Dry Moat and Counterscarp

Dry Moat and Counterscarp (HMEAM)

Location: Virginia City, NY 10305 Richmond County
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Country: United States of America
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N 40° 36.261', W 74° 3.379'

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Inscription

Fort Wadsworth

— Gateway Nat'l Rec Area —

From 1859 to 1876, army engineers built these 30-foot-high granite walls to form this corridor. In military terms, Fort Tompkin's scarp (wall to your right) now faced a counterscarp (wall to your left), creating a 30-foot-wide dry moat. When originally built, the counterscarp extended behind you to protect Fort Tompkins' back and sides from land-based attacks.

Within the counterscarp, a gallery allowed soldiers to shoot through the wall's vertical slots as well as from behind the fort's scarp wall through alternating gun slots. Attackers crossing the moat would face a deadly crossfire. However, Fort Tompkins and its defenses were never challenged - evidence of their effectiveness.
Details
HM NumberHMEAM
Tags
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Placed ByNational Park System
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, September 19th, 2014 at 2:09pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18T E 579838 N 4495265
Decimal Degrees40.60435000, -74.05631667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 40° 36.261', W 74° 3.379'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds40° 36' 15.66" N, 74° 3' 22.74" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)718
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 125 Tompkins St, Virginia City NY 10305, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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