Fort Wadsworth is a former United States military installation on Staten Island in New York City, situated on The Narrows, which divide New York Bay into Upper and Lower bays, a natural point for defense of the Upper Bay, Manhattan, and beyond. Prior to its closing in 1994, the fort was claimed to be the longest continuously garrisoned military installation in the United States. It comprises several fortifications, including Fort Tompkins and Battery Weed, and was given its present name in 1865 to honor Brigadier General James Wadsworth, who had been killed in the Battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War. Fort Wadsworth is now part of the Staten Island Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, maintained by the National Park Service.
History
thumb| A view of Fort Wadsworth from across the Narrows by [[Seth Eastman, commissioned by the U.S. Army in 1870. Fort Richmond/Battery Weed is near the water, and Fort Tompkins is on the hill.]]
thumb|Battery Weed at Fort Wadsworth (foreground) on the Narrows, under the [[Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge]]
thumb|Unidentified battery at Fort Wadsworth circa 1917
thumb|Disappearing gun at Fort Wadsworth in 1917
thumb|Battery Richmond in 1988
Early history
The first use of the land for military purposes was as the site of a blockhouse built by Dutch settler David Pieterszen de Vries on Signal Hill (now the site of Fort Tompkins), in 1655. The site is said to have been continuously garrisoned since another blockhouse was built in 1663, which survived at least through 1808. During the American Revolution the area became known as Flagstaff Fort; captured by the British in 1776, it remained in British hands and was expanded until the war's end in 1783. It became the responsibility of New York State in 1806, at which time four forts were built on the site with state resources, being ready for service in 1808 though incomplete. These included the red sandstone Forts Richmond (on the site now called Battery Weed) and Tompkins, on the sites of the current forts but of different design, and Forts Morton and Hudson, with positions for a total of 164 guns in the four forts. Fort Tompkins at that time included a red sandstone enclosure containing the 1663 blockhouse. Although these forts were contemporary with the federal government's second system of seacoast fortifications, they were not part of the federal program. Federal rebuilding of Forts Richmond and Tompkins did not begin until 1847. Fort Richmond had one landward front and three seacoast fronts, with an unusual four tiers of cannon totaling 116 guns to seaward, plus 24 flank howitzers on the landward front.
The four-tier arrangement was only duplicated in the United States by Castle Williams on Governors Island and Fort Point in San Francisco, California. Fort Tompkins provided the bulk of the landward defense in the area, with one seaward and four landward fronts. It was unusual in having no embrasures for cannon in the main fort. A seacoast cannon battery was mounted on the roof of the seacoast front, and the rest of the fort had only musket loopholes. It had a ditch on the landward sides with tunnels to counterscarp galleries providing additional musket fire against enemies in the ditch, supplemented by a few well-placed flank howitzers. Both forts were ready for service, though still incomplete, when the Civil War broke out in April 1861. Battery Hudson included an emplacement for the United States' first type of disappearing gun, a 15-inch Rodman on King's depression carriage, which was not widely adopted. A mine casemate for controlling an underwater minefield was built in Fort Richmond in 1875 and was later re-used when mines became a standard part of the harbor defenses.
