Fort Foote: A Key Defense of Washington D.C. Photo Tour

I recently attended a conference at National Harbor in Maryland, which gave me the opportunity to visit Fort Foote. This fort was built during the Civil War, beginning in 1863 and continuing until the war ended in 1865. It was occupied by the army until 1878. Unlike the other forts built for the defense of Washington during the war, this fort, on a bluff high above the Potomac River was built to defend against a Confederate naval force sailing up the river to shell Washington. It is named after Admiral Foote.

The fort is in a park administered by the National Park Service (NPS). There are several miles of trails for hiking and fascinating 160 year old ruins of the fort. Two huge Rodman guns give this site special appeal to artillery students. There is extensive historical signage of a very good character, however there has not been the sort of “restoration” work done here that people who have visited Fort Stevens, in Washington, or tourist-friendly forts like Ticonderoga might expect. This is a walk in the wilderness.

The park itself has a wildness that is unexpected just a few miles from the nation’s capital and a five minute drive from the National Harbor convention center. It has decently tended dirt trails, but I had to navigate several fallen trees blocking parts of the trail system.

The advent of ironclad Confederate ships like the Merrimac (C.S.S. Virginia) in 1862 alerted the military that even though the Confederate Navy was vastly outgunned, it might still be able to launch an embarrassing raid on Washington. An old fort, Fort Washington, is downriver from Fort Foote, but it was considered insufficient to meet the new threat. Fort Foote was designed to counter the new naval artillery that could blow apart bricked forts like Fort Washington. Fort Foote was constructed high above the river, with earthen walls twenty feet thick. The entrance to the new fort, called a “sally port,” was on the landward side of the fortification.

This NPS model shows the outline of the fort. The left side of the fort faces the river. On the right are officers’ houses, a hospital, and barracks, (Marked 1,4, and 5), all outside of the fortification. These would be dismantled or burned in the event of an attack from the land-side.

As a technologically advanced fort, Foote was visited by both military and political leaders, including Abraham Lincoln. Secretary of State William Seward’s son, William Jr., commanded the fort. As the signage indicates, the path through the Sally Port was trod by Lincoln himself. Sec. of State Seward and Sec. of War Stanton were with Lincoln during his 1863 visit.

The clearing through the wall is the remains of the Sally Port.

Here is the NPS explanation of the Sally Port.

After I went through the Sally Port, there was a sign discussing post-war firing at the fort during experiments with new artillery pieces.

 

This is what the interior of the fort looks like. You can see the eroded earthen walls of the fort. Even during the Civil War, the fort eroded every time there was heavy rain. Sod was placed on the earthworks to keep them from being worn down, but reconstruction work must have gone on every day after deluges.

Here is another view of the walls piled high by human hands.

In recent years, considerable research has gone into examining the defenses of Washington in the 1860s. You can read the NPS survey on the defenses here. There were more than sixty forts constructed during the war around Washington, beginning in May 1861. Ninety batteries were also constructed for firing artillery at approaching Confederates. Twenty miles of trenches were dug around Washington to connect the forts and batteries.

An 1862 War Department commission to examine the Defenses of Washington had found a gap in the defenses:

“The commission furthers their opinion that the Defense of Washington cannot be considered complete without the defense of the river against an enemy’s armed vessels. Foreign intervention would bring against us always in superior naval force on the Potomac, and we are, even now, threatened with Confederate iron-clads fitted in English Ports. The Commission believe on Jones’ Point near Alexandria, a battery of six guns of the heaviest caliber, say four 200-pounders and two 15-inch guns in casements, and by constructing a battery of ten guns and a covering work on the opposite shore of the Potomac, at the near Roziers Bluff. An examination had been made, revealing a most favorable and strong position on that side, easily communicated with by water.”

Fort Foote was placed on Roziers Bluff, which rises about 100 feet above the river.

Through the trees on this cold December morning, I saw one of the Rodman guns in the distance.

First I had to round an interior pile of earth that was used to protect the soldiers from explosions.

The foundation of a gun mount was along the trail.

Next I came to the Magazine, where ammunition was stored. Because the gunpowder was so explosive, the Magazine was dug into the ground and lined with concrete to protect it, and the men, from an explosion during a battle. A sign explained how concrete was used.

You can see the remains of the concrete magazine here. Above it, in the distance, is the rear of one of the black Rodman guns.

Here is a close-up view of the concrete used 160 years ago in constructing the Magazine.

This NPS sign shows the men bringing boxed of gunpowder from the Magazine. You can see that its earthen top is covered in green grass.

Past the Magazine is a bridge to the bluff overlooking the river.

A sign on the bluff shows a painting of artillerymen watching the river. A battery across the river, Battery Rogers, would also fire on any Confederate ships trying to pass this point.

