Parapet and Gun Platforms

United States Army engineers constructed these earthworks in 1862 as part of the Defenses of Washington, forming an earthen parapet that closed the gap between Fort Farnsworth to the north and Fort O'Rourke to the south. Forts Weed, Farnsworth, and O'Rourke were built to strengthen Fort Lyon and command the Mount Vernon Road approaches to Alexandria, and they were connected by rifle-trenches with batteries placed in the intervals between them. The battery between Fort O'Rourke and Fort Farnsworth was an unnamed battery originally designed for six guns, and its gun platforms stood vacant unless the defenses south of Alexandria were threatened. The parapet was arranged so that its face was almost perpendicular to Forts Weed and Farnsworth, allowing manned field guns to provide crossfire and strike an approaching enemy in the flank. By the end of the war in 1865, the Defenses of Washington included 93 such unarmed batteries with 401 emplacements for field guns. These batteries were generally arranged and constructed like those within the forts, but unlike the forts they were open in the rear; some had magazines for ammunition, and earthen gun ramps allowed heavy field guns to be moved onto platforms typically made of durable wooden planks. Garrison troops at Fort Farnsworth and Fort O'Rourke between 1862 and 1865 included the 34th Massachusetts Infantry, the 2d Connecticut Heavy Artillery, the 142d Ohio Infantry, and the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery.

Huntington, Virginia · United States