Fort Ward was completed in September 1861 to protect the approaches to Union-occupied Alexandria via the Leesburg Turnpike (King Street) and Little River Turnpike (Duke Street). Along the west wall between the Northwest Bastion and the Southwest Bastion, 14 cannon emplacements created overlapping fields of fire, and infantry soldiers armed with rifle muskets stationed between them made this wall of the fort a formidable obstacle to attack. By late 1864, the perimeter of the earthwork fort had been enlarged from 540 yards and 24 gun positions to 818 yards and 36 guns. Fort Ward was the fifth largest stronghold in the Defenses of Washington and was considered a model of 19th-century military design and engineering. It was named for Commander James Harmon Ward, the first Union naval officer to die in the Civil War, and it was dismantled by December 1865.
