Fort Lafayette (Brooklyn / Bay Ridge, New York)
Brooklyn / Bay Ridge · New York · War of 1812, American Civil War
History & Significance
Fort Lafayette was an island coastal fortification in The Narrows of New York Harbor, built offshore from nearby Fort Hamilton at the southern tip of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn on Hendrick's Reef. Construction began during the War of 1812 and was completed in 1822 as part of the seacoast defense systems.
The fort, originally named Fort Diamond, was renamed in 1825 to celebrate the Marquis de La Fayette. In the 1840s, future Confederate General Robert E. Lee worked on repairs and improvements to the fort as a captain in the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
During peacetime, the fort's 72 heavy cannon commanded the primary approaches to the harbor. A half-century later during the American Civil War, the fort became a prison mostly for civilians viewed as disloyal to the federal Union and became known as the "American Bastille".
Robert Cobb Kennedy, a Confederate conspirator in the plot to burn New York on November 25, 1864, was the only conspirator caught and was hanged at the fort on March 25, 1865. After a catastrophic fire in 1868, the fort was rebuilt and used in 1883 by Edmund Zalinski for experiments with his dynamite gun.
The fort was used by the Navy for ammunition storage and transfer from 1898 to 1946. It was demolished in 1960 to make room for the construction of the Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge, with the eastern bridge suspension tower now occupying the fort's former foundation site.
Key Facts
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lafayette
- https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Fort_Lafayette
- https://fortwiki.com/Fort_Lafayette_(2)
- https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2004/2004-003-003/
- https://www.loc.gov/item/2015651753/
- https://www.mycivilwar.com/pow/ny-fort-lafayette.html
- https://www.wcny.org/education/war-of-1812/the-fortification-of-new-york-harbor/