Fort Gansevoort is a former

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

fort in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

borough of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. It was also known as the White Fort due to its

whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...

ed exterior.

History

The fort was named for

Peter Gansevoort Peter Gansevoort (July 17, 1749 – July 2, 1812) was a Colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is best known for leading the resistance to Barry St. Leger's Siege of Fort Stanwix in 1777. Gansevoort was also ...

, a Revolutionary War officer. It was located between

Gansevoort Street Gansevoort may refer to any one of the following: __NOTOC__ People * Guert Gansevoort (1812–1868), US Navy officer * Harmen Harmense Gansevoort (ca. 1634–1709), early American settler, landowner and beer brewer * Leonard Gansevoort (1751–1810 ...

and West 12th Street, near the west end of Gansevoort Street, strategically positioned to defend the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

. The fort was completed in 1812, shortly after the outbreak of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, and mounted 22 guns, along with a shot furnace, magazine, arsenal, and barracks. Some sources state that construction began in 1808; however, the fort does not appear in the Secretary of War's report on fortifications for December 1811. Forts built with state or local resources did not appear in these reports. The fort was part of what was later called the second system of US fortifications. In support of the fort, North Battery, constructed similarly to Castle Clinton, was built on landfill in the Hudson River, and connected to Manhattan by a bridge at Canal Street. Samuel Akerly served as Post Surgeon for the fort. Fort Gansevoort did not see action, as New York City was not attacked in that war. It was demolished in either 1849 or 1854 (references vary). It was on the site of a previous weapons development center, where George Bomford developed the first

columbiad The columbiad was a large-caliber, smoothbore, muzzle-loading cannon able to fire heavy projectiles at both high and low trajectory, trajectories. This feature enabled the columbiad to fire solid Round shot, shot or Shell (projectile), shell to ...

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

.Wade, p. 177

References

* *

External links

Fort Gansevoort at FortWiki.com

Gansevoort Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan West Village {{fortification-stub

History

See also

References

External links