Tag: Alexandria VA

Fort Ward, the Mission Continues

Posted in Civil WarTagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Six Civil War reproduction cannons stand as silent sentinels over the Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site, an open and inviting space in Alexandria, Virginia, Washington, DC’s neighbor to the south. The site, located in Alexandria’s Seminary Hill neighborhood, was originally conceived as a Civil War era preservation project. Today, Fort Ward is embracing over 150 years of history, from the Civil War through the Civil Rights era, for this prominent and storied Virginia city.

Fort Ward’s origins are found in the days following the rebel victory at Manassas in July of 1861.  U.S. Government leaders quickly realized the Federal capital was in a precarious situation. Bordered on one side by Virginia, now enemy territory, and the other by Maryland, a slave holding state, Washington, D.C had almost no physical defenses to rely on.

Cannon - Fort Ward - Alexandria VA - Civil War defenses

The Army appointed one of its leading engineers and an expert on coast artillery, John Barnard, to design a robust defensive system along the high grounds surrounding Washington to guard strategic waterways, roads, railways and bridges. By the end of the war, Barnard’s extensive efforts lead to the construction of 68 forts and 93 gun batteries bristling with over 800 cannons and connected by various roads and trenches. Fort Ward is one of the best preserved examples of Washington’s Civil War defenses.  

Construction of Fort Ward began in July 1861 and was completed about two months later to protect the main approaches into Alexandria. The fort was named for U.S. Navy Commander James H. Ward, the first U.S. Navy officer killed in action during the Civil War.

Civil War re-enactors - Washington DC - Civil War sites
Fort Ward hosts multiple living history events throughout the year.

Fort Ward was built as a bastion fort, meaning the walls were designed at angles to provide interlocking fields of fire from inside the fort. Like most of the other fortifications, Fort Ward was constructed primarily of readily available dirt which was much better at withstanding artillery and rifle fire than brick, stone or wooden logs.  The earthen walls were approximately 20 feet high and 12 feet thick. The fort was expanded several times during the war. Ultimately, Fort Ward had five bastions with emplacements for 36 guns and a final perimeter almost half a mile long.  

A trench ran along that perimeter, a final obstacle for any attackers who might make it through the cannon fire. Units from Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio garrisoned the fort, usually numbering between three to four hundred men at a time.

Alexandria VA - Fort Ward - park - Civil War

The trench or dry moat surrounding the earthen bastion walls presented one more obstacle for any attacking forces.

Just after Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861, the Union Army moved quickly to occupy Alexandria.  The city soon became a hotbed of Federal activity. Given its port and railroad connections, Alexandria became a logistical center. Troops and supplies would flow through the city. Wounded were transported to Alexandria for treatment and recovery. The city was filled with Army camps, warehouses, supply depots, hospitals and other official activities. This substantial U.S. Government presence attracted African Americans from around Virginia and beyond. Referred to at the time as “contraband,” these men and women came seeking freedom from slavery. They found paid employment at these Federal facilities, including Fort Ward. Many men enlisted in the U.S. Colored Troops regiments and went to fight.

At war’s end, when the Army left Fort Ward, several African American families remained. They purchased property and began building homes, churches and a school. Over four generations, the African American community continued to grow in its own neighborhood known as “The Fort”. The nearby Virginia Theological Seminary (which gives the current neighborhood its name) and Episcopal High School employed many of The Fort’s residents.

In the 1950s, the City of Alexandria began planning for the restoration of the original Fort Ward and the creation of today’s park space. Unfortunately, this work would lead to the resettlement of The Fort neighborhood. The city bought or appropriated the land compelling the families living there to move on. Archeological excavations of the original Fort Ward began in 1961. Renovations of several portions of the fort followed as part of the Civil War centennial.  The park was formally opened to the public in May of 1964.   

Fort Ward Museum, Alexandria, Virginia
The Fort Ward Museum, designed with a board and batten style commonly used around Washington during the Civil War period.

For a chronological view of Fort Ward, a visit today is best begun in the museum, housed in a reproduction two-story building modeled after a period Army headquarters building.  Museum curators have assembled an impressive collection of weapons, uniforms, documents, photographs, medical instruments, folk art, and other implements of military life to tell the stories behind the Civil War defenses of Washington, the history of Fort Ward, conditions in Alexandria at the time and the lives and duties of Union Army officers and soldiers.  A scale model of the original Fort Ward orients the visitor to its Civil War era layout and appearance.

