Fort Washington has stood as a silent sentry defending the Nation’s
Capital, for over 180 years. As technologies advanced so did Fort
Washington. Fort Washington is one of the few remaining Seacoast Forts in
its original designs. The first Fort Washington was completed in 1809 and
guarded the Nation’s Capital until it was destroyed by its own garrison in
1814. Twelve days later Major Pierre L’Enfant was sent to construct new
defenses but worked on the Fort for only a brief period before Lieutenant
Colonel Walker K. Armistead replaced him. The Fort was completed on October
2, 1824. Extensive remodeling was performed in the 1840s and the first guns
were mounted in 1846. Except for a few guns at the Washington Arsenal, Fort
Washington was the only defense for the Nation’s Capital until the Civil
War when a circle of temporary forts was built around the city.
