Fortifications

Fort Greble’s commanding view of the Potomac River led Thomas A. Bayley of the 4th New York Heavy Artillery to write “We do not stay in the fort but are encamped alongside the beautiful river of the Potomac…running quietly half a mile below us.”

Located behind an apartment complex on Elmira St. near South Capitol St. SE, the fort was named for Lt. John T. Greble, killed at the Battle of Big Bethel, VA in June 1861. He was the first West Point graduate to die in the war. Even though the fort was built on a hill, the surrounding swampy bottomland bred mosquitoes that plagued the garrison troops during the summer. Construction began in 1861 but was not completed until 1864.

In 1866, the fort reverted to the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps and later became a signal communications training school. After the training school moved to Virginia in 1869, the land was sold back to private ownership. Today it is a park with a community recreation center.