40°36′30″N74°02′19″W / 40.60833°N 74.03861°W /40.60833; -74.03861

Fort Lafayette
Hendricks Reef, offshore ofLong Island, New York City, (borough ofBrooklyn / Kings County), New York state
Fort Lafayette, seen from theBrooklyn /Long Island / east shore withDenyse's Wharf to the left
Location
Fort Lafayette Show map of New York City Fort Lafayette Show map of New York Fort Lafayette Show map of the United States
Coordinates	40°36′30″N74°02′19″W / 40.60833°N 74.03861°W /40.60833; -74.03861
Site history
Built	1815-1822
Built by	United States Army / United States Army Corps of Engineers
In use	1822-1946 (ammunition storage after 1897)
Materials	sandstone, brick, mortar, iron
Fate	demolished 1960

Fort Lafayette was anisland coastalfortification inThe Narrows ofNew York Harbor (New York Bay), built offshore from nearbyFort Hamilton at the southern tip of what is now theBay Ridge neighborhood in theNew York Cityborough ofBrooklyn at the western end ofLong Island. The fort was built on a natural off-shore island shoal, known as Hendrick's Reef. Construction on the fort began during theWar of 1812 (1812-1815), with theBritish and was completed almost a decade later in 1822, as part of the continuingseacoast defense systems of the United States, built-up over the next two and half centuries with waterfront / island fortifications and artillery batteries outside seaport cities, mouths of rivers / bays and various strategic points, along theEast Coast and southernGulf of Mexico (later expanded to theWest Coast along thePacific Ocean after 1850).^[1]

The fort, originally namedFort Diamond after its shape, was al months long renamed only a year later in 18sland celebrate theMarquis de La Fayette (1757-1834), ofFrance, a hero of theAmerican Revolutionary War (1775-1783), (commissioned a General in theContinental Army aide to commanding GeneralGeorge Washington and veteran of numerous battles), who would soon four decades later, commence a famous long sojourningvisit and grand tour of the enlargedUnited States during 1824-1825.^[2]

A half-century later, during theAmerican Civil War (1861-1865), the island New York fort became a prison, mostly for civilians viewed as disloyal to thefederal Union; the fort became known as the "American Bastille" (along withFortress Monroe in theHampton Roads harbor ofVirginia,Fort McHenry ofBaltimore,Fort Warren outsideBoston inBoston Harbor, andFort Delaware, belowPhiladelphia andWilmington in theDelaware River andBay).

The historic fort for greater New York was modified several times in subsequent decades and wars by theUnited States Department of War and itsUnited States Army with additional armaments and improvements, but was unfortunately one of the few American historical coastal forts / batteries to be demolished 145 years later in 1960, to make room for the construction of theVerrazzano–Narrows Bridge; the eastern (Brooklyn / Long Island-side) bridge suspension tower now occupies the Lafayette fort's former foundation site.^[3]

Fort Lafayette was in the form of a square set on end, hence its first name of "Fort Diamond". It held approximately 72cannon (references vary) in three tiers, two incasemates and one inbarbette mountings on the roof. The design allowed all the cannon in the southwest front to engage any attacking enemy ships enteringthe Narrows from the south in theAtlantic Ocean, with the northwest front also engaging if ships passed the fort. The fort was designed, after the experiences of theAmerican Revolutionary War (1775-1783), resulting in theFirst System of American seacoast defense in the later independence era of the1780s and1790s at the end of the18th century.

TheSecond System of U.S. defensive seacoast fortifications and batteries following 1800 in the decades of the early19th century, and is not fully characteristic of either the later completed Second System or the following Third System which followed the lessons learned in the War of 1812 (1812-1815) and parallelNapoleonic Wars inEurope, up to the mid-1800s and the ensuing conflict of theAmerican Civil War (1861-1865).

The fort was built of sandstone, brick and mortar walls. The fort was, however, vulnerable to bombardment and attack from its landward side on the east of Brooklyn / Long Island, and so nearbyFort Hamilton was subsequently built a decade later, circa 1830 to guard against and prevent this weakness.^[1] In the following1840s, as a thencaptain in theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers, the future famous military officer andConfederate States ArmyGeneralRobert E. Lee (1807-1870), worked on repairs and improvements to the New York fort, along with several others on theAtlantic Ocean coast.^[2]

Before 1861, the fort's 72 heavycannon commanded the primary approaches to the harbor, but during theCivil War, thecasemates were used to houseConfederateprisoners of war andpoliticians opposed to the administration's policies, detained underAbraham Lincoln's selective suspension of the writ ofhabeas corpus. Fort Lafayette came to be known as the "American Bastille" to some.^[4]

Robert Cobb Kennedy, formerly a captain in the1st Louisiana Regular Infantry (CSA), was one of the Confederate conspirators in theplot to burn New York on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1864, and was the only one caught. He was imprisoned,court-martialed, and hanged at the fort on March 25, 1865. The plot to burn New York was in retaliation forShermanburning Atlanta.^[5][6][7] Several hotels andP. T. Barnum's museum were set on fire.^[8]

Francis Key Howard, grandson ofFrancis Scott Key, was a newspaper editor of theBaltimore Exchange, a newspaper sympathetic to the southern cause. He was arrested on September 13, 1861, by U.S. Major GeneralNathaniel Prentice Banks on the direct orders of GeneralGeorge B. McClellan, enforcing the policy of PresidentAbraham Lincoln. The basis of his arrest was for writing a critical editorial in his newspaper on Lincoln's suspension of thewrit of habeas corpus, and the fact that the Lincoln administration had declared martial law inBaltimore and imprisoned numerous persons without due process, includingGeorge William Brown, mayor of Baltimore, CongressmanHenry May, the police commissioners of Baltimore, and the entire city council.^[9] Howard was then transferred to Fort Lafayette and from there toFort Warren inBoston harbor.^[10][11]

Rebuilt after a catastrophic fire in 1868, the fort was used in 1883 byEdmund Zalinski for experiments with hisdynamite gun, which was briefly adopted by both the US Army and US Navy. The fort was used by the Navy forammunition storage and transfer from 1898-1946. It was demolished in 1960 when the island was used for the base of the Brooklyn tower of theVerrazzano–Narrows Bridge.

• Roberts, Robert B. (1988).Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States. New York: Macmillan.ISBN 0-02-926880-X.
• Weaver II, John R. (2018).A Legacy in Brick and Stone: American Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System, 1816-1867, 2nd Ed. McLean, VA: Redoubt Press.ISBN 978-1-7323916-1-1.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toFort Lafayette (New York).

• Fort Lafayette at New York State Military Museum
• Portals to Hell, book
• The New York Times 1903
• List of prisoners, 1861
• Public Works of the Navy
• American Bastille (1881)
• FortWiki, lists most CONUS and Canadian forts

• Installations of the United States Army in New York (state)
• New York (state) in the American Civil War
• American Civil War forts
• American Civil War prison camps
• Military facilities in Brooklyn
• Forts in New York City
• Demolished buildings and structures in New York (state)
• Buildings and structures demolished in 1960
• Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan
• 1815 establishments in New York (state)
• 1960 disestablishments in New York (state)
• Former islands of New York City
• Islands of Brooklyn
• Military installations established in 1822
• Military installations closed in 1946

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Commons category link is on Wikidata