Fort Washington Park

Historic fort and military reservation in Fort Washington, Maryland, US

Fort Washington, located near the community of Fort Washington, Maryland, was for many decades the only defensive fort protecting Washington, D. C. The original fort, overlooking the Potomac River, was completed in 1809, and was begun as Fort Warburton, but renamed in 1808. During the War of 1812, the fort was destroyed by its own garrison during a British advance. The current historic fort—maintained by the National Park Service—was initially constructed in 1824. It is a stone structure with a good cannon shot down the Potomac River. The fort was extensively remodeled in the 1840s and 1890s. The Fort was turned over to the U. S. Department of the Interior in 1946 after its last military personnel departed. The expansive grounds of the present Fort Washington Park, with its extensive hiking/bicycle paths and river view, are a scenic venue for picnicking, fishing, and outdoor recreation. Historical re enactments are held periodically at the Fort, and there is a small museum. In 2006, repairs were done to shore up the crumbling outer wall, in preparation for the 200th anniversary. The Fort Washington Light, located below the fort, was established in 1857. The current tower, standing 28 feet tall, was constructed in 1882.

Native Americans of the Piscataway tribe had long lived in the area where Piscataway Creek meets the Potomac River in southern Maryland and understood the defensive value of the promontory above the river there. When Governor Leonard Calvert first explored the area in 1634, he "found the surrounding heights covered with Indians, to the number of about five hundred, in hostile array." After securing peace with the Piscataway, in 1645 an act for the defense of the province established a garrison of 100 men at the same site at the mouth of Piscataway creek. In 1661, Edward Digges, former Colonial Governor of Virginia established The Manor of Warburton on 1200 acres bounded by Piscataway Creek, the Potomac River and Swan Creek. The money authorized was instead spent trying to construct 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 coastal fortification system, the Secretary of War directed Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Williams to evaluate Digges Point for a "circular battery, say of twelve cannon."

Captain George Bomford was assigned to the work and the plans of Fort Madison at Annapolis were used for the Potomac fort. It was soon discovered that the four acres purchased from Thomas Digges was too small. Colonel Williams directed Captain Bomford to lay out the work again but on a reduced scale. The barracks was shifted to one side and one wing shortened to accommodate the new design. Although it mounted twelve or fifteen guns (later increased) which commanded the river below its position, the American Brigadier General William H. Winder, commanding the military district around Washington, feared that a determined naval force could nevertheless blast its way past the fort. It would then have Washington at its mercy. A survey the previous year also noted that the fort blockhouse was only able to resist musket fire, and could be destroyed by a cannon as small as a twelve pounder. Its garrison consisted of 49 men under Captain Samuel T. Dyson, of the United States Army's Corps of Artillery, and elements of the U. S. 9th and 12th Infantry Regiments. On June 18, 1812, in response to British impressment of American sailors and other grievances, the United States declared war on the United Kingdom. At the time, Britain was also at war with Napoleonic France and, with their fleet thus engaged, there was very little activity along or against the American coasts. A British squadron did make an attempt to ascend the Potomac in July 1813, but turned back after meeting some resistance from militia and encountering treacherous shoals. 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. In the 1840s the fort underwent an extensive remodeling program to bring it up to the standards of the third generation of coastal fortifications. Work crews constructed 88 permanent gun platforms (though the first guns were not emplaced until 1846), increased the height of the east wall, rebuilt the drawbridge, strengthened the powder magazines, and added a caponier to protect the approaches from Piscataway Creek. In fact, between 1853 and 1861, only one soldier, Ordnance Sergeant Joseph Cameron, was stationed full time at the fort.

As sectional differences increased and the country moved closer to the horror of civil war, Fort Washington found itself in a precarious position: near the Nation's Capital, across the river from the most populous slave state, and itself in a slave state with a large secessionist following. In 1872 the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers began to prepare new defenses. Between 1873 and 1875, four 15 inch Rodman guns and a magazine were partially constructed. Work ceased in 1875 when money was no longer available. 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 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 1901, Company A was re designated 37th Company, Coast Artillery Corps and remained at the post until 1904. Other units stationed at Fort Washington included the 44th, 104th and 116th Companies of Coast Artillery. In July 1899 Batteries Decatur, Emory, Humphreys, and White were officially turned over to the artillery commander of the fort, which became part of the Coast Defenses of the Potomac. Although in the hands of the artillery since their construction, they had been the property of the engineers. During World War I, the guns of Battery Decatur were removed and shipped to Fort Monroe, Va., where they were then shipped to Europe for use in France. Fort Washington was garrisoned by the 260th Coast Artillery Regiment of the District of Columbia National Guard Coast Artillery, and a number of military units were organized at the post, including the 8th Provisional Artillery Battalion, then sent to France where they became the 53rd Artillery (Railway), Coast Artillery Corps. In 1924 the coast defense commands were renamed "harbor defense commands". After World War I several harbor defense commands were disarmed, and this included Fort Washington by 1929. On May 29, 1930, Fort Washington Park was established by Congress as a terminal of a proposed but never built section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. However, the transfer of the fort from military to civilian use did not physically happened until 1939. From June 1922 to June 1939, the 3rd Battalion 12th Infantry occupied Fort Washington. The fort's primary function was as a city garrison for Washington. Its soldiers participated in a variety of state occasions—parades, ceremonies, and funerals—throughout these years. In 1939 the 3rd Battalion moved to Fort Myer near Arlington Cemetery. That same year the fort was transferred to the Department of the Interior and a Civilian Conservation Corps barracks was built. Toward the end of the war, the Veterans Administration used part of the area and other buildings as public housing. In 1946 the fort once again reverted to the Department of the Interior. Many of the buildings from the interwar period were removed. Since that time it has been a public park commemorating the long history of coastal fortifications and serving as a recreational area for history buffs, naturalists, and other park visitors. There is a 3 mile trail that follows the perimeter of the park boundary. Birdwatchers frequent the park, and fishing is available along the Potomac River. Fort Washington Is open year round. The park grounds are open from 8am to sunset. The historic fort and the visitor center are open from 9am to 4pm during winter months and 9am to 5pm during the summer months. Alcohol is prohibited in the park. Dogs are allowed but must be on a 6 foot leash and under the control of owner. One Sunday a month from April to October the park has Civil War artillery demonstrations.