Fort Jay
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	Governors Island, Manhattan, New York City, New York
Built/Founded:	1808
Added to NRHP:	March 27, 1974
Visitation:	55,000 (in 2007)
Governing body:	National Park Service

Aerial view of the fortifications. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP is the United States government's official list of districts sites buildings structures and objects deemed worthy of This article is about Governors Island in New York For other uses see Governors Island (disambiguation Governors Island is a 172- Acre (69 ha island Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York The City of New York New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP is the United States government's official list of districts sites buildings structures and objects deemed worthy of Events 196 BC - Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt. 1309 - Pope Clement V excommunicates Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. The National Park Service ( NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation

looking north across Fort Jay with Manhattan skyscrapers in the background

Fort Jay is a historical United States Army star fort and from 1904 to 1966 the name of the Army post located on Governors Island in New York Harbor in New York City once known as Fort Columbus. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. A star fort or trace italienne is a Fortification in the style that evolved during the age of Black powder, when cannons came This article is about Governors Island in New York For other uses see Governors Island (disambiguation Governors Island is a 172- Acre (69 ha island The City of New York The oldest structure on the island, it was originally built to defend Upper New York Bay, but has served other purposes. See also Geography and environment of New York City Upper New York Bay, sometimes called Upper New York Harbor or the Upper Bay, is

Construction of the walls and gate of the existing fort were completed in 1808 to replace a series of earthen forts built in 1776 and 1794. Year 1808 ( MDCCCVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Year 1776 ( MDCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Year 1794 ( MDCCXCIV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Barracks on the inside of the fort date back to 1834, first as officers housing and enlisted housing, then officer's family housing from the 1930s to 1996. Year 1834 ( MDCCCXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common The three 10" and one 15" Rodman cannon that are still in place date to the American Civil War period, around 1864, and had an accurate range of nearly two miles. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South Year 1864 ( MDCCCLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year

The barracks inside the square shaped walls of the fort are surrounded by a five-pointed star shaped walls and a dry moat. The moat is in turn surrounded by a sloped grassy area or glacis, cleared of trees, that provided no cover for any advancing enemy forces and retard or stop cannon shot from naval ships. A glacis ( or) in Military Engineering is an artificial slope of earth used in late European fortresses so constructed as to keep any potential assailant In the nineteenth century, the glacis was used as the post's parade ground and in the twentieth century, the Army and U. S. Coast Guard used the grass surrounding the fort as a polo field and from the mid-1930's until 1996 as a golf course (now demolished).

The entrance gate was completed in 1801 and is crowned by a sandstone carving of the United States Department of War insignia. The United States Department of War, sometimes also called the War Office, was the department of the United States government 's executive branch

History

The first earthen citadel was constructed on this site and eight cannons were mounted there for the defence of New York Harbor starting in April 1776. The Americans abandoned the earthworks in August 1776 after George Washington's defeat in the Battle of Brooklyn and resulting British occupation of New York. Background On March 17 1776 the British fleet retreated to Halifax Nova Scotia to refit after the end of the year-long Siege of Boston. The British Army improved the existing earthworks until they departed in 1783. In 1794, the State of New York began to finance improvements to improve the earthworks, then in ruin. Eleven years later, the first plans for restoring the fort were discussed in Congress and in 1797, and appropriation of $30,117 was made for continued construction. The State of New York conveyed Governors Island and the works at Fort Jay to the Federal government in February 1800. This article is about Governors Island in New York For other uses see Governors Island (disambiguation Governors Island is a 172- Acre (69 ha island The earthworks were replaced by granite and brick walls and the footprint of the fort enlarged as per designs by Major Jonathan Williams, U. The name Jonathan Williams can refer to a number of people Jonathan Williams (antiquary, Welsh antiquary Jonathan Williams (engineer S. Army Corps of Engineers and supervisor of fortifications in New York Harbor. The fort's walls and moat was completed in 1808. The year 1808 in architecture involved some significant events

Fort Jay was originally named for John Jay, New York governor, Supreme Court Justice, Secretary of State and one of the "founding fathers" of the United States. John Jay (December 12 1745 – May 17 1829 was an American Politician, Statesman, revolutionary, Diplomat, a Supreme Court Founding Fathers are persons instrumental in the establishment of an Institution, usually a political institution especially those connected to the origination of its Ideals Jay, as George Washington's Secretary of State negotiated an unpopular, but essential treaty, the Jay Treaty, addressing unresolved issues with Great Britain in the years after the Revolutionary War. The Jay Treaty, also known as the Treaty of London of 1794, between the United States and Great Britain averted war solved many issues left over from With the change in presidential administrations and the recent transfer to the federal government, the fort was named Fort Columbus for Christopher Columbus. In 1904, Secretary of War, Elihu Root named the army post on Governors Island that had evolved around the fort and restored the name of the fortification to Fort Jay. Elihu Root ( February 15, 1845 &ndash February 7, 1937) was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the This article is about Governors Island in New York For other uses see Governors Island (disambiguation Governors Island is a 172- Acre (69 ha island

References

External links

• National Park Service website for Governors Island National Monument
• Forgotten NY
• U.S. Library of Congress: American Memory Images, drawings and data pages
• NY Military History
• Military Prison History

• Fort Jay is at coordinates 40°41′29″N 74°00′58″W / 40.691344, -74.016008 (Fort Jay)Coordinates: 40°41′29″N 74°00′58″W / 40.691344, -74.016008 (Fort Jay)