Greater Baltimore Area

Last Update: 27/JUNE/2006

Compiled by Pete Payette - ฉ2006 American Forts Network

คค Early Baltimore Defenses

คค Fort McHenry (National Monument and Historic Shrine)
(The Friends of Fort McHenry)
(1798 - 1923), Baltimore
Fort Whetstone, a five-pointed star-shaped earthwork fort (eight, then 13 guns), was first here in 1776 - 1783, replacing an Upper and Lower Battery (18 guns) from 1776. Along with Fell's Point Battery, they were the city's only defenses during the American Revolution. It was repaired in 1794. Fort McHenry was built in 1798 with 30 guns and a ten-gun water battery, and was the site of the major British bombardment in 1814 that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner". The fort was rebuilt in 1829 - 1836 to the present layout. The coverface or ditch battery was armed with 15-inch Rodmans in 1866. A new 25-gun exterior battery was begun in 1873 - 1876, but was never completed beyond three magazines and about eight gun platforms. It was finally demolished during the 1930's. All the pre-Civil War cannon in the fort were removed by 1895. The Rodmans were last fired in 1903. The fort was abandoned in 1912, but the military used it as a hospital from 1917 - 1923. All the hospital buildings were later removed. Some buildings still exist as part of the Naval Supply base adjacent to the fort. From 1942 - 1945 a Coast Guard Training Station was outside the fort. These buildings also no longer exist. Became a National Park in 1925, administered by the Army until 1933. Admission fee. Another website

คค Fell's Point Battery (1776 - 1783), a Patriot battery located at Fell's Point, across the channel from Fort McHenry.

คค Battery (or Fort) Babcock (1813 - 1815), a six-gun earthwork semi-circular redoubt with a rear powder magazine, also known as the Sailor's Battery or City Battery. A granite monument marks the site one and one-half miles west of Fort McHenry on Gould Street.

คค Fort Covington (1813 - 1832), a V-shaped ten-gun brick fort with barracks, guardhouse, and magazine located one-half mile west of Fort Babcock. It was originally called Patapsco Battery. It remained as an outpost of Fort McHenry. Site now occupied by the Baltimore Sun newspaper headquarters.

คค Camp (or Fort) Look-Out (1813 - 1819), a circular earthwork battery with a central magazine that protected the landward approach to Forts Babcock and Covington. It was renamed Fort Wood in 1814. The ruins still existed as late as 1853, the site is now Riverside City Park.

คค Lazaretto Battery (1) (1813 - 1815), a three-gun redoubt across the channel from Fort McHenry, built adjacent to the Lazaretto Quarantine Station (1801 - 1959). The site is now a concrete factory. A lighthouse once stood on Lazaretto Point from 1831 to 1926. A replica (1956) stands there now.
The Fourth System Battery at Lazaretto Point (2) (six guns) was planned here in 1872, but was never built.

คค Rogers' Bastion (1814 - 1815), aka Naval Camp, one mile of fortified earthworks with seven artillery redoubts, located east of Fell's Point on Hampstead Hill and in Patterson Park.

คค Spring Garden Battery (1813 - 1815), a small battery located north of Fort Covington at the head of the Middle Branch in the Camden Yards section of the city. Interstate 395 now runs through the site.

คค Ferry Point Redoubt (1813 - 1815), a small work located at Ferry Point, probably located at present-day Ferry Bar Park. It protected a log boom across the Middle (Ferry) Branch.

Baltimore Shot Tower
(1828 - 1892), Baltimore
Located near the Little Italy area on Fayette and Front Streets. Became a museum in 1977. It is only one of five remaining shot towers left standing in the United States. The others are in Wytheville, Virginia, Columbus, Ohio, Spring Green, Wisconsin, and Dubuque, Iowa.

