Type Earthwork fort Condition Residential Area Materials Earth, timber Year built 1861 | Controlled by Union Army In use 1861–1865 Battles/wars American Civil War Demolished 1953 | |
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Built by United States Army Corps of Engineers | ||
Fort Sumner was built during the American Civil War by the Union Army in the Brookmont section of Bethesda, Maryland, just northwest of Washington, D.C.
Contents
Construction
The earthwork fort was an 1863 expansion of Fort Alexander, Fort Ripley, and Fort Franklin, which were built to protect the Washington Aqueduct, the new water supply for the city, and the adjacent Potomac River shoreline. Fort Sumner was named for Major General Edwin Vose Sumner, who died in 1863 from wounds received at the Battle of Antietam.
The fort had a commanding view above the Potomac River and included 30 artillery pieces. In addition to the aforementioned components, the site included Battery Bailey and Battery Benson, overlooking Little Falls Branch.
Remains
Fort Sumner was razed in 1953. There are a few visible remains of Battery Bailey in Westmoreland Hills Park, which can be seen from the adjacent Capital Crescent Trail. Part of the site was acquired by the Army Map Service (AMS) early in World War II and renamed Fort Sumner. The AMS was renamed US Army Topographic Command in 1968 and merged into the Defense Mapping Agency in 1972, at which time the site was renamed Defense Mapping Agency Topographic Center. The Defense Mapping Agency and its successors, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, occupied the site until the early 2010s. The residential area that was built over Fort Sumner has a plaque about the fort at Sangamore Road and West Path Way, and portions of it are named "Fort Sumner Hills" and "Sumner Village".