Fort McNair

Fort Lesley J. McNair, also historically known as the Washington Arsenal, is a United States Army post located on the tip of Buzzard Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. To the peninsula's west is the Washington Channel, while the Anacostia River is on its south side. The fort has been an army post for more than 200 years, third in length of service, after the United States Military Academy at West Point and the Carlisle Barracks. The fort is named for General Lesley James McNair, who was killed in action by friendly fire in Normandy, France during World War II.

History

Early history

The military reservation was established in 1791, on about at the tip of Greenleaf Point. Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant included it in his plans for Washington, the Federal City, as a significant site for the capital defense. On L'Enfant's orders, Andre Villard, a French follower of Marquis de Lafayette, placed a one-gun battery on the site. In 1795, the site became one of the first two United States arsenals.

An arsenal first occupied the site, and defenses were built in 1794. However, the fortifications did not halt the invasion of British forces in 1814, who burned down many public government buildings in Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812. Soldiers at the arsenal evacuated north with as much gunpowder as they could carry, hiding the rest in a well as the British soldiers came up the Potomac River after burning the Capitol. About 47 British soldiers found the powder magazines they had come to destroy were empty. Someone threw a match into the well, and "a tremendous explosion ensued," a doctor at the scene reported, "whereby the officers and about 30 of the men were killed and the rest most shockingly mangled."

The remaining soldiers destroyed the arsenal buildings, but the facilities were rebuilt from 1815 to 1821. Eight buildings were arranged around a quadrangle and named the Washington Arsenal. In the early 1830s, four acres of marshland were reclaimed and added to the arsenal. A seawall and additional buildings were constructed. Between 1825 and 1831, the Washington Arsenal penitentiary, which was constructed adjacent to the main arsenal buildings, had a three-story block of cells, administrative buildings, and a shoe factory for teaching prisoners a trade. In 1857, the federal government purchased additional land for the site. By 1860, the arsenal had used one of the first steam presses, developed the first automatic machine for manufacturing percussive caps, and experimented with the Hale Rocket. A large civilian workforce manufactured ammunition at the arsenal, and the site included a large military hospital.

File:Arsenal, Washington, D.C., north front. Interior court - group of officers in foreground LCCN2006683267.jpg, Arsenal, north front. Interior court - group of officers in foreground
File:View in arsenal yard, Washington, D.C., general view LCCN2004680124.jpg, View in Arsenal Yard, general view
File:U.S. Arsenal, Washington, D.C., north front, interior court LCCN2004680125.jpg, U.S. Arsenal, Washington, D.C., north front, interior court
File:The Washington Arsenal 34779v.jpg, Cannons in 1862 in the Washington Arsenal
File:Arsenal yard, Washington, D.C., from roof of model arsenal LCCN2006683266.jpg, View from the roof of model arsenal
File:Washington, D.C. Park of Wiard guns at the Arsena 03649v.jpg, Park of Wiard guns at the Arsenal
File:Washington, D.C. Wiard 6-pdr. gun at the Arsenal LOC cwpb.04276.jpg, Washington, D.C. Wiard 6-pdr. gun at the Arsenal
File:Wiard 6 lb. guns, Washington arsenal. Excelsior brigade - NARA - 524572.jpg, Wiard 6 lb. guns, Washington arsenal. Excelsior brigade
File:Arsenal Grounds, Washington, D.C. (4172423586).jpg, Arsenal Grounds
File:Batteries of field pieces in arsenal, Washington, D.C. LCCN91787180.jpg, Batteries of field pieces in the Arsenal

The Civil War

During the Civil War, women worked in an ammunition factory at the Washington Arsenal as it served the Union. Many lower-class women—including Irish immigrants—needed wages, especially after male relatives went to war. Women were believed to have nimble fingers, attention to detail, and a tendency to neatness suitable for rolling, pinching, tying, and bundling cartridges with bullets and black powder. Wounded Civil War soldiers were also treated at the Arsenal in a hospital next to the penitentiary that was built prior to the war in 1857.

Accident

On 17 June 1864, fireworks left in the sun outside a cartridge room ignited, killing twenty-one women, many of whom burned to death in flammable hoop skirts. The War Department paid for their funerals, and President Abraham Lincoln attended the joint funeral procession. A monument at Congressional Cemetery commemorates these women. In memory of the many Irish victims, the Irish foreign minister Eamon Gilmore laid a wreath at the Congressional Cemetery memorial in 2014 to commemorate the accident's 150th anniversary.

Lincoln conspirators' trial

Following the defeat and surrender of the Confederate States of America in the spring of 1865 to end the war, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln in retribution. Following Booth's death at the hands of Federal troops in Port Royal, Virginia, his conspirators were then apprehended and imprisoned in the Washington Arsenal penitentiary. After being found guilty by a military tribunal, four were hanged in the yard of the penitentiary, and the rest received prison sentences. Among those hanged at what would become Fort McNair was Mary Surratt, the first woman ever executed under federal orders. The military tribunal tried the conspirators in a complex that is known as Ulysses S. Grant Hall. This hall periodically holds public open houses. Each quarter of the hall is open to the public, and people can visit the courtroom and learn more about the trials.

The arsenal was closed in 1881, and the post was transferred to the Quartermaster Corps.

File:Execution Lincoln assassins.jpg, Execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt on July 7, 1865
File:Execution of Lincoln Assassination Conspirators. Taken from roof of the Arsenal. (5616542156).jpg, An alternate view of the execution, taken from the roof of the Arsenal

Walter Reed

A general hospital, the predecessor to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, was located at the post from 1898 until 1909. Major Walter Reed found the area's marshlands an excellent site for his research on malaria. Reed's work contributed to the discovery of the cause of yellow fever. Reed died of peritonitis after an appendectomy at the post in 1902. The post dispensary and the visiting officers' quarters now occupy the buildings where Reed worked and died.

20th century

From December 1901 to March 1903, Engineer officer Frederic Vaughan Abbot served on a panel that reported on the feasibility of establishing the United States Army War College at Washington Barracks and reconstructing the site so it could host the headquarters of the Chief of Engineers and the Engineer School. In 1904, the War College's first classes were conducted at Roosevelt Hall, the iconic building designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White."Images of America – Fort Lesley J. McNair" by John Michael About 90% of the present buildings on the post's were built, reconstructed, or remodeled by 1908. During World War I, Washington Barracks and the sub‑posts at Camp Leach and Camp A. A. Humphreys, were commanded by Abbot and were home to the school for Engineer officers and the site for enlisting and organizing divisional Engineer regiments for service in France.

The Army Industrial College was founded at McNair in 1924 to prepare officers for high-level posts in Army supply organizations and study industrial mobilization. It evolved into the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. The post was renamed Fort Humphreys in 1935 – a name previously assigned to today's Fort Belvoir. The Army War College was reorganized as the Army-Navy Staff College in 1943 and became the National War College in 1946. The two colleges became the National Defense University in 1976.

The post was renamed in 1948 to honor Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, commander of army ground forces during World War II, who was headquartered at the post and was killed during Operation Cobra near Saint-Lô

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