Fort Lafayette

Fort Lafayette

Company type	Military fortification
Industry	Coastal defense
Founded	1822
Fate	Dismantled in 1960 for Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge construction
Headquarters	New York City (offshore from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn) , United States
Area served	New York Harbor, The Narrows

Fort Lafayette was a coastal defense fortification situated on an island in The Narrows of New York Harbor, positioned offshore from Fort Hamilton near the southern extremity of Brooklyn's Bay Ridge area in New York City. Established atop Hendrick's Reef, a naturally occurring offshore shoal, its construction commenced during the War of 1812 and concluded in 1822. It formed part of the United States' coastal defense network protecting the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, which was later expanded westward after 1850.

Initially called Fort Diamond due to its distinctive shape, the fort was renamed a year later to commemorate the Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834), a celebrated French figure in the American Revolutionary War and aide-de-camp to General George Washington. Lafayette’s return visit to America in 1824-1825 further enhanced the fort’s prominence.

Throughout the American Civil War, Fort Lafayette functioned as a detention center mainly for civilians suspected of disloyalty to the Union, earning it the sobriquet "American Bastille," alongside other prominent prisons such as Fortress Monroe and Fort Warren.

Over subsequent decades, the fort experienced multiple alterations under the supervision of the U.S. Department of War and Army. Nevertheless, it was dismantled in 1960 to make way for the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, with the bridge’s eastern suspension tower now occupying its original location.

Construction

Fort Lafayette featured a square layout and was originally known as "Fort Diamond." It housed roughly 72 artillery pieces arranged on three levels: two tiers within casemates and one tier mounted on the roof in barbette positions. Its design allowed the southwest façade to target hostile vessels entering The Narrows from the south, while the northwest side covered ships navigating past the fort itself. Built after the Revolutionary War, it exemplified elements of the First System of American coastal defenses developed in the late 1700s.

Constructed from sandstone, brick, and mortar, its defenses were relatively exposed to potential land-based attacks originating from Brooklyn or Long Island. To counter this vulnerability, Fort Hamilton was erected around 1830 to provide protection against such threats. In the 1840s, Captain Robert E. Lee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversaw repairs and enhancements at Fort Lafayette as well as other forts along the Atlantic seaboard.

Civil War prison

Prior to 1861, Fort Lafayette’s formidable artillery controlled critical harbor entry points. During the Civil War, its casemates were converted into confinement spaces for Confederate prisoners of war and political detainees opposing President Lincoln’s policies under his suspension of habeas corpus. This function led to its nickname as the "American Bastille."

Among its notable inmates was Robert Cobb Kennedy, a former Confederate captain involved in a 1864 conspiracy to set fire to New York City in retaliation for General Sherman’s burning of Atlanta. Kennedy was held at Fort Lafayette before his execution in 1865. The arson scheme targeted multiple hotels and P.T. Barnum’s museum.

Francis Key Howard, editor of the Baltimore Exchange and grandson of Francis Scott Key, was detained in 1861 for publicly criticizing Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus and enforcement of martial law in Baltimore. Initially imprisoned at Fort Lafayette, he was subsequently transferred to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. His arrest exemplified broader wartime actions that included imprisoning Baltimore officials without formal charges under Lincoln’s administration.

Subsequent Utilization

Following its reconstruction after a devastating fire in 1868, the fort served as the site in 1883 where Edmund Zalinski conducted trials with his dynamite gun, a weapon briefly integrated into the arsenals of both the US Army and Navy. Between 1898 and 1946, the Navy employed the fort primarily for the storage and handling of ammunition. Ultimately, the structure was dismantled in 1960 to accommodate the foundation for the Brooklyn tower of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

External links

• Fort Lafayette at New York State Military Museum
• Portals to Hell, book
• The New York Times 1903
• List of prisoners, 1861
• Public Works of the Navy
• American Bastille (1881)
• FortWiki, listing major CONUS and Canadian forts