Civil War Forts of Baltimore
(1861 - 1865), Baltimore area
During the Civil War, Baltimore had 44 forts, batteries, redoubts, and armed camps, and about 20 unarmed camps (hospitals, POW, etc.) as the first southern city occupied by the Union Army. The earthworks were removed by 1869. In addition to Forts McHenry and Carroll, these included:
Fort #1/2 (1864) at West Baltimore and Smallwood Streets.
Fort #1 (1863 - 64) at West Baltimore and Smallwood Streets.
Fort #1 1/2 (1861 - 64) aka Camp Andrew, Camp Reynolds, Camp Creager, Camp Wool, Camp Simpson at West Baltimore Street and Fulton Ave., now present-day Bon Secours Hospital. A military hospital was built adjacent in 1862.
Fort #2 (1864) at Franklin Street and Kirby's Lane.
Fort #3 (1864) at Gilmor and Townsend Streets (or Franklin Street and Kirby's Lane?).
Fort #4 (1864) at Gilmor Street and Winsor Mill Road (or Townsend Street and Kirby's Lane?).
Fort #4 1/2 (1864) at Gilmor and Baker Streets.
Fort #5 (1861 - 64) aka Camp Druid Hill Park at Druid Hill Park on Madison Ave.
Fort #6 (1864) at Druid Hill Park.
Fort #7 (1864) near Mount Royal Resevoir by the railroad (North and Madison Aves?).
Fort #7 1/2 (1864) opposite Camp Bradford at North Charles Street.
Fort #8 (1861 - 64) aka Camp McKim or Camp McClelland south of Greenmount Cemetery at Preston, Chase, Homewood, and Valley Streets. Renamed McKim Barracks. The barracks became a military hospital in 1862 - 1865.
Fort #9 (1864) at Harford Rd. and North Ave.
Fort #9 1/2 (1864) at Caroline Street in Fell's Point.
Fort #10 (1864) at Caroline St. in Fell's Point.
Fort #11 (1864) aka Fort Rosehill at East Monument Street near the present-day Johns Hopkins Hospital (or Chester and Elderry Streets?).
Fort #12 (1861 - 62) aka Camp Washburn, Camp Patterson, Fort Patterson on Hampstead Hill at Patterson Park. Became a military hospital in 1863 - 65. Also known as Patterson Park Barracks.
Fort #13 (1864) aka Fort Worthington at Kenwood and Preston Streets, south of Baltimore Cemetery.
Fort #14 (1861 - 64) aka Fort Marshall on Murray's Hill in Highlandtown section. Now site of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
Fort #15 (1861 - 64) aka Fort Federal Hill on Federal Hill. It was the first temporary fort built at start of the war because of riots in April of 1861. All 50 guns faced downtown to suppress anti-federal riots and pro-southern sympathies.
Fort Dix (1861 - 65) at Thomas Viaduct Bridge in present-day Patapsco State Park.
Battery A (1864) at Monroe and Ramsey Streets.

Camp Belger (1862 - 64) aka Camp Birney at Madison and North Aves. Also known as Belger Barracks after 1862.
Camp Bradford (1861 - 64) aka Camp Cattlegrounds, Camp Tyler at Charles and 26th Streets, the site of the former state fairgrounds. It became a military hospital in 1864 - 65.
Camp Cadwalader (1861) adjacent to Fort McHenry.
Camp Carroll (1861 - 64) aka Camp Chesebrough at Carroll Park.
Camp Chapin (1862) in Druid Hill Park.
Camp Emory (1862) adjacent to Camp Millington.
Camp Essex (1861 - 65) at Thomas Viaduct Bridge in present-day Patapsco State Park.
Camp Glory (1861 - 62) at Long Bridge on the Ferry Branch of the Patapsco River.
Camp Hoffman (1) (1861 - 64) aka Camp Lafayette Square at Lafayette Square. Also known as Lafayette Barracks after 1862.
Camp Meade (1) (1863) at North Charles Street.
Camp Melvale (1861 - 62) aka Camp Small at Cold Spring Lane and Jones Falls in the Cross Keys area.
Camp Millington (1862) east of Gwynn's Falls at Brunswick Street and Millington Ave., adjacent to Camp Emory.
Camp Morgan (1861 - 65) at Thomas Viaduct Bridge in present-day Patapsco State Park.
Camp Mount Clare (1861) at West Fayette St, Fulton Ave., West Baltimore and Smallwood Streets, adjacent to Camp Andrew. Became a military hospital in 1862 - 65.
Camp Cram (1862) at Liberty Road near Powhattan Dam in Baltimore County.
Camp Hay (1861 - 62) aka Camp Beaver at York and Sherwood Roads in Cockeysville.
Camp Stansbury (1861) at the Back River railroad bridge in Rosedale.
Camp Seward (1861 - 62) on York Road at the Little Falls railroad bridge in Parkton.
Camp Donaldson (1863) unknown location.
Camp Newport unknown date and location.

