Fort Hamilton

Fort Hamilton: 1825, Kings County, Brooklyn. One of the three oldest Army Posts in the country, this site was first used as a battery position, the Narrows Fort, on July 4, 1776 by General Henry Knox of the Continental Army to shell the British ship H.M.S. Asia as it approached the Harbor. Americans withdrew upon the British landings of August 1776, used by British until 1782. A blockhouse, and 30 gun earthworks were constructed in 1812 on Denyse Heights near here as Fort Lewis. A permanent granite fort, named for the first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, was started in 1825 and completed by 1831 to protect the Narrows. In 1841-42 new gun emplacements were built by CPT R.E.Lee. By 1900 new "disappearing" carraiges and breach loading 12" guns with massive concrete walls were installed. The fort lost its old seaward wall for the new guns. Status of batteris in 1921 were as follows;
Battery Piper, 4 - 12" Mortar,(originally an 8 gun battery, 4 moved to Tilden)
Battery Doubleday, 2 - 12" Disappearing,
Battery Brown, 2 - 12" Disappearing,
Battery Neary, 2 - 12" Non-Disappearing,
Battery Gillmore, 2 - 10" Disappearing,
Battery Spear, 3 - unknown,
Battery Burke, 2 - unknown,
Battery Livingston, 2 - 6" Pedestal (2 vacant) ,
Battery Mendenhall, 4 empl demo,
Battery Johnston, 2 - 6" Pedestal,
Battery Griffin, 2 - 3" Pedestal, 2 empl demo,
AA, 2 - 3",being dismounted in 1935,
By 1924 (coastal defense had moved to Fort Tilden) it was an infantry post and most of the coastal guns were removed by 1941. The current Fort Hamilton, located at the base of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn, New York, is the only active duty military installation in the New York City metropolitan area. Its mission is to provide premium base operations and area support for the Northeast region, community housing, and protocol and foreign liaison support for the Army, the Department of Defense, and the United Nations. Size: 177 acres.
For more information see:
www.mdw.army.mil/hamilton/hamhist.htm,
www.fieldtrip.com/ny/86304349.htm

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