Fort Dupont Park

Fort DuPont Park is a 376 acre wooded park under the management of the National Park Service located in Washington, DC. The name of the park comes from the old Civil War earthwork fort that lies within the park. The park currently has an indoor ice rink, community gardens, activity center, and hiking/biking trails.

History
Fort DuPont was an earthwork fort built in 1861 completed in spring 1862 and in use till 1865 when it was abandoned. The land was owned by Micheal Canton prior to the war and returned to him afterward. The fort was a hexagon with 100 ft sides; inside was a flag pole, deep well, officer quarters, barracks, outside was a guard house. Fort DuPont was an artillery installation defending the eastern approaches of Washington. During the war the following pieces were at the fort.

3 - 8 inch howitzers (en embrasure)

3 - 24 pounder seacoast guns (en barbette)

2 - 6 pounder field guns

1 - 24 pounder Coehorn mortar

Fort DuPont never fired guns in hostile action, however after the surrender of Confederate forces at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, according to John Longyear, "the Chain of forts around the city and the batteries of field artillery between, made a ring of cannons around the city which were fired for several hours. The line of cannon salutes running round and round the other always proceeding in the same direction, so that it went round and round the circuit 20 to 30 miles".