The museum’s upper floor houses a research library containing a trove of historic materials as well as more contemporary documents and publications on the Union forts defending Washington, DC and other Civil War topics. The museum periodically organizes living history events, hosting Civil War reenactors at Fort Ward to enhance visitors’ understanding of the way soldiers and civilians lived their wartime lives.

Civil War - Officers Quarters - Hut
The Officer’s Hut provides a glimpse into how officers lived at Fort Ward.

Adjacent to the museum is a reproduction officer’s hut. Huts such as these were built to provide housing for Fort Ward’s commissioned officers. Peer through the windows and see the furnishings and accoutrements illustrative of how these officers lived at the time.

The museum and officers’ hut buildings are located on grounds outside of the original fortifications in what was a support area where troop barracks and living quarters were located, and administrative and logistical functions performed. 

Fort Ward - main gate - Alexandria, VA
The reproduction main gate at Fort Ward.

Pass through the reproduction entrance gate to the fort’s original grounds and follow the trail to see what the reconstructed northwest bastion would have looked like in 1864. One of the more heavily armed strongholds of the original Fort Ward as it overlooked the busy Leesburg Pike (today’s State Route 7), the restored northwest bastion includes six gun emplacements along with the magazine and a filling room for ammunition.  

After visiting the reconstructed fort area, a path circles through the larger park with open green space, picnic areas, and an amphitheater. Along the way, descriptive signage explains aspects of The Fort neighborhood and the people who lived there. Existing features of the old neighborhood are emphasized, including several surviving grave sites.  

The Fort - Clara Adams - Gravesite

Clara Adams, a longtime leader in The Fort neighborhood, is buried on the grounds of the historic site. Among her many contributions, she donated land for the community’s African American School.

The City of Alexandria continues to expand the interpretation of Fort Ward’s history for today’s Alexandria residents and visitors alike. A series of interviews with former Fort residents provide compelling first-person accounts of life in and around The Fort. These interviews started in the early 1990’s and continue today. An archeological dig concluding around 2014 used ground radars to clarify the boundaries of known grave sites, identify previously unknown grave sites and unearth additional artifacts. The city also has plans and designs for new interpretive signage and markers, a Fort neighborhood exhibit to the museum, historic home floor plan displays from The Fort neighborhood, and other interpretive tools and techniques to more completely convey the multi-layered story of Fort Ward.

Fort Ward is unique among Washington, DC area historic landmarks and a worthy addition to any DC itinerary. It preserves an essential element of Civil War history, namely the defenses of Washington, while also examining the complex social and cultural impacts of that period on life in Alexandria over the century that followed. As important, its 45 acres of leafy parkland are a pleasant place for locals and visitors alike to spend a sunny afternoon.

Northwest Bastion - Fort Ward - Alexandria, VA
Reproduction cannons at the restored Northwest Bastion

Route Recon:

The Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site is located at:

4301 West Braddock Road
Alexandria, Virginia 22304

Phone: 703.746.4848

Fort Ward is approximately six miles south of Washington, D.C. Free parking is available for cars and buses.

From Washington, DC: Follow signs to Interstate 395 (I-395) south to Richmond. Take the Seminary Road East exit. At the fifth traffic light (at Alexandria Hospital) turn left onto North Howard Street. Follow North Howard to its intersection with West Braddock Road and turn right. The Museum entrance is on the left.

From Old Town Alexandria: Follow King Street west to Alexandria City High School, turn right on Kenwood Avenue. Turn left on West Braddock Road, and proceed about a mile. The Museum entrance is on the right. 

From I-95/I-495 (Capital Beltway): Follow road signs to I-395 North. Take the Seminary Road East exit. At the fifth traffic light (at Alexandria Hospital) turn left onto North Howard Street. Follow North Howard to its intersection with West Braddock Road and turn right. The Museum entrance is on the left.

From Dulles Airport: Take Dulles Access Road East to I-495 North (Capital Beltway). Follow road signs to I-395 North. Take the Seminary Road East exit. At the fifth traffic light (at Alexandria Hospital) turn left onto North Howard Street. Follow North Howard to its intersection with West Braddock Road and turn right. The Museum entrance is on the left.


By Metro Rail, then Bus: Take the Yellow or Blue Line to King Street Station. The AT5 DASH Bus  www.dashbus.com to Landmark stops in front of Fort Ward. Call (703) 370-DASH for bus schedules and information.

By Amtrak or Virginia Railway Express: Walk across the street from the Alexandria Union Station to the King Street Metro Station to take the AT5 DASH Bus.  

