Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-28
SA1,urmq The coLoRe ATRARADE, AT
FoRTRE.ssr1oSR

States artillery service, for. be 1t KNOWN
the general officer who will be supreme
in this district will not only be comman-
dant of the enlarged Fort Monroe. but
will also have under his command the
Notifications on the new island 70 De en-
countered between the Virginia capes, and
likewise the batteries at Fort wool,
which is now virtually completed ana oc-
cupies a focthold wrested from the sea
just opposite Fort Monroe. 1t Is this
self-sarne Fort Wool, by the way, which
proves the feasibility of President Tafts
latest scheme for an lSland at the very
mouth Of the Chesapeake, for Fort Wool
was literally created from nothing. The
only foundation that nature provided for
this miracle of modern engineering was
slight elevation in the floor of the sea at
this pOint-a commonplace SanuDar 20 all
intents and purposes.
The government worked for twenty
years to create this armed island In the
marine highway to Washington, and has
expended something like 100000 on the
job AS a preliminary. thousands OF tons
of stone from Pennsylvania and Maryland
were dumped into the sea at this point
to form a foundation, and finally firm
bottom was secured Then land appear
ed above the level of the sea, and finally
there were reared the walls of a modern
fertilization, within which are mounted
the heaviest and most powerful modern
disappearing guns. During the civil war
this island, which was originally called
to this day as the .'ripraps," was used
as a military prison, and indeed much of
the work on this unique fertilization was
done at that time by Confederate pris-
oners and later by military convicts. 1t
derived its present name from Gen. Wool.
who succeeded Gen. Butler as comman-
dant Now this fifteen-acre outpost, bris-
Ting with the most formidable ordnance.
Monroe, some 200 yards distant. in CEN
soring the ships headed for the Potomac.
~
After all, however, it Is old Fort
Monroe that constitutes the most potent
defender of Washington and our best
surety against any repetition Of that I'M
pleasant experience Of nearly 100 years
ago when the British invaded the CAPT.
tai. Indeed with Fort Monroe back
ed up by the modern defenses at Fort
Hunt and Fort Washington and the
splendidly planned mine fields in the Po-
tomac, the ont-.ime bugbear of a de
fenseless capital" Is a myth even IL the
War Department never carries out the
tentative plan to acquire River View as an
addition to Fort Washington. and the
suggestion that heavy batteries be To-
Gated at High point on the Virginia side
of the Potomac, opposite Indian Head.
In all the defenses at Old Point Comfort
and vicinity Baltimore feels an equal in
terest with Washington for, whereas
Washington has the Notifications on the
Potomac as a second line Of defense,
Baltimore is more directly dependent upon
Fort Monroe and Fort Wool.
Fort Monroe is not only the most pic
turesque fertilization in America, but like
wise the most historic. AS early as 1909
the English colonists, recognizing the
value of this point as a vantage ground
erected a fort on this site aS a DrecautiOn
against the Spaniards, who were claiming
the entire continent. The original fort
mounted seven pieces of artillery-all of
iron-and in the year 1912 the designation
"Poynt Comfort Fort was formally be-
slowed upon it. Later the name was