 

Here is the same view today.

The well-placed NPS historical sign is a good guide to what you are seeing.

In 1864, the army paid for a 400 foot long chain on floats that could be stretched across the river to block ships trying to attack Washington. The chain would have been connected to the land at Fort Foote and Battery Rodgers.

To the left of the bridge is the first Rodman. It is part of the fort’s original armaments and it has been in this spot for 160 years or more. During the Second World War, park personnel found that the two Rodman guns had been taken off their carriages by scrappers. The service banned the removal of the guns, saving them and their carriages from destruction. However, the guns lay on the ground for the next twenty years before finally being remounted.

As you can see below, the guns were mounted on carriages with moveable wheels that could be aimed by rolling them on a circular track.

The second Rodman is just a short distance South of the first one. The Rodmans weigh about 49,000 lbs. each and it took 300 to 400 men to drag each up the bluff.

Another look at the first gun. It took about 50 lbs. of gunpowder to fire the huge Rodmans each time.

There is an NPS sign explaining the Rodman, but it was recently crushed by a tree blown down by the wind. The tree still blocks the path and I had to squiggle under it. The sign is on the ground, upside down, and partially destroyed.

Here is the view from the Rodman of the river. These guns could fire a four hundred and fifty lb. ball as far as three miles, which means they could keep a Confederate ironclad under fire sailing upstream for quite a while. In 1863, of course, the trees in front of the fort had all been cut down giving the gunners a better view of the river than I had.

Here is the NPS panel on the technology of the Rodman.

Abandoned Rodman and Parrott gun platforms can still be seen around the site.

Here is the carriage for the second Rodman.

And here is a full view of the gun.

This panel had a reproduced 15 inch Rodman ball right in the panel. It was fully three dimensional.

Here is the Rodman ball in closeup.

The long mound in the middle of the fort was there as a bombproof for shelter and storage if the fort was under attack. Here is a path through the middle of the shelter  that, on the other side, runs into the Sally Port.

 

Here is the view of the river from the twenty foot thick west wall. Below you can see the trench that was dug to supply earth for the wall as well as creating an additional barrier to any enemy soldiers trying to storm the fort.

The river from another site along the earthworks.

Once again, a look at the trench. During the war all of the trees here had been cleared.

More emplacements that I found on my hike.

And a look at the river from further south in the fort.

Here is a look at the Sally Port from inside the fort as I was preparing to leave the fortification.

 

Here I am walking through the Sally Port.

A few more looks at the Rodman and mounts, as well as a breach in the earthworks to allow for firing.

After leaving the fort, I turned left and followed the path that led to the wharf where the fort used to receive its supplies from river boats. The photo below shows the steep slope on the landward side which made this an excellent spot to defend from. On either side any troops trying to storm the fort would have a steep uphill climb.

This map is from an interpretive NPS sign. The NPS also provides it online.

On the left side here in the photo below you can see the steep slope up to the ridge the fort is on. At the end of the path is where the wharf was 160 years ago.

Here is the resupply point.

It was a fifteen minute walk each way to the site of the old wharf. On the way back on the trail I passed the original trough for horses that is on the landward side. Though the other buildings are gone, the hospital was to the right of the trough and the stable was behind it. The barracks and the homes of the officers were to the left.

Here are additional views towards Washington and Arlington from the area immediately north of the fortified position.

 

 

 

Here I am at the park entrance to the side on Fort Foote Road.

This site is one of dozens of sites in the area associated with the “Civil War Defenses of Washington.”

I am standing on Fort Foote Avenue and you can see the small parking lot behind the entrance sign. The lot allows for free parking and there is no admission charged to visit the fort. The lot can hold about ten vehicles. The parking lot is just a couple of hundred feet from the Sally Port and it is an easy path to get there from your car. On the down side, once in the fortification it might be difficult for someone using a wheelchair or walker to get around. I am 65 years old and I did not find the hikes a strain at all, but because the paths are dirt and uneven, wheelchairs might have difficulty.

The other downside is that there are no paper trail maps at the site. There are good site markers and a map at the entrance, but nothing you can carry with you. There are no restrooms at the site that I saw, although a guide said there is a chemical toilet, and no running drinking water, so bring water with you. There were only two other people at the site during the time I was hiking, a cold December morning, so you may want to go with a friend. There are at least three picnic tables at the site.

It took 45 minutes for me to see the fort. My roundtrip hike to the river at the old wharf site took another half hour. So you can see the fort in less than an hour, or you can spend an hour and half there if you are up for some hiking. The 2014 map below shows the ruins as well as trails.

Below is the map at the trailhead showing the park and its proximity to Washington and Alexandria.

 

Note: All Color photos taken by Pat Young (Dec. 2022).

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