Information on Baltimore's Civil War defenses collected from Scott Sheads' Baltimore During the Civil War, 1997, Toomey Press.

Camp Wilmer
(1898), Baltimore
A Spanish-American War state muster camp located at the Pimlico Racetrack in the Pimlico area of the city.

Fort Holabird
(1917 - 1974 ?), Baltimore
Originally named Camp Holabird, established as an Army motor transport training center and depot. Became the Holabird Quartermaster Depot after the war until 1942 when it was renamed the Holabird Ordnance Depot. Renamed the Holabird Signal Depot in 1943. Renamed back to Camp Holabird in 1947. Renamed as a fort later. The U.S. Army Intelligence School and Counter Intelligence Records Facility was here until closed and transferred to Fort Huachuca, AZ in 1971.

ค COAST DEFENSES of BALTIMORE
Baltimore's Endicott Period Defenses by Merle Cole

ค Fort Carroll
(Fort Carroll Lighthouse)
(1847 - 1921), Dundalk
Located on a man-made island in the Patapsco River adjacent to the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The construction was once supervised by Robert E. Lee. It is hexagonal and includes three modern coastal batteries. They are Battery Towson (1900 - 1918), Battery Heart (1900 - 1917), and Battery Augustin (1900 - 1920). The single story fort was originally intended to have four tiers. The casemates became flooded in 1864, with all powder and ammunition transferred to Fort McHenry. The fort was a subpost of Fort McHenry from 1908 to 1911, and then was a subpost of Fort Howard until 1914. Several guns were removed in 1917, and the fort was abandoned in 1921. The Army used the fort in WWII as a small-arms range, and the Coast Guard also briefly used the fort in 1955 for the same purpose. A lighthouse was added in 1854 and rebuilt in 1898. The lighthouse was automated in 1920, but is now abandoned. The fort was originally known as Fort at Soller's Point until 1850. During the Civil War Fort Carroll had only five gun platforms ready in April 1861, and only two were armed with guns, out of a planned 225 gun emplacements. Privately owned since 1959, and with no public access, it is overgrown and deteriorating. The best views are from Fort Armistead.
Resources for Restoration of Fort Carroll from Shedding Light.com | Another website

ค Fort Armistead (park)
(1896 - 1928), Baltimore
Located at Hawkins Point next to the Key Bridge. Batteries here are Battery Winchester (1900 - 1918), Battery McFarland (1900 - 1917), Battery Irons (1900 - 1913), and Battery Mudge (1901 - 1920), which is partially destroyed. A mine casemate is located behind Battery Mudge. The reservation was used as an ammunition dump by the U.S. Navy in WWII. A four-gun anti-aircraft battery was set up in 1952 - 1954.

ค Fort Howard (park)
(1896 - 1940/1960's), Fort Howard
Located on North Point. Batteries here are Battery Key (1900 - 1927), Battery Stricker (1899 - 1918), Battery Nicholson (1900 - 1927), Battery Harris (1900 - 1917), Battery Clagett (1901 - 1920), and Battery Lazear (1900 - 1920), which was destroyed. This was the chief defense and harbor headquarters for Baltimore, known as the "Bulldog at Baltimore's Gate". Two mine towers still remain, and two fire-control towers still existed until 1980. A Veterans Affairs hospital occupied the post garrison area of the fort from 1940 - 2002. The battery area of the fort remained under military control until the Vietnam War era, used for intelligence operations training.

ค Fort Smallwood (park)
(1890 - 1928), Venice on the Bay
Located on Rock Point. Batteries here were Battery Hartshorne (1900 - 1927), and Battery Sykes (1905 - 1927), which is destroyed.

ค ALSO: Additional fire-control towers associated with the Baltimore defenses were once located at Gibson Island, Black Marsh, Bodkins Neck, 65-foot Hill, and Stony Creek (Riviera Beach). None remain.

Of interest in Granite is a former NIKE Missile defense site (BA-74) (1954 - 1974). See also Baltimore-Washington NIKE Missile sites.

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