Fort Washington
The fort at Fort Washington Park that now sits on a bluff overlooking the Potomac River was not the first fort that occupied this spot. That distinction goes to Fort Warburton, a short-lived fort built between 1808 and 1809. Its demise came during the War of 1812 after the British had defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, and then burned many of the government buildings in Washington, D. C., including the Capitol and the White House. The commander of Fort Warburton decided that it was only a matter of time before the fort would be taken by the British, who were now sailing down the Potomac towards him. So that nothing would be left for the British to occupy, he ordered an evacuation and blew up the fort.
A month later, Secretary of War James Madison initiated a plan to build a new fort on the site. Pierre L’Enfant, the architect who designed the layout of Washington, D. C., was hired for the project, but after failing to comply with the government’s wishes, he was fired in July 1815 and replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Walker Armistead. After a new design proposal was submitted and approved, construction on the fort recommenced in late 1815. It would take until 1824 for the work to be completed, though no guns were installed. The fort was modified in the 1840s to include a number of physical expansion and the installation of 88 gun platforms that allowed the guns to finally be mounted in 1846.
Between 1840 and the start of the Civil War, the fort saw little use and was only manned by a small number of soldiers. It wasn’t until the threat of war became a reality that the importance of Fort Washington once again became paramount. Fearing a hostile takeover of the fort by the Confederates, an initial garrison of 40 Marines was assigned to the fort, then an entire company of U. S. Army soldiers. As soon as fighting broke out at Fort Sumter in April 1861, the U. S. War Department sent the 1st U. S. Artillery to man the fort.
At the time, Fort Washington was the only fort protecting Washington, D. C. Plans to fortify the city were assigned to George Washington Custis Lee, son of Robert E. Lee. However, both men resigned from the U. S. military to join the Confederate states in May 1861. Eventually, 68 earthen forts were constructed around the perimeter of the city. Fort Foote, just a few miles north of Fort Washington, became Washington’s main defensive fort during the war. It wasn’t until it was closed in 1878 that the main base of operation returned to Fort Washington. The remains of dozens of these earthen forts still exist, 18 of which are part of the National Park system under the name Civil War Defenses of Washington.
The development of rifled artillery during the Civil War quickly rendered masonry forts such as Fort Washington useless. Brick had no problem stopping a typical cannonball, for they didn’t travel with much velocity, nor were they very accurate, so the chance of blasting a hole in the fort wall by hitting the same spot over and over was slim. However, rifled artillery shells looked like large bullets and spun like a football when fired. This allowed them to travel faster and with more accuracy, and they could blast through a masonry wall in no time. This was illustrated early in the war during a Union attack on Fort Pulaski in south Georgia (Fort Pulaski National Monument). Within 30 hours of the initial bombardment, the invincible fort had been damaged to the point that the Confederates had to surrender.
Rifled shells did 3 times the damage as a cannonball
After the war ended, the U. S. government realized the vulnerability of the brick coastal forts to the new rifled shells, but with much of the country in ruins, financially it was not able to do much about it other than outfit the existing forts with modern guns. It wasn’t until a threat of a war with Spain came about in the 1880s that money to reinvent U. S. coastal defenses was appropriated. The new system, initiated by Secretary of War William Endicott and referred to as the Endicott System of Coastal Defenses, called for the installation of concrete and rebar batteries that could withstand the impact of the rifled shells. While much smaller than traditional forts, they were outfitted with guns that could damage the armor-plated hulls of modern ships. Eight batteries were installed on the grounds of Fort Washington, all of which still exist today. They range in condition from good to dilapidated. Most are open to the public, though many require either a hike or a drive from the main tourist areas of Fort Washington Park.
World War I became the next major event to have an affect on Fort Washington. Because the war was a European conflict, it was decided to take guns from forts around the country and ship them to Europe. At least two guns from Fort Washington—those installed at Battery Decatur—were removed and sent to France.
In 1930, Fort Washington Park was created by Congress for the purpose of being the terminus of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, though other than creating the park on paper, nothing was done physically. Throughout the 1930s the fort was used to house soldiers based in Washington. In wasn’t until 1939 that the property was transferred to the Department of the Interior. The Civilian Conservation Corps, an organization set up as a result of the Great Depression to put men back to work building parks and other public works, built a barracks at the fort and used it as its base of operation for the Washington, D. C. area.
When Pearl Harbor was attacked in December 1941, the fort returned to active military use as the Adjutant General Officer Candidate School and the base for the Women’s Army Auxiliary and the Women’s Army Corps. Approximately 150 buildings were constructed to accommodate the troops stationed at the fort. For a few months after the war, the Veterans Administration continued to manage the post hospital, and other government agencies occupied the now empty buildings. Eventually, all of the World War II-era buildings were removed by the National Park Service.
With the advent of air warfare and advances in amphibious technology, stationary forts and batteries of all types became obsolete for defensive purposes. Many of the masonry forts were transformed into office space for the military or used as military schools and training facilities. Others were simply deemed expendable due to budgetary constraints and were closed. Fort Washington was one such fort. In 1946 it was decommissioned once and for all and turned back over to the Department of the Interior.
It wasn’t until after the war that the grounds were finally opened to the public as a park. The idea of ending the George Washington Memorial Parkway at Fort Washington never came to fruition (it ends at Mount Vernon). Starting in 1965, Fort Washington Park became a part of the newly created National Capital Parks East unit of the National Park system. Today, the park is used for both historical preservation and recreation.
With a few exceptions, use of any photograph on the National Park Planner website requires a paid Royalty Free Editorial Use License or Commercial Use License. See the Photo Usage page for details.
Last updated on April 13, 2020
