Historical Notes The Corps & the Fort How to Get Here INSTALLATION DIRECTORY About our Host Installation Since the spring of 1998, Fort Hamilton Military Community has been home to the North Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  The post is located in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, N.Y., at the base of the world-famous Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

Historical Notes

The first European to leave a record of visiting our harbor was Giovanni Verrazano, who in 1524 sailed into the stretch of water today known as the Narrows. Eighty-five years later Henry Hudson, working for the Dutch East India Company, explored the river that today bears his name. He returned to Holland without the route to Oriental riches that he had sought, but with tales of another sort of wealth--furs. Soon Dutch merchants arrived to trade with the Indians.

The earliest local Dutch settlement was on the tip of Manhattan, but within the first generation, pioneers had penetrated what was to become Brooklyn. They found a Nyack Indian longhouse on the site of present-day Fort Hamilton and built a small blockhouse to protect their community at New Utrecht. Jacques Cortlyou, the second surveyor general of the colony (who helped lay out New Utrecht in the 1650s), lived on what is now Fort Hamilton. (His landmark house survived on the fort until 1895.)

In 1664, England seized New Amsterdam from Holland and changed the colony's name to New York. English colonies ruled for more than a century. This period saw the first Narrows fortification with a cannon powerful enough to challenge ships.

On July 4, 1776, a small American battery on the site of present-day Fort Hamilton fired into the British Man-of-War ships convoying troops to suppress the American Revolution. H.M.S. Asia suffered damage and casualties, but opposition to the immense fleet could be little more then symbolic. In August, British and Hessian troops, many of whom had landed on what is now Fort Hamilton, outflanked and defeated Washington's Army in the Battle of Long Island.

Washington's brilliant retreat--and a timely fog--helped save his army for its eventual triumph. British troops occupied Brooklyn throughout the war, leaving at the end of 1783.

Without ever firing a shot, a new generation of forts at the Narrows held the British fleet at bay during the war of 1812 and perhaps saved New York City from the fate of the nation's capital, which was burned by the invaders. On the Brooklyn side stood Fort Lewis, an earth and timber work, while offshore Fort Diamond (later called Fort Lafayette) was the first stone defense on the eastern shore of the Narrows. Begun in 1812 and finished in 1818, the island fort survived for another century and a half, finally giving way to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

The war of 1812 highlighted the importance of coastal defense and helped promote a new round of fort building. The cornerstone of a granite replacement for Fort Lewis went into place June 11, 1825.  Six years and a half million dollars later, the fort was ready to receive its garrison. Though references to the structure as "Fort Hamilton" occur as early as 1826, it was not officially named for the first Secretary of the Treasury until the 20th century. In June 1832 the cornerstone was laid for the defensive fortification, which is now the Community Club.

Ten years after the garrisoning, Captain Robert E. Lee arrived as Fort Hamilton’s post engineer to strengthen and waterproof the defensive works at the Narrows. Lieutenant Thomas Jackson (who would one day be called "Stonewall") also served at Hamilton. Both were members of St. Johns Episcopal congregation which still exists off post. Lee's five years at Fort Hamilton ended with the outbreak of the Mexican War in which he attained his earliest fame.

During the Civil War, Fort Hamilton's garrison expanded many-fold and Fort Lafayette became an important federal prison for captured Confederates. The post commander during the first months of war was Abner Doubleday, called by some the inventor of baseball. He would also become a hero at Gettysburg. A ship barrier across the Narrows assisted Fort Hamilton and sister forts on Staten Island in protecting the harbor against Confederate raiders. The forts also provided troops to put down the New York City Draft Riots of July 1863.

Rifled cannon proved vertical-walled masonry fortification obsolete during the Civil War, and in the last decades of the 19th century great advances in military technology brought a whole new generation of long-range guns mounted in inconspicuous emplacements.

The guns, themselves made obsolete by air power, are long gone from Fort Hamilton and Fort Wadsworth, and even their concrete emplacements have been removed at Fort Hamilton. Big anti-ship guns were replaced by antiaircraft artillery and later--from 1954 to 1974--by Nike missiles. Harbor mines, submarine nets and other defenses have also served to protect the Narrows, but today all are gone. The defense of New York City is now the responsibility of the Navy and the Air Force.

In the two World Wars, Fort Hamilton served as a major embarkation and separation center. Today, it is the home of a U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion and the Military Entrance Processing Station for New York City. Hamilton also supports over 300 Reserve and National Guard units. As the only active Army post in the metropolitan area, the fort does work once performed by several installations.

