Battery Duane
Fort Wadsworth
Crumbling over time, these concrete platforms mark where large guns once guarded New York Harbor. In the late 1800s, a Glacis Mortar Battery – once located just beyond these ruins – could lob projectiles onto enemy ships entering the Narrows below, although no vessels ever dared.
Battery Duane, built here in 1895-97 as part of the Endicott Coastal Defense System, replaced the mortar battery with five 8-inch-diameter rifled guns. Mounted on “disappearing” carriages, these cannon recoiled behind this concrete wall when fired.
Within ten years, longer-range weapons outdated Battery Duane’s guns and they were removed in 1915. Today, only these broken walls remain.
Marker is on Tompkins Street, on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
