THE southeastern northeastern tip of Staten Island, its closest approach to Long Island, has been protected by fortifications since 1663, when a Dutch blockhouse was established. The area was known as Signal Hill during the colonial period and the Revolutionary War: this was a crucial site from which to spy approaching British vessels.
Well into the 1970s, Ft. Wadsworth was considered the oldest continuously staffed military post in the USA. In September 1995 the fort became part of the National Park System; its grounds and military museum are open to the public. However: part of it is still used by the Coast Guard, and those parts of the grounds are closed to the public. A designated 1.5-mile trail winds past both Battery Weed and Fort Tompkins. Call (718) 354-4500 for general information and hours.
(If the government is shut down soon, as may be the case in March 2024, Fort Wadsworth will be open but offices and exhibits will be closed)
Battery Weed (Fort Richmond, renamed in 1863 for General Stephen Weed after his death at age 29 at Gettysburg), was designed by the US Army’s chief engineer, Gen. Joseph G. Totten, and was built between 1845 and 1861. From the vantage at the fort’s Tompkins Street and Hudson Road, it forms a spectacular foreground to not only the Verrazzano Bridge, but also the distant Manhattan skyline and even Jersey City on the other side of the Hudson.
Battery Weed’s tiered design permitted 118 guns to aim cannonballs across the Narrows. However, by 1863 heavier munitions had been designed that could easily breach and destroy fortifications like this. The base was named Fort Wadsworth for Gen. James S. Wadsworth, an 1862 NY State gubernatorial candidate who served with distinction at the battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg and was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. Staten Island’s and Manhattan’s Wadsworth Avenues also bear his name. Battery Weed was named for Brigadier General Stephen Weed, who was killed at Gettysburg.
Much more from Ft. Wadsworth and Rosebank, a FNY favorite neighborhood)
2/28/24
10 comments
(It is on the NorthEastern tip near the Verrazzano – not on the SouthEastern tip as the article says)
OK, OK.
If it had become obsolete well over a hundred years ago,why did the Army still have a use for it
up until 1995?
Battery Weed became obsolete, but the whole of Ft. Wadsworth remained active, largely for administrative purposes following WWII.
Battery Weed was obsolete . NOT the entirety of the Base Grounds . While no longer active, parts still have Military & Homeland Security groups stationed there . Being utilized by the Coast Guard & Army Reserve Units .
Former harbor-defense batteries were a non-reinvention of the wheel as far as having military installations located close to, or inside of, large cities. In other words, “They’re there already, so why not put them to a use other than bombarding ships trying to enter the port?” such as, among other things, ack-ack guns and SAM missiles. From the Civil War to WW1 these forts had battery powered (no pun) electrically operated mines in the water offshore of them which could be activated (with a telegraph key, I suppose?) as needed. Why these fortresses were finally decommissioned once and for all was the end of the Cold War.
Housing of soldiers, administrative offices, and a general presence in the NYC area, along with Fort Hamilton across the Narrows. Can’t have enough protection for the main entrance to one of the busiest ports in the United States.
Fort Wadsworth was one of several coastal defense forts in the New York area. Others were Fort Totten (on Willets Point, in Queens – which is in Bayside, not Flushing), Fort Hamilton (in Brooklyn), and others. The physical forts may have become obsolete, but the bases still provided support locations for military activity, such as training, housing, etc.. Fort Totten was “gifted” to New York City, as was Governors Island. Fort Hamilton still remains active.
Fort Totten was named for General Totten following his death in 1863. He is respected as the inventor of a piece of military defense, the “Totten Shutter”. If you look at the openings in a fort’s walls through which a cannon fires out, you also see an opening through which an enemy attacker will try to fire in. Totten devised a shield that opened (like a window shutter) upon the firing of a cannon, but immediately closed to prevent incoming fire.
In the second paragraph, it’s implied after 1995 although Ft Wadsworth was no longer an active Army base, it shared the site with a still active Coast Guard station. Therefore, the classification of Ft Wadsworth was the equivalent of a minor clerical error & Ft. Wadsworth lives on as a Coast Guard station (& probably a very active & important one).
One of the nicest spots on Staten Island, and easy to get to from Manhattan via the ferry and S51 Bay Street bus, or from Bay Ridge via the “R” train and S79, which stops just a few blocks from the gate. Took my Mom there on a visit to SI a few months ago and we had a nice time walking the grounds and looking at all the history. The view of the Verrazzano Bridge and Upper Harbor is breathtaking.