Fort Greene (3)

 (1812-1815) - An American War of 1812 Fort established in 1812 in present day Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Named Fort Greene after General Nathanael Greene. Abandoned as a fortification at the end of the war in 1815.

History of Fort Greene
Established in 1812 during the War of 1812 on the site of the Patriot Revolutionary War Fort Putnam. Fort Greene stood on the highground overlooking Wallabout Bay and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The fort itself mounted twenty-three heavy cannons. Between it and Gowanus Creek were built Fort Cummings, Fort Masonic, Washington Battery and Fort Firemen. These forts and the salient angles of the earthworks were armed with twelve-pounder cannons. The interval between them did not exceed half a grape-shot distance so they could cover each other. Earthworks connected this line of forts. Fort Greene was clearly the largest of the forts in the Brooklyn defense and the other forts along this line were more like redoubts.

Set aside from Fort Greene and its connected forts were standalone Fort Lawrence to the south and Fort Swift to the west

Abandoned as a fortification at the end of the war in 1815.

Current Status
Now the site of Fort Greene Park which contains a large central monument to the Revolutionary War Patriot prison ship martyrs. The British had held thousands of captured Patriots on prison ships anchored in the East River. Over 11,500 Patriot men and women died aboard these ships. Their bodies were hastily buried along the shore and later buried in a tomb on Jackson St. in Brooklyn. With the establishment of Fort Greene Park in 1850, a monument and a crypt for the remains of the prison ship martyrs was built and the remains transferred.

See Also:
 * Fort Putnam (4)
 * New York City Forts

Sources:
 * , page 598. See Fort Putnam entry.
 * , page 971.

Links:
 * North American Forts - Fort Greene
 * New York State Military Museum - Fort Greene
 * Fort Greene Park