More information about Fort Ward and how to plan your trip can be found at the Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site website.  

Sandwiches, Softball . . . and Secrecy

Posted in World War IITagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Tucked in among the stately homes, river scenery and suburban neighborhoods which enfold the George Washington Memorial Parkway lies Fort Hunt Park. The park is a 136-acre expanse of green in an already leafy corner of Northern Virginia about three miles north of Mount Vernon. It makes a pleasant location to toss a Frisbee or ride a bicycle. But among the picnic tables and softball fields are four hulking concrete artillery emplacements. These relics bely a much different use for the parkland than is enjoyed by visitors today. Indeed, this quiet, suburban park has an interesting history as a military post, a portion of which was for decades shrouded in secrecy. 

Construction began at Fort Hunt in the 1897 on previously purchased land, once part of George Washington’s estate. At the time, the War Department was actively improving coastal defenses, building or retrofitting concrete batteries and equipping them with systems of rifled cannons, special mortars and rapid fire guns, while maritime mines would be deployed in the water. Fort Hunt and the older, larger Fort Washington on the Maryland side of the Potomac River were both equipped with these new batteries and weapons. The outbreak of the Spanish-American added urgency to the project designed to prevent enemy naval vessels from reaching a position in the Potomac where they could bombard Washington, D.C. and the Navy Yard.

Fort Washington, opposite Fort Hunt on the Maryland side of the Potomac River

The focus on artillery led to the fort being named for Brigadier General Henry Jackson Hunt, who had died in 1889. Brigadier General Hunt was the Chief of Artillery in the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War and renowned as a master tactician in the use of artillery on the battlefield. 

Battery Robinson is located closest to the Potomac River. Each of the four batteries can be explored by park visitors.

Eventually, four concrete batteries would be built. The first and largest, the Mount Vernon Battery, was completed in 1898.  It would have three 8” guns with a range of 8 miles. Other batteries would have smaller, rapid fire weapons meant to channel enemy ships towards the 8” guns of both forts. The Battery Commander operated from a concrete tower just to the west of the Mount Vernon Battery. The remaining batteries would all be completed by 1904.  

The Battery Commander’s Headquarters tower. The Commander could direct the fire of the cannons and communicate with Fort Washington from here.

Fort Hunt’s life as an artillery post, however, was short lived and rather undistinguished. No enemy fleet ever sailed up the Potomac and Fort Hunt’s guns remained silent, save for drills and exercises. During World War I, the Army removed the artillery pieces and shipped them to Europe, never to be replaced. 

A picture of Fort Hunt from the 1920’s. Unlike today, the artillery soldiers at the time had a clear view of the Potomac River. Photo: U.S. Army

After the war, Fort Hunt settled into a peacetime training and logistics support mission with fewer and fewer functions. From 1921-1923, the U.S. Army Finance School was briefly located at Fort Hunt. Cadets from the first African-American Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) detachment conducted summer training camp there in the early 1930’s. At the beginning of the Great Depression, World War I veterans marched on Washington, D.C. demanding bonuses. The bonus marchers camped at Fort Hunt and a small hospital treated the infirmed. In 1932, with tighter budgets and no operational mission to support, the War Department transferred Fort Hunt to the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital.     

As the Great Depression wore on, Fort Hunt became a residence camp for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was a New Deal-era program meant to put young men to work on various environmental projects. The U.S. Army was responsible for administrative and logistical support to the CCC to include operating housing, feeding, and logistics. CCC enrollees at Fort Hunt worked along the George Washington National Parkway, which was as being built at the time.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, along with President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Elenor Roosevelt, aboard the USS Potomac, sailing from Washington, DC to Mount Vernon. The photo was taken on the day the royal couple visited Fort Hunt. Photo: Harris and Ewing collection at the Library of Congress.

On June 9, 1939, during a state visit to the United States, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, along with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, visited Fort Hunt to view the camp and meet with the CCC enrollees. The royal couple arrived at Fort Hunt after earlier visiting Mount Vernon. During their stay, the king and queen conducted an “inspection”, viewed exhibits of CCC work in the area and discussed CCC life with several enrollees. They then continued on to Arlington National Cemetery where the king laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Just three months after the royal visit, World War II would begin in Europe and the Army began preparing Fort Hunt for its most intriguing mission.

