Fort Craig | |
---|---|
Part of the Civil War defenses of Washington, D.C. | |
Arlington County, Virginia | |
Coordinates | 38°52′13.5″N77°04′53.7″W / 38.870417°N 77.081583°W |
Type | Earthwork fort |
Site information | |
Controlled by | Union Army |
Site history | |
Built | 1861 |
Built by | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
In use | 1865 |
Materials | Earth, timber |
Fate | demolished |
Events | American Civil War |
Fort Craig was a small lunette that the Union Army constructed in September 1861 in Arlington County (at that time Alexandria County) in Virginia during the American Civil War. The lunette was part of the Civil War defenses of Washington (see Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War).
The lunette stood less than a mile away from Arlington House, the Union-occupied estate of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It remained in use throughout the war.
The lunette was part of the Arlington Line. It tied into Fort Tillinghast approximately 0.6 miles to the north and Fort Albany approximately 0.9 miles to the south. The fortification helped guard the capital from an approach along the Columbia Turnpike and over the Long Bridge on the Potomac River.
Constructed on local farmland in August 1861, the lunette was named for Lt. Presley O. Craig, 2nd U.S. Artillery Regiment, who was killed at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861. Oriented to the southwest, it had a perimeter of 324 yards, emplacements for 11 guns, and 2 magazines. The fort's armament included four 24-pound guns, one 24-pound field howitzer, five 30-pound Parrott rifles, a 10-inch mortar, and a 24-pound Coehorn mortar. [2]
Units garrisoned at the lunette included the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, 138th Ohio Infantry, 6th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, and 16th Maine Infantry. [2]
In June 1865, Fort Craig was ordered dismantled and the site returned to its previous owners. [3] No trace of the lunette remains today in what has become a residential area. A historic marker, near the intersection of South Courthouse Road and 4th Street South in Arlington, shows the location where the lunette once stood. The marker depicts the fort's position on a map of the city's defenses and reads: Here stood Fort Craig, a lunette in the Arlington Line constructed in August 1861. It had a perimeter of 324 yards and emplacements for 11 guns. [4]
Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Cass and Fort Whipple, the post merged in 2005 with the neighboring Marine Corps installation, Henderson Hall, and is today named Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall.
Fort Ethan Allen was an earthwork fortification that the Union Army built in 1861 on the property of Gilbert Vanderwerken in Alexandria County, Virginia, as part of the Civil War defenses of Washington. The remains of the fort are now within Arlington County's Fort Ethan Allen Park.
Fort Albany was a bastioned earthwork that the Union Army built in Arlington County in Virginia. The Army constructed the fort during May 1861 as part of its Civil War defenses of Washington.
Fort Richardson was a detached redoubt that the Union Army constructed in September 1861 as part of the Civil War defenses of Washington. The Army built the fort shortly after its rout at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) in late July 1861. The Army named the fort after General Israel B. Richardson, whose division had been deployed to defend the City of Washington against attack by way of the Columbia Turnpike.
Fort Scott was a detached lunette constructed in May 1861 to guard the south flank of the defenses of Washington during the American Civil War. It was named for General Winfield Scott, who was then General-in-Chief of the Union Army. An historic marker and a small remnant of the fort are the only evidence of the site of the fort on the grounds of what is now Fort Scott Park in Arlington County, Virginia.
Fort Ward is a former Union Army installation now located in the city of Alexandria in the U.S. state of Virginia. It was the fifth largest fort built to defend Washington, D.C. in the American Civil War. It is currently well-preserved with 90-95% of its earthen walls intact.
Battery Garesche or Battery Garesché was a Union Army artillery battery built as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. in the American Civil War at what is now Abingdon Street at South 30th Road in Fairlington, Arlington County, Virginia.
Fort Reynolds was a Union Army redoubt built as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War.
Fort Woodbury was part of the Arlington Line, an extensive network of fortifications erected in present-day Arlington County, Virginia to protect Washington, D.C. from Confederate attack during the American Civil War. Construction began on the Arlington Line in May 1861, shortly after war broke out, and accelerated after the Union's defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861.