Dramatic changes have taken place recently at the Narrows. The Verrazano Narrows Bridge destroyed several historic structures, including Fort Lafayette, which was located near the Brooklyn shore where the tower now rises from the water.  But in the same period, efforts to save the historical heritage of the Narrows increased. Staten Island's Fort Wadsworth Museum, founded by the Army in 1966, was an early step in that direction. In Brooklyn, the Bay Ridge Historical Society has concerned itself with the Narrows since its founding in 1976. The Army's Harbor Defense Museum (Building 230, Sheridan Loop) tells the story of protecting the nation's greatest port with emphasis on fortification at the harbor entrance.

The Fort Hamilton Historical Society received its absolute charter from the state in 1984. Membership information may be obtained by calling the Harbor Defense Museum at (718) 630-4349 or by writing the Fort Hamilton Historical Society, Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11252.

The Corps and the Fort

The harbor defense program begun in 1794 proved only the first in a series of fortification construction programs that continued intermittently for the next century and a half. By 1812, the building program had been substantially completed. In general, American seaports had one or two fortifications of at least moderately respectable size and strength. Not one of the forts built by the Corps of Engineers fell to battle during the War of 1812.

When the headquarters of the Corps moved to Washington, D.C., it left behind some unfinished business protecting New York Harbor. In 1831, the Corps' New York District built the first coastal defense in New York City--Fort Hamilton. Designed and located by General Simon Bernard, Fort Hamilton was positioned so that its guns could supplement those of Fort Lafayette and protect the narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island. One of the junior officers who served briefly on the project to build Fort Hamilton was Robert E. Lee.

The New York District has also constructed most buildings on Fort Hamilton since its establishment more than 150 years ago.

How to Get Here

Fort Hamilton is located on the southwestern tip of Brooklyn, New York, at the base of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

ENTERING BROOKLYN VIA THE NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE:

• Take Exit 13 from the Turnpike Cross the Goethals Bridge.
• Take the Staten Island Expressway to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
• Cross the bridge and get off at the first exit in Brooklyn (92nd Street).
• Turn left at the first traffic light onto Fort Hamilton Parkway.
• Follow FHP to the Main Gate which will be on your left at the end of the street.

ENTERING BROOKLYN VIA NEW YORK THRUWAY:

• Stay to the right after crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge, get off Saw Mill River Parkway (the name changes to Henry Hudson Parkway then to the West Side Highway).
• Go through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and take route 278 toward Staten Island.
• Take the last exit before the Verrazano Narrows Bridge-92nd Street.
• Turn right at the traffic light and go one block.
• Turn left onto Fort Hamilton Parkway.
• Follow FHP to the Main Gate which will be on your left at the end of the street.

ENTERING BROOKLYN VIA PALISADES PARKWAY (Southbound):

• Cross the George Washington Bridge (GWB), stay to the right and take exit for West Side Highway Downtown.
• Proceed to Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and follow directions above.

ENTERING BROOKLYN FROM CONNECTICUT:

1. From the Merritt Parkway:
   • Take the Hutchinson River Parkway to the Bronx Whitestone Bridge.
   • Proceed on Whitestone Expressway to Northem Boulevard (route 25A).
   • Take Northem Blvd. west to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and go south on the BQE to the last exit in Brooklyn, 92nd Street.
   • Turn right at the traffic light and go one block.
   • Turn left onto Fort Hamilton Parkway.
   • Follow FHP to the Main Gate which will on your left at the end of the street.
2. From Connecticut Turnpike (I-95):
   • Proceed to Bronx Whitestone Bridge and follow directions above.

FROM JFK AIRPORT TO FORT HAMILTON:

• Take Belt Parkway west to Exit 2, make right turn on 100 Street and turn right on Fort Hamilton Parkway to Main Gate.

VIA BUS-SUBWAY:

• Use the New York City transit system "R" Train to the 95th Street Station (last stop).
• Take B-8 bus to Fort or walk.
• Tokens or Metro Cards must be used on the subways, and either tokens or exact change used on the buses.

VIA PORT AUTHORITY BUS:

• The Port Authority Bus Terminal (Eight Avenue and 41st Street) New York serves both commuter and long distance bus lines.
• Bus and fare information for all carriers call 212-564-8484.

VIA PATH SERVICE FROM NEW JERSEY:

• Five PATH stations along Avenue of the Americas provide service to Hoboken and Jersey City, NJ. (33rd Street; 23rd Street; 14th Street; 9th Street; and Christopher Street).
• The PATH Station at the World Trade Center provides service to Hoboken and Newark.
• For General Information and Lost Articles, call 800-234-7284.

VIA RAIL:

• Use Flatbush Avenue Terminal, take the Long Island Railroad "R" Train and follow instructions above.
• For train information call 217-LIRR.

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