A Pin Oak at the Fort Hunt Park, planted in commemoration of the King and Queen’s visit.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the War Department identified Fort Hunt as a location for sensitive intelligence work and resumed operational use of the grounds. A variety of intelligence functions would be performed at Fort Hunt. However, given the secrecy of the missions, the name Fort Hunt was not officially used. Rather, the location and the units working there were referred to by their mailing address: Post Office Box 1142, Alexandria, Virginia.

The intelligence work conducted at PO Box 1142 was divided into three main areas:

Interrogations of Enemy Prisoners 

During World War II, the Army and Navy recruited and trained personnel with distinct language skills into cadres of interrogators. At Fort Hunt, interrogators from both the Army and the Navy questioned German prisoners and emigres to gain information on military and naval organizations and capabilities, tactics, weapons design and development, scientific research, espionage operations, and industrial production. From 1942 through July 1945, over 3,000 prisoners were interrogated at PO Box 1142. Questioning took place before the prisoners were declared to the International Committee of the Red Cross, adding to the secretive nature of the work.  

Windowless buses such as this were used to transport enemy prisoners to and from Fort Hunt. Photo: U.S. Army

Escape and Evasion

In early 1943, a special program was launched at Fort Hunt to aid soldiers and particularly airmen in evading capture. The program also fabricated specialized equipment and kits for Allied Prisoners of War (PWs) to use in escaping from prison camps. Coded messages were sent to US prisoners. Items such as miniature radios, maps hidden in decks of playing cards, compasses disguised as uniform buttons and other such devices were meticulously developed and cleverly concealed in aid packages. The packages were then distributed to PW camps under the cover of two fictional relief organizations.

Picnic Pavilion A at Fort Hunt Park. The pavilion is on the site of the Post Hospital, where much of the Escape and Evasion work was based.

Open Source Research

German print publications such as newspapers, magazines, academic journals and captured documents as well as radio broadcasts and movies were translated and analyzed by linguistic specialists for useful wartime information. This section also developed military Order of Battle details, such as unit identifications and commanders, which were very valuable in operational planning. Analytic details from the translations were also provided to interrogators for their use. 

After the war, most of the buildings on Fort Hunt were removed and records related to PO Box 1142 destroyed. Personnel who served there were sworn to secrecy. After the war, Fort Hunt was turned back over the Interior Department. Later, public improvements, such as picnic pavilions were installed. For years, few of the park’s visitors ever knew of the work undertaken there.

The stone marker dedicated to the veterans of PO Box 1142.

In 2002, a new National Park Service superintendent assigned to Fort Hunt wanted to add some historical signs to park. Park staff began researching the park’s past and slowly the secret history of Fort Hunt opened itself up to discovery. Several documents related to PO Box 1142 became declassified. A chance encounter with a tour group led the staff to a Fort Hunt veteran who told about his experiences and referred the staff to other veterans. The NPS Staff at Fort Hunt began an extensive oral history project interviewing over 60 veterans from between 2006 and 2010. PO Box 1142 veterans were invited to a special recognition ceremony at Fort Hunt in 2006 and a flag pole and stone marker were installed in their honor.  

This building served as Noncommissioned Officers quarters and is one of the few remaining structures from Fort Hunt’s military past.

There are but a handful of physical reminders of Fort Hunt’s past remaining today. Yet Fort Hunt is unique. Outside of a few museums, it is one place which encapsulates so much of the Army’s history in the first half of the 20th century. The evolution of coast artillery, material needs in World War I, post-war austerity for the Army, the Great Depression and finally, highly sensitive intelligence work in support of the Allies — Fort Hunt saw it all. So take a few minutes to visit, perhaps coupled with a trip to Mount Vernon, and explore the batteries. The place you play some football or walk your dog was once trod by soldiers, scientists, spies, engineers, even a king and queen. You will be in excellent company. 

* * *

Route Recon

Fort Hunt Park is located on the George Washington Memorial Parkway between Alexandria, Virginia and the Mount Vernon.  

From Old Town Alexandria,  drive south on Washington Street and continue on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Take the exit for Fort Hunt Park and follow signs into the park.

From Mount Vernon, drive north on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Take the exit for Fort Hunt Park and follow signs into the park.

Parking is available in each of the picnic areas. 

Fort Hunt is also reachable by foot or bicycle. From the Mount Vernon Trail, turn into Fort Hunt Road and follow signs into the park.

Additional Information

For more information about reservations and events at Fort Hunt, visit the National Park Service’s Fort Hunt Website.

The National Park Service’s Fort Hunt Oral History Project provides fascinating first hand accounts of Fort Hunt during World War II.