Fort Hamilton, with its heavy guns, defended New York City against ships. This structure defended Fort Hamilton against land attack. The caponier was a flank battery designed to sweep the back of the main fort with cannon fire and to protect the gate immediately behind you. Such a battery used canister - containers of small iron balls - which made the cannon into gigantic shotguns. Enemy infantry or marines attempting to take Fort Hamilton from the rear would have had to charge through devastating fire.

Though most forts had some sort of flank defense, caponiers are rare in U.S. military architecture. This one is probably the nation's earliest example, as well as its best surviving specimen. Finished by 1829, Fort Hamilton's caponier became militarily obsolete before the end of the nineteenth century and served most of its first 150 years as a storehouse.

On 11 June 1980, New York Area Command dedicated this part of the original fort as the Harbor Defense Museum of New York City.

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Show me all markers in:  Waynesville, NY  |  Kings County  |  11209  |  New York  |  United States of America

Fort Hamilton
Fort Hamilton Officers' Club
June 1975
The Battle of Long Island
Projectiles for U.S. 20-inch Rodman Gun
Spanish 24-Pounder
On July 4, 1776
13-inch Seacoast Mortar, Pattern 1861
M1857 12 Pounder Napoleon
The Battle of Brooklyn

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