Fort Lafayette

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Coordinates: 40°36′30″N 74°02′19″W / 40.60833°N 74.03861°W / 40.60833; -74.03861
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the fort in Pennsylvania, see Fort Lafayette (Pennsylvania).

40°36′30″N 74°02′19″W / 40.60833°N 74.03861°W / 40.60833; -74.03861

Fort Lafayette
Hendricks Reef, offshore of
borough of Brooklyn, New York
Fort Lafayette, seen from the Brooklyn shore with Denyse's Wharf to the left
Fort Lafayette is located in New York City
Fort Lafayette
Fort Lafayette
Fort Lafayette is located in New York
Fort Lafayette
Fort Lafayette
Fort Lafayette is located in the United States
Fort Lafayette
Fort Lafayette
Coordinates40°36′30″N 74°02′19″W / 40.60833°N 74.03861°W / 40.60833; -74.03861
Site history
Built1815-1822
Built byUnited States Army Corps of Engineers
In use1822-1946 (ammunition storage after 1897)
Materialssandstone, brick
Fatedemolished 1960
Fort Lafayette in 1904

Fort Lafayette was an

grand tour of the United States.[2] During the American Civil War, the island fort became a prison, mostly for civilians viewed as disloyal to the Union; the fort became known as an "American Bastille." The fort was demolished in 1960 to make room for the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge; the Brooklyn-side bridge tower now occupies the fort's former foundation site.[3]

Construction

Fort Lafayette was in the form of a square set on end, hence its first name of Fort Diamond. It held approximately 72 cannon (references vary) in three tiers, two in casemates and one in barbette mountings on the roof. The design allowed all the cannon in the southwest front to engage enemy ships entering the Narrows, with the northwest front also engaging if ships passed the fort. The fort was designed at the very end of the second system of US fortifications, and is not fully characteristic of either the second system or the third system. The fort was built of sandstone and brick. The fort was, however, vulnerable to bombardment from Brooklyn, and Fort Hamilton was built circa 1830 to prevent this.[1] In the 1840s, as a captain in the Army Corps of Engineers, Robert E. Lee worked on repairs and improvements to the fort.[2]

Civil War prison

Main article: New York in the American Civil War
Robert Cobb Kennedy, hanged at Fort Lafayette for arson, 1865

Before 1861, the fort's 72 heavy

politicians opposed to the administration's policies, detained under Abraham Lincoln's selective suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Fort Lafayette came to be known as the "American Bastille" to some.[4]

burning Atlanta.[5][6][7] Several hotels and P. T. Barnum's museum were set on fire.[8]

Henry May, the police commissioners of Baltimore, and the entire city council.[9] Howard was then transferred to Fort Lafayette and from there to Fort Warren in Boston harbor.[10][11]

Later use

Rebuilt after a catastrophic fire in 1868, the fort was used in 1883 by

ammunition storage and transfer from 1898-1946. It was demolished in 1960 when the island was used for the base of the Brooklyn tower of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
.

References

  1. ^ a b Weaver, pp. 140-141
  2. ^ a b Fort Lafayette at FortWiki.com
  3. ^ Roberts, pp. 563-564
  4. ^ The Political Prisoners.; A Day At Fort Lafayette. List Of The Prisoners. Published: September 24, 1861
  5. ^ The Plot To Burn New-York.; Arrest Of Four Conspirators. They Are To Be Tried As Spies. Court-Martial At Fort Lafayette. Travels of a Hotel-Keeper. The Testimonial Business An Imposition on Ill.-Paid Clerks. The New York Times. Published: 17 January 1865
  6. ISBN 0-8156-0207-3
  7. ISBN 1-4179-3078-0
  8. ^ "Mr. Lincoln and New York". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  9. ISBN 0-8232-2345-0
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0306719639
  11. ^ United States War Dept., United States. Record and Pension Office, United States. War Records Office, et al. The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies. Series 2 - Volume 2. (Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office, 1894): 778-786.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fort Lafayette (New York).
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