Entrance Gate to Fort Ward

Fort Ward’s entrance gate, completed in May 1865, provided the only access to the interior of the fort. Its decorative details included stands of cannonballs and the castle insignia of the Army Corps of Engineers, which designed and supervised construction of the Defenses of Washington. The present gate is a reconstruction based on the original Corps of Engineers drawing. A ditch, or dry moat, surrounded the entire fort, and the earthen walls rose approximately 20 feet from the bottom of the ditch to the arch of the gate. The walls were 12 to 14 feet thick and could absorb the impact of artillery fire. The officers’ huts, soldiers’ barracks, and mess hall stood outside the fort near the present Museum, which is patterned after a Union army headquarters building, and these structures were built in a typical board-and-batten style. A photograph taken at Fort Ward in 1863 shows the quarters of Capt. Theodore H. Rockwood of Co. E., First Connecticut Heavy Artillery. Throughout the war, Fort Ward was manned by companies of the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery as well as units from New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The fort could accommodate a garrison of approximately 1,200 soldiers, although records indicate that only 300 to 400 men were stationed there at one time.

Alexandria, Virginia · United States