Fort Bunker Hill was one of seven temporary earthwork forts part of the Civil War Defenses of Washington, D.C., during the Civil War built in the Northeast quadrant of the city at the beginning of the Civil War by the Union Army to protect the city from the Confederate Army. From west to east, the forts were: Fort Slocum, Fort Totten, Fort Slemmer, Fort Bunker Hill, Fort Saratoga, Fort Thayer and Fort Lincoln. Unlike other forts, today very little remains of the structure.
Fort C.F. Smith was a lunette that the Union Army constructed in Alexandria County, Virginia, during 1863 as part of the Civil War defenses of Washington. It was named in honor of General Charles Ferguson Smith, who died from a leg infection that was aggravated by dysentery on April 25, 1862. Fort C. F. Smith connected the Potomac River to the Arlington Line, a row of fortifications south of Washington, D.C., that was intended to protect the capital of the United States from an invasion by the Confederate States Army.
Fort Greble was an American Civil War-era Union fortification constructed as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during that war. Named for First Lieutenant John Trout Greble, the first West Point graduate killed in the U.S. Civil War, it protected the junction of the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, and from its position on a bluff in the Congress Heights, precluded any bombardment of the Washington Navy Yard and southeastern portions of the city. It was supported by Fort Carroll to the northeast and Fort Foote to the south. It never fired a shot during the war, and after a brief stint as a U.S. Army Signal Corps training facility, was abandoned and the land returned to its natural state. As of July 2007, the site of the fort is a community park.
Fort Corcoran was a wood-and-earthwork fortification constructed by the Union Army in northern Virginia as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War. Built in 1861, shortly after the occupation of Arlington, Virginia by Union forces, it protected the southern end of the Aqueduct Bridge and overlooked the Potomac River and Theodore Roosevelt Island, known as Mason's Island.
Fort Lyon was a timber and earthwork fortification constructed south of Alexandria, Virginia, as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War. Built in the weeks following the Union defeat at Bull Run, Fort Lyon was situated on Ballenger's Hill south of Hunting Creek, and Cameron Run, near Mount Eagle. From its position on one of the highest points south of Alexandria, the fort overlooked Telegraph Road, the Columbia Turnpike, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, the Little River Turnpike, and the southern approaches to the city of Alexandria, the largest settlement in Union-occupied Northern Virginia.
Fort Willard is a former Union Army installation now located in the Belle Haven area of Fairfax County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is currently undergoing preservation treatment to protect its earthen walls and trenches.
Fort Tillinghast was a small lunette that the Union Army constructed in Alexandria County, Virginia, as part of the Civil War defenses of Washington. Fort Tillinghast stood about 0.6 miles away from Arlington House, the Union-occupied estate of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Fort Totten Park is an American Civil War memorial on the site of a Union fort in Washington, DC. It is under the management of the National Park Service.
Fort Lincoln was one of seven temporary earthwork forts part of the Civil War Defenses of Washington, DC during the Civil War built in the Northeast quadrant of the city at the beginning of the Civil War by the Union Army to protect the city from the Confederate Army. From west to east, the forts were as follow: Fort Slocum, Fort Totten, Fort Slemmer, Fort Bunker Hill, Fort Saratoga, Fort Thayer and Fort Lincoln.
Fort Slocum was one of seven temporary earthwork forts, part of the Civil War Defenses of Washington, D.C., during the Civil War, built in the Northeast quadrant of the city after the beginning of the war by the Union Army to protect the city from the Confederate Army. From west to east, the forts were as follow: Fort Slocum, Fort Totten, Fort Slemmer, Fort Bunker Hill, Fort Saratoga, Fort Thayer and Fort Lincoln.
Fort Saratoga was one of seven temporary earthwork forts part of the Civil War Defenses of Washington, D.C., during the Civil War built in the Northeast quadrant of the city at the beginning of the Civil War by the Union Army to protect the city from the Confederate Army. From west to east, the forts were as follow: Fort Slocum, Fort Totten, Fort Slemmer, Fort Bunker Hill, Fort Saratoga, Fort Thayer and Fort Lincoln.. Unlike other forts, nothing remains of the structure.