Fort Hamilton Brooklyn

On July 4, 1776, a small American battery, known as the Narrows Fort, situated on the site of what is now Fort Hamilton (on the east side of the Narrows), fired upon a British men-of-war convoying troops to suppress the American Revolution. Although the HMS Asia suffered damage and casualties, the opposition to the immense fleet could be seen as little more than symbolic. Nonetheless, this event marked one of the earliest uses of the site for military purposes.

The War of 1812 emphasized the importance of coastal defense, particularly after the British burned parts of Washington, D.C., prompting a new round of fort construction. These new forts, including Fort Hamilton, were eventually classified as the third system of US seacoast forts. The cornerstone for Fort Hamilton was laid by its designer, Simon Bernard, on June 11, 1825. Bernard, a former French military engineer under Napoleon, had joined the US Army after Napoleon’s defeat in 1815. Six years and half a million dollars later, the fort was ready to receive its garrison, initially Battery F of the 4th US Artillery.

Fort Hamilton, now the Casemate Fort in the Whiting Quadrangle, was primarily designed as a landward defense for Fort Lafayette, although it also had a sea-facing front. Fort Lafayette was situated offshore on Hendricks Reef and was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the eastern tower of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Fort Hamilton was trapezoid-shaped, with the wide side facing the Narrows and the narrow side facing inland. It had two tiers of cannon all around: a casemated tier inside the fort and a barbette tier on the roof. Loopholes for muskets were provided on the three landward sides, with a dry ditch offering protection. A caponier, a rare feature in US forts, projected into the ditch to defend it against attack. Two smaller caponiers enclosed the ends of the ditch, projecting off the seacoast front. The fort’s sally port was in the middle of this front, while a square redoubt with its own ditch was located behind the fort to provide an initial landward defense position.

Civil War

During the Civil War, Fort Hamilton’s garrison expanded significantly. A ship barrier was constructed across the Narrows, aiding Fort Hamilton and its sister forts on Staten Island, now known as Fort Wadsworth, in safeguarding the harbor against potential Confederate raiders. These forts also provided troops to help suppress the New York Draft Riots of 1863. Additionally, Fort Hamilton served as a prisoner-of-war camp during this time, and an exterior “New Battery” of guns was added to enhance its defensive capabilities.

The advent of rifled cannon during the Civil War rendered vertical-walled masonry fortifications obsolete. In response, the US coast defense forces implemented a series of new batteries, positioning guns in open locations behind low earth walls with brick magazines featuring heavy earth cover between the guns. Most of these new batteries were situated near existing forts. Construction began at Fort Hamilton in 1871 on an 8-gun water battery and a 15-gun mortar battery, although the latter was never completed or armed due to funding shortages. By the late 1870s, funding for these projects had run out, leading to a period of stagnation in US coast defense, with few improvements completed for nearly 20 years.

World War I

The American entry into World War I brought significant changes to Fort Hamilton, as it did to many other coast defense installations across the country. Numerous temporary buildings were constructed at the fort to accommodate the influx of new recruits, draftees, and units undergoing training before deployment overseas. Given that the Coast Artillery was one of the Army’s primary sources of trained personnel, the branch was tasked with operating almost all US-manned heavy and railway artillery during the war, much of which was of French or British origin.

Most personnel at Fort Hamilton were transferred to new heavy artillery regiments. Additionally, several of the fort’s guns were dismounted for potential service on the Western Front. However, only a few Army Coast Artillery weapons were actually utilized in the war, largely due to shipping priorities and the need for extensive training. For instance, Battery Spear’s three 10-inch guns were dismounted for potential use as railway artillery, while the eight 6-inch guns of Batteries Burke and Mendenhall were dismounted for potential use on field carriages. Two of these guns, along with four of Battery Piper’s 12-inch mortars, were utilized as the initial batteries of Fort Tilden in nearby Far Rockaway, Queens. The removal of half of the mortars was also part of a broader initiative aimed at improving the rate of fire of the remaining mortars. Notably, none of the weapons removed from Fort Hamilton during World War I were returned to the fort afterward.

Between the wars

Following the conclusion of World War I, Fort Hamilton underwent further changes. Around 1920, Battery Livingston’s pair of 6-inch disappearing guns were transferred to West Point for cadet training. Today, these guns are preserved at Fort Pickens near Pensacola, Florida, and Battery Chamberlin at the Presidio of San Francisco, making them the last remaining 6-inch disappearing guns outside of the Philippines. Battery Griffin’s pair of 3-inch M1898 guns was also removed in 1920 as part of a broader withdrawal of certain gun types from service.

In 1921, two long-range batteries of 12-inch guns were completed at Fort Hancock, New Jersey. Additionally, by 1924, the installation of 16-inch guns at Fort Tilden relegated Fort Hamilton to the second line of New York’s coast defenses. Further changes occurred in 1937 when Battery Neary’s pair of 12-inch guns was removed from Fort Hamilton.

World War II

During World War II, Fort Hamilton primarily functioned as a mobilization center, similar to its role during World War I. With the exception of the two remaining 6-inch pedestal guns of Battery Livingston and the pair of 3-inch guns at Battery Griffin, the remaining guns at the fort were gradually scrapped. The pair of 16-inch guns at the Highlands Military Reservation in New Jersey, along with Fort Tilden, superseded the older defenses of Fort Hamilton. Additionally, an anti-aircraft battery, likely equipped with 90 mm guns, was present at the fort during the war.