Fort Totten (Washington, D.C.)

For the rapid transit station on the Washington Metro, see Fort Totten Station.

Fort Totten
Neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Fort Totten within the District of Columbia
Coordinates: 38°56′49″N 77°00′15″W / 38.947056°N 77.004139°W / 38.947056; -77.004139Coordinates: 38°56′49″N 77°00′15″W / 38.947056°N 77.004139°W / 38.947056; -77.004139
Country	United States
District	Washington, D.C.
Ward	Ward 5
Government
• Councilmember	Kenyan McDuffie

Fort Totten is a park and neighborhood in northeast Washington, D.C.. The neighborhood is bordered by N Capitol St to the west, Riggs Rd NE to the north, the Red Line tracks to the east, and Hawaii Ave NE to the south. It is named after a Civil War-era fort. The Fort Totten Metro station is named for it. All are named for long-time General Joseph Gilbert Totten, the Chief Engineer of the antebellum United States Army.

Civil War fort

Main article: Fort Totten Park

James Rifles at Fort Totten, 1865.

Fort Totten was a medium-sized fort, a seven-sided polygon with a perimeter of 270 yards (250 m). It was located atop a ridge along the main road from Washington to Silver Spring, Maryland, about three miles (5 km) north of the Capitol, and a half-mile from the Military Asylum or Soldiers' Home, where President Abraham Lincoln spent his summers while president. The fort was of typical design for its time, with earth walls some 15 feet (4.6 m) thick and 8 feet (2.4 m) high. Outside the walls (or "ramparts") was a large ditch or dry moat over seven feet deep and twelve feet wide, and outside that was a broad cleared area surrounding a barrier of tree branches, brambles and general debris (or abatis). Along the inner surface of the wall were gun platforms for several types of cannon, some firing over the parapet, others firing through openings in it, and a banquette, a kind of shelf on which soldiers could stand to fire over the wall.

Construction on the fort began in August 1861 and was completed in 1863^[1]

Modern Day Park

The earthworks of the main fort are still clearly visible today, including the surrounding ditch, ramparts, and the walls of the 2 magazines within the fort. The smaller Totten Battery, which lies 1000 feet to the North, and the connecting rifle trenches can be easily seen as well. The park itself is home to a number of picnic benches as well as a Civil War Centennial Plaque marking the main entrance to the remains of the fort.

References

↑ Fort Totten - Civil War Defenses of Washington (U.S. National Park Service)

External links

Manor Park

Riggs Park

Petworth
Rock Creek Cemetery

Queens Chapel

Fort Totten

United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery

Pleasant Hill

Michigan Park

Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C.

Ward 1	Adams Morgan Columbia Heights Kalorama LeDroit Park Mount Pleasant Park View Pleasant Plains Shaw Woodley Park

Ward 2	Burleith Chinatown Downtown Dupont Circle Foggy Bottom Georgetown Kalorama Logan Circle Mount Vernon Square Penn Quarter Shaw Southwest Federal Center West End

Ward 3	American University Park Berkley Cathedral Heights Chevy Chase Cleveland Park Colony Hill Forest Hills Foxhall Friendship Heights Glover Park Kent Massachusetts Heights McLean Gardens North Cleveland Park Observatory Circle The Palisades Potomac Heights Spring Valley Tenleytown Wakefield Wesley Heights Woodland Normanstone Woodley Park

Ward 4	Barnaby Woods Brightwood Brightwood Park Chevy Chase Colonial Village Crestwood Fort Stevens Ridge Fort Totten Hawthorne Manor Park North Portal Estates Petworth Queens Chapel Riggs Park Shepherd Park Sixteenth Street Heights Takoma

Ward 5	Arboretum Bloomingdale Brentwood Brookland Carver Langston Eckington Edgewood Fort Lincoln Fort Totten Gateway Ivy City Langdon Michigan Park North Michigan Park Pleasant Hill Queens Chapel Stronghold-Metropolis View Trinidad Truxton Circle Woodridge

Ward 6	Barney Circle Capitol Hill Judiciary Square Kingman Park Mount Vernon Triangle Navy Yard Near Northeast NoMa Southwest Waterfront Sursum Corda Swampoodle

Ward 7	Benning Benning Heights Benning Ridge Burrville Capitol View Central Northeast Civic Betterment Deanwood Dupont Park East River Heights Eastland Gardens Fairfax Village Fairlawn Fort Davis Fort Dupont Good Hope Greenway Hillbrook Hillcrest Kenilworth Kingman Park Lincoln Heights Marshall Heights Mayfair Naylor Gardens Penn Branch Randle Highlands River Terrace Twining

Ward 8	Anacostia Barry Farm Bellevue Buena Vista Congress Heights Douglass Fairlawn Garfield Heights Knox Hill Shipley Terrace Skyland Washington Highlands Woodland

American Civil War Defenses of Washington, D.C.

Departments	Department of the East Department of Washington, D.C. Department of the Potomac Military District of Washington Department of the Rappahanock Defenses of Washington, D.C. Department of Washington

Union Army Forces	Army of the Potomac XXII Corps

Potomac Approaches	Fort Washington Fort Foote Battery Rodgers

Arlington Line	Fort Willard Fort O'Rourke Fort Weed Fort Farnsworth Fort Lyon Fort Ellsworth Fort Williams Fort Worth Fort Ward Battery Garesche Fort Reynolds Fort Barnard Fort Berry Fort Richardson Fort Albany Fort Scott Fort Runyon Fort Jackson Fort Craig Fort McPherson Fort Tillinghast Fort Cass Fort Whipple Fort Woodbury Fort Morton Fort Corcoran Fort Haggerty Fort Bennett Fort Strong Fort C. F. Smith Fort Munson Fort Ramsey Fort Buffalo Fort Taylor Fort Ethan Allen Fort Marcy

Northwest Quadrant	Battery Kemble Battery Vermont Battery Alexander Fort Sumner (MD) Fort Sumner (VA) Fort Mansfield Fort Gaines Fort Simmons Fort Bayard Fort Reno Fort Kearny Fort DeRussy Fort Stevens

Northeast Quadrant	Fort Slocum Fort Totten Fort Slemmer Fort Bunker Hill Fort Saratoga Fort Thayer Fort Lincoln Fort Mahan

Eastern Branch	Fort Chaplin Fort Meigs Fort Dupont Fort Saratoga Fort Davis Fort Baker Fort Wagner Fort Ricketts Fort Stanton Fort Snyder Fort Carroll Fort Greble

National Park Service (Web) Map of defenses in 1865

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