Fort Totten was a Union Army defensive earthwork, built during the Civil War and named for Joseph Totten. It was built up during the fall of 1861, as part of the defense of Washington, D.C., during the Civil War, also known as the Fort Circle. Construction on the fort began in August 1861 and was completed in 1863.[1][2]
Fort Totten was a medium-sized fort, a seven-sided polygon with a perimeter of 272 yards (249 m). It was located atop a ridge along the main road from Washington to Silver Spring, Maryland, about three miles (5 km) north of the Capitol, and a half-mile from the Military Asylum or Soldiers' Home, where President Abraham Lincoln spent his summers while president.[2] The fort was of typical design for its time, with earth walls some 15 feet (4.6 m) thick and 8 feet (2.4 m) high. Outside the walls (or "ramparts") was a large ditch or dry moat over seven feet deep and twelve feet wide, and outside that was a broad cleared area surrounding a barrier of tree branches, brambles and general debris (or abatis). Along the inner surface of the wall were gun platforms for several types of cannon, some firing over the parapet, others firing through openings in it, and a banquette, a kind of shelf on which soldiers could stand to fire over the wall.
Men and gun of 3d Massachusetts Heavy Artillery at the Fort Totten ornamental gate in 1865
Officers of Companies A and B 3d Massachusetts Heavy Artillery and crew of 100-pdr Parrott gun on iron barbette carriage at Fort Totten
Sergeants of 3rd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, with gun and caisson at Fort Totten
Officers of 3rd Regiment Massachusetts Heavy Artillery
Interior view of Fort Totten
Interior of Fort Totten
Officers of Companies A and B, 3d Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, before quarters at Fort Totten
Washington, District of Columbia. James rifles in Fort Totten
Post Civil War
With the end of the war in 1865, the fort was deactivated. Today, it is maintained by the National Park Service but is in poor state.[5]
A Washington Metro station, Fort Totten station, is named after the fort. The city street hugging the line to the rear of the fort is called Fort Totten Drive.