Fort Carroll information panel
See the Civil War Defenses of Washington Park Map web page for an interactive fort location map.
LOCATION
The National Park Service information panel for Battery Carroll is located on Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SE, not far from the intersection with South Capitol Street SW. These two streets form a V-shape, and the lot of land between them is where the battery was situated. You can park at one of the buildings across the street from the information panel. The site is referred to as both Fort Carroll and Battery Carroll.
WHAT TO SEE
The lot where Battery Carroll is located is now heavily wooded, so unless you have on long pants to protect yourself from poison ivy and ticks, I suggest viewing the area from the edge of the forest. If standing so you are facing the information panel, the fort is off to the right. If you were to climb any of the hills you see—former fort walls—and go down the other side, you would be standing in what was once the interior of the fort. However, as mentioned, the woods are too thick for exploring without the proper clothing (at least in the summer), which I did not have on at the time.
Hill leading up to Battery Carroll
HISTORY
The guns of Battery Carroll and Fort Greble, which lies less than a mile to the south, were able to cover the Potomac River just before the fork of the Anacostia River. The city of Alexandria was also within range. Situated on the shore of the Potomac in Virginia, Alexandria was overrun by Union forces the day after Virginia seceded from the Union.
The battery was named in honor of Samuel Sprigg Carroll, a West Point graduate and native of Washington.
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Last updated on April 25, 2020
