The Last Defense (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on the roadside historical marker:

The Last Defense
— Fort Hunt —

British warships took advantage of the width and depth of the Potomac River to sail up from the Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812. Existing defenses were too weak to stop them from shelling Alexandria.

Aware that the nation’s Capitol was still vulnerable 73 years later, President Grover Cleveland ordered Secretary of War William C. Endicott to evaluate the nation’s coastal defenses.

The military decided to build coastal artillery batteries on both sides of this bend in the Potomac, one at Fort Washington – visible across the river – and another at Fort Hunt – located just uphill from this point.

In 1898 the Spanish-American War broke out, and work on the two forts was accelerated as a defense against the formidable Spanish navy. The forts could fire upon enemy naval forces up to three miles down the Potomac.

A minefield was added in between the forts to force ships to slow down and stay within firing range.

No hostile shots were fired from either fort during the war. Both forts were abandoned by the military and given to the National Park Service in the 1930s.

[Two line renderings of the Potomac River Valley south of Washington, D.C. ]
The Spanish-American War era maps to the right show the detailed planning involved to prevent an invasion similar to the one of the War of 1812.

In the 1897 map to the far right, arcs and red lines mark the firing ranges of each fort.

Key Sites along the Potomac:

1 Washington, D.C.
2 Alexandria, Virginia
3 Fort Hunt
4 Fort Washington
5 Mount Vernon

The American military issued a passcode (above) of red and white lanterns to avoid firing on friendly ships at night.

Copy of a daily passcode order:
Fort Washington, Md.
July, 9th, 1898.
Countersign: Balls Bluff
2/N
Parole: Grant
1/R 1/R
By order of Lt.Col. Mechling.
[signed:] Percy Dalihyner
2nd Lt., Pa. Vol. Inf.
Adjutant.

Erected 2011 by George Washington Memorial Highway - National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.


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Here follows a history of Fort Hunt from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

History
The site of present-day Fort Hunt Park was used as an asset for the United States military beginning in the Spanish–American War. The fort had been completed on land that used to belong to the River Farm plantation of George Washington. The fort was used to complement Fort Washington across the river in Maryland, but it was not involved in an actual battle during the Spanish–American War.

During World War II, the fort was used as an interrogation center called P. O. Box 1142 where captive German officers were kept and questioned. Fort Hunt is the site of the death of Lieutenant Commander Werner Henke, the highest-ranking German officer to be shot while in American captivity during World War II.[8]

During the war and after, neighborhoods such as Waynewood and Snowden began arising in the area around the fort, and the commercial center for the community, Hollin Hall shopping center, was constructed on Fort Hunt Road.


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Here follows a history of Fort Hunt Park from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Fort Hunt Park is a public park located in Fort Hunt, Fairfax County, Virginia. It is administered by the National Park Service as part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The park preserves the remains of the eponymous Fort Hunt, portions of which date to the time of the Spanish–American War. The park was named after Brigadier General Henry Hunt, who served as chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War.[3] Remains of several of the fort's original batteries, including Battery Mount Vernon, Battery Robinson, and Battery Sater, and Battery Porter (named after Lt. James Porter, an officer who was killed at Custer's Last Stand at the Little Bighorn.[4]), have been preserved, and may still be visited today. The structures have been stabilized enough that visitors are able to climb on them without difficulty. Besides the batteries, the battery commander's station still stands; in addition, a flagpole has been erected as a memorial to the intelligence officers who served at the fort during World War II.

Fort Hunt Park is open from dawn until dusk, year-round; access is from the George Washington Memorial Parkway or from Fort Hunt Road.

History

Fort Hunt is located along the Potomac River just 11 miles south of Washington, D. C. Its proximity to the Nation's capital dramatically affected the land use history. What occurred on this site frequently mirrored the political and social history of the United States. The site began its existence as a portion of George Washington's River Farm; though it passed out of Washington's family's hands around the beginning of the 19th century, it remained farmland until not long after the American Civil War. A fort was constructed on the site as part of a plan, developed in the 1880s, to expand and strengthen fortifications around the city of Washington. Fort Hunt was planned to complement Fort Washington, located just across the Potomac River in Maryland, and was completed in time for the Spanish–American War, though it did not see action in that conflict. The park was named after Brig. Gen. Henry Hunt, who served as chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War.[3] On June 11, 1932 General Douglas MacArthur established a field hospital at Fort Hunt to serve military veterans known as Bonus Marchers who were camped in the Anacostia and Hains Point areas of the District of Columbia.[5] In the 1930s the site was converted into a Civilian Conservation Corps camp. During World War II it was the setting for top secret World War II military intelligence operations (known as "P.O. Box 1142") as well as an interrogation center for high-value prisoners of war.[6] At one time the United States Army ran a school of finance there, but this did not last long. Today, the park is a popular picnic and jogging area. A playground and sports facilities are also available, and the United States Park Police man a substation at the park, as well as stables for their police horses.[7][8]

Lieutenant Commander Werner Henke, the highest-ranking German officer to be shot while in American captivity during World War II, was killed while attempting an escape from Fort Hunt in June 1944.[9] He was later buried in the post cemetery on Fort Meade, Maryland. In 1980, the remaining structures at the site were added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Fort Hunt Historic District.

The surrounding community of Fort Hunt, Virginia takes its name from the original fort.


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Here follows a history of the Endicott Board of Fortifications from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Several boards have been appointed by US presidents or Congress to evaluate the US defensive fortifications, primarily coastal defenses near strategically important harbors on the US shores, its territories, and its protectorates.