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!No. of guns
!Gun type
!Carriage type
!Years active
|-
|Ayres||2||12-inch gun M1895||disappearing M1895||1901-1942
|-
|Dix||2||12-inch gun M1900||disappearing M1901||1904-1944
|-
|Hudson||2||12-inch gun M1888||disappearing M1896||1899-1944
|-
|Richmond||2||12-inch gun M1888||disappearing M1896||1899-1942
|-
|Barry||2||10-inch gun M1888||disappearing M1896||1897-1918
|-
|Upton||2||10-inch gun M1888||disappearing M1896||1897-1942
|-
|Duane||5||8-inch gun M1888||disappearing M1894||1896-1915
|-
|Unnamed||2||8-inch gun M1888||Rodman carriage||1898-1898
|-
|Mills||2||6-inch gun M1897||disappearing M1898||1900-1943
|-
|Barbour||2||6-inch Armstrong gun||pedestal||1898-1920
|-
|Barbour||2||4.72-inch/40 caliber Armstrong gun||pedestal||1898-1920
|-
|Turnbull||6||3-inch gun M1902||pedestal M1902||1903-1944
|-
|Bacon||2||3-inch gun M1898||masking parapet M1898||1899-1918
|-
|Catlin||6||3-inch gun M1903||pedestal M1903||1903-1942
|-
|}
Facilities for planting and controlling an underwater minefield were also built. The unnamed battery of two 8-inch guns and the two sections of Battery Barbour were commenced shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in early 1898. At that time most of the Endicott batteries were still years from completion, and it was feared the Spanish fleet would bombard East Coast ports. The 8-inch guns were an expedient conversion of carriages for Rodman guns to allow the modern 8-inch M1888 gun to be brought into service. The 6-inch and 4.72-inch Armstrong guns were purchased from the United Kingdom, to rapidly deploy medium caliber quick-firing guns at the forts. The guns of the temporary 8-inch batteries were removed soon after the war ended (also in 1898), to be deployed in the new Endicott batteries, while the Armstrong guns remained in service until the 1920s. In 1901 the heavy artillery companies at all forts were redesignated as coast artillery companies, and in 1907 these units became a separate corps, the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps. An unusual problem occurred with Battery Duane: it was made of inferior concrete which eventually deteriorated, and the battery was removed from service in 1915. In 1913, ground was broken by President William Howard Taft for a proposed National American Indian Memorial that was to be built on the site of Fort Tompkins. The monument was to include a statue of an American Indian on the bluff overlooking the Narrows, but difficulties in fundraising and the advent of World War I precluded fruition of the plan.
thumb|An interior view of Fort Wadsworth showing the location of the fortifications in the compound. The dashed red "trail" marks the location of today's Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge connecting [[Staten Island with Brooklyn to the east. The map was taken in site, maintained by the National Park Service]]
World War I
right|thumb|12" gun ready for action
Following the American entry into World War I, Fort Wadsworth's role as the largest fort guarding New York City was an important one. Some batteries were directed to be ready to fire 24/7. at Fort Wadsworth most of these weapons were relatively promptly replaced by guns from less-threatened forts. Both guns of Battery Ayres, one gun of Battery Hudson, and one gun of Battery Upton were replaced in 1918 due to this program. However, Battery Barry's pair of 10-inch guns was removed and not replaced.
The base was turned over to the United States Navy in 1979, which used it as the headquarters of Naval Station New York. As a result of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission process, the Navy left and the property was transferred to the National Park Service as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area in 1995. and Maritime Safety and Security Team 91106. The 353d Civil Affairs Command, a United States Army Reserve unit, occupies several buildings on the fort. Other buildings house administrative and educational facilities for the National Park Service as well as operations of the United States Park Police.
Demographics
For census purposes, the New York City Department of City Planning classifies Fort Wadsworth as part of the Neighborhood Tabulation Area called Fort Wadsworth SI9561. This designated neighborhood had 495 inhabitants based on data from the 2020 United States Census. This was an decrease of 236 persons (-32.3%) from the 731 counted in 2010. The neighborhood had a population density of 2.2 inhabitants per acre (14,500/sq mi; 5,600/km<sup>2</sup>).
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 48.1% (238) White (Non-Hispanic), 8.1% (40) Black (Non-Hispanic), 3.0% (15) Asian, and 9.7% (48) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31.1% (154) of the population. This is the same as the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 20% are between the ages of between 0–17, 25% between 25 and 44, and 29% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 8% and 18% respectively. though the median income in South Beach individually was $80,361. In 2018, an estimated 14% of Fort Wadsworth and Mid-Island residents lived in poverty, compared to 17% in all of Staten Island and 20% in all of New York City. One in sixteen residents (6%) were unemployed, compared to 6% in Staten Island and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 52% in South Beach and Mid-Island, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 49% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Fort Wadsworth and Mid-Island are considered high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.