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River Farms to Urban Towers
Southwest Heritage Trail
13 Military Education at Fort McNair
Fort Leslie J. McNair, to your right, honors the commander, Army Ground Forces during World War II who died in battle. It is the U.S. Army's third oldest installation (after West Point and Carlisle Barracks).
The fort dates back to 1791. Washington City planner Pierre L'Enfant selected this site, where the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers meet, as ideal for a military installation. At first it was known as the Arsenal at Greenleaf's Point, where the Army stored and distributed weapons. During the War of 1812, according to a contemporary newspaper report, a dozen British redcoats were killed when they accidentally set off gunpowder hidden down a dry well by a retreating American commander. In 1826 a U.S. penitentiary was added. In 1865, four of eight prisoners charged with conspiracy in President Lincoln's assassination were hanged in its courtyard.
After the Civil War, the fort's importance in the capital's defenses declined. In 1881, the arsenal was closed and the fort stored Army uniforms and supplies. From 1893 until his death in 1902, yellow fever pioneer researcher, Dr. Walter Reed studied infectious diseases here in a small post hospital. In 1904 the Army War College was founded, opening the era of higher education for senior military personnel. In 2004 the eight divisions of the National Defense University include the National War College which opened in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War. Fort McNair also is home to the Inter-American Defense College, established at the height of the Cold War to safeguard the Western Hemisphere. |