In 1885, US President Grover Cleveland appointed a joint Army, Navy and civilian board, headed by Secretary of War William Crowninshield Endicott, known as the Board of Fortifications (now usually referred to simply as the Endicott Board). The findings of the Board in its 1886 report illustrated a grim picture of neglect of America's coast defenses and recommended a massive $127 million construction program for a series of new forts with breech-loading cannons, mortars, floating batteries, and submarine mines for some 29 locations on the US coast. Coast Artillery fortifications built between 1885 and 1905 are often referred to as Endicott Period fortifications.

The first board consisted of the following officers and civilians:

William C. Endicott, Secretary of War, president of the Board
Brigadier-General Stephen V. Benet, Chief of Ordnance
Brigadier-General John Newton, Chief of Engineers
Lieutenant-Colonel Henry L. Abbot, Corps of Engineers
Captain Charles S. Smith, Ordnance Department
Commander W.T. Sampson, U.S. Navy
Commander Caspar F. Goodrich, U.S Navy
Mr. Joseph Morgan, jr.
Mr. Erastus Corning

Prior efforts at harbor defense construction had ceased in the 1870s. Since that time the design and construction of heavy ordnance had advanced rapidly, including the development of superior breech-loading and longer-range cannon, making U.S. harbor defenses obsolete. In 1883, the Navy had begun a new construction program with an emphasis on offensive rather than defensive warships, and many foreign powers were building more heavily armored warships with larger guns. These factors combined to create a need for improved coastal defense systems.

The Endicott Era Defenses were constructed, in large part, during the years of 1890–1910 and some remained in use until 1945. Endicott Era Forts ushered the transition from mortar to concrete as a building material in response to the massive technological discoveries in arms and ordnance brought on by the American Civil War. Masonry walls shrouding hordes of smooth-bore cannon could no longer serve as a primary coastal defense mechanism, thus the Endicott Era Defenses were born.

Endicott Era Forts were constructed with concrete walls that concealed large, breech-loading rifled cannons mounted on "disappearing carriages". These disappearing carriages allowed the new, rifled cannons to be raised above the walls, aimed, and fired, and then quickly moved back underneath the walls, becoming invisible from the sea. The fact that these cannons were "breech loading" is also not to be overlooked as a significant technological advancement, as it allowed for a much more rapid, accurate, and safe manipulation of artillery by its crew. This became even more important as warships of the era (such as the Spanish battleship Pelayo) were armored with steel plates, increasing the necessity of accurate, sustained fire in anti-ship warfare. These larger guns were complemented by a variety of other ordnance best explained[citation needed] by describing the armament of Fort Hancock, one of the main forts of the Harbor Defenses of Southern New York, part of which was the prototype by which all other Endicott Era forts were constructed.

Fort Hancock's Endicott Era Defenses:
Dynamite Gun Battery: (3) 15" dynamite guns and (1) 8" dynamite gun
Battery Potter: (2) 12" disappearing guns. (This unique gun lift battery and the Mortar Battery were the first prototype concrete gun batteries of the Endicott System)
Battery Granger: (2) 10" counterweight disappearing guns
Nine-Gun Battery Consisted of Batteries:
Alexander: (2) 12" counterweight disappearing guns
Richardson: (2) 12" counterweight disappearing guns
Bloomfield: (2) 12" counterweight disappearing guns
Halleck: (3) 10" counterweight disappearing guns
Mortar Battery Consisted of Batteries:
McCook: (8) 12" Mortars
Reynolds: (8) 12" Mortars
Fort Hancock was also equipped with several batteries of rapid fire guns, tasked with protecting the underwater minefields from smaller, swifter-moving vehicles. The rapid-fire gun batteries were:
Battery Engle: (1) 5" gun on pedestal mounts
Battery Morris: (4) 3" guns on pedestal mounts
Battery Urmston: (4) 15-pounders and (2) 3" guns on pedestal mounts
Battery Peck: (2) 6" guns on pedestal mounts
Battery Gunnison: (2) 6" counterweight disappearing guns

In addition to submarine nets and searchlights, Fort Hancock, and other Forts of the Endicott System, also had a hidden, unseen weapon that harnessed the newfound power of the age: an underwater controlled minefield system that utilized a mine casemate on Sandy Hook from where underwater mines could be detonated at will via electrical cables to destroy warships. This marked the first instance of concrete and electricity being used together in defenses.

An easily overlooked aspect of the Endicott Era Defenses, especially with the necessary highlighting of the breech-loading rifled artillery mounted on disappearing carriages, are the mortars. At Fort Hancock, Battery Potter's (2) 12" guns mounted on disappearing carriages and the Mortar Battery, together formed the model for other Endicott Era Forts. The reason is because the mortars were: 1) voluminous 2) before the establishment of the Coast Artillery Corps in 1907 (see below) they operated in the Abbot-Quad design, which very nicely complemented the capabilities of the larger, rifled guns. The Abbot-Quad design called for mortars to be fired in 4-16 gun salvos, in shotgun-like patterns designed to overcome the shortcomings of range-finding techniques of the time. This mode of fire resulted in clusters of mortar fire raining from above, with a much steeper arch than other artillery shells, which rained ½ ton mortar shells down onto the often poorly armored decks of enemy ships, which served to incite panic as well as material destruction. Of the Endicott Era Defenses armaments, the mortars exceeded all but the 12" M1888 (disappearing carriage) guns in range and, although pursuant to the Abbot-Quad design they were not intended to operate as such, they did have a 360 degree field of fire providing great versatility.

In 1907, the Coast Artillery Corps was created from the heavy artillery units which previously manned the forts. This vastly increased garrisons and catalyzed the installation of electrical plants at various forts. Other technological improvements at all forts included meteorological stations and telephone communications. All of this served as the capstone of the Endicott Era defenses, soon to be further advanced in the Taft Era.