Fort Clinton was a stone-and-earthworks fortification on an elevation within what is now

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

in New York City. It was built in 1814 near the present line of 107th Street, slightly west of

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

. According to maps of the time, Fort Clinton was the easternmost of a connected series of forts, connected to

Nutter's Battery Nutter's Battery is a scenic overlook in the North Woods (Central Park), North Woods of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, overlooking the Harlem Meer to the north. The battery was built during the War of 1812 as a small part of an extensi ...

on the west by earthworks and a gatehouse over the Old Post Road at the bottom of

McGowan's Pass McGowan's Pass (sometimes spelled "McGown's") is a topographical feature of Central Park in New York City, just west of Fifth Avenue and north of 102nd Street. It has been incorporated into the park's East Drive since the early 1860s. A steep ...

. Fort Clinton and Nutter's Battery were commanded from a third fort at the top of the pass,

Fort Fish Fort Fish was an earthworks fortification within what is now Central Park, Manhattan, New York City. The fort was located on East Drive near 105th Street, directly across from the Central Park Conservancy's composting area, which was once a gi ...

, which had a sweeping view of

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

, northern Manhattan, and Westchester County. Fort Fish was across the road from Fort Clinton and connected to Nutter's Battery by another line of earthworks. The fort was named after

DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the seventh governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely res ...

, a

mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

.CPC sit
here
Previously, during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, the site had been a redoubt used by British and Hessian soldiers to protect McGowan's Pass during their occupation of New York City from 1776 to 1783. A memorial consisting of a commemorative plaque and two cannons surrounded by benches and a flagpole now occupies the site.

References

{{Central Park Central Park Military installations established in 1814 1814 establishments in New York (state) History of Manhattan Forts in Manhattan American Revolutionary War sites

See also

References