way for picnic tables and recreation areas.

You can still find some evidence of the mine defenses in the park. In the old fort, you can see the south casemates that were filled to protect the Mining Casemate. The stone base of the position finder supports an information sign at the corner of the ramparts where the primary control station once stood.

All the concrete emplacements for the rapid-fire guns remain and the Torpedo Storehouse still stands near the shoreline. On the north end of the reservation, near the water's edge, the outlet for a cable gallery and cable anchor post can be found. And although overgrown and deteriorating rapidly, the first underground Mining Casemate is still intact.

Fort Warburton was the first fort built to defend the Potomac River approach to the national capital on these grounds. On August 24, 1814, British troops invaded Washington, DC, burning the Capitol and the White House, among other buildings. The next day British warships sailed up the Potomac headed for Alexandria. In the face of certain destruction of the fort, Capt. Samuel Dyson evacuated the garrison and demolished the fort so that it could not fall into British hands.

After Pierre L'Enfant's attempt to rebuild the fort in 1815 fizzled with his dismissal from the project, Lt. Col Walker Armistead, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, rebuilt and improved the fortification here, dubbed Fort Washington. Principal construction wrapped on October 2, 1824. Through the 1840s, major upgrades improved the fortification with new gun platforms and cannon, an improved powder magazine, and a caponniere to protect the fort's rear. Fort Washington defended the Potomac River approach to Washington, DC, during the Mexican War (1846-1848) and the American Civil War (1861-1865) as part of a ring of fortifications to defend the capital city . Fort Washington is the large fort structure you can visit today.

In the Endicott System of fortifications, new concrete and steel fortifications including Battery Decatur sprang up to modernize the defense of the Potomac River. They were part of the coast defense of the Potomac during the Spanish-American War and World War I . During World War I, the post was a staging area for troops being sent to France, including the 8th Provisional Artillery Battalion, which became the 53rd Railroad Artillery Regiment.

After World War I, the 3rd Battalion 12th Infantry moved in and became the ceremonial unit for the Military District of Washington. These soldiers participated in a variety of state functions: parades, ceremonies, and funerals. In 1939, the post was abandoned and turned over to the Director of Public Buildings for use as a terminal point for a bridge across the Potomac and a parkway to be built along the shore. But before that happened, World War II began.

The fort became an Adjutant General School, a training facility for Army officers in administration duties, in January 1942. The school trained 300 officers every 60 days. An attached Officer Candidate School produced 20 new officers every three months. The fort was also home to the 67th Women's Auxiliary Corps . Following the war, the grounds were used for public housing for a brief time. Most of the buildings from this period no longer exist.

The fort grounds were transferred to the U.S. Department of the Interior and then to the National Park Service. Now you can explore the historic area, enjoy a picnic, hike, or fish here!