Fort Lincoln
N 38° 02.895 W 076° 19.549
18S E 383670 N 4211998
Fort Lincoln was one of the Union fortifications built at Point Lookout, MD to help defend against Confederate attack.
Waymark Code: WM7BDA
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 09/30/2009
Views: 10
In 1862, the U.S. government leased the peninsula of Point Lookout which was flanked by the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay to build a Union hospital and Confederate POW camp. To protect the facilities against Confederate invasion, three earthen walled forts were built. Fort Lincoln, situated near the prison camp, was the main one.
Fort Lincoln had square earth walls with loose dirt on the exterior to impede attackers and hardened interiors to resist cannon fire. An L-shaped entry protected the gates from gunfire or a battering ram. Gun platforms and a firing platform stood atop the walls. A dry moat ran around the perimeter.
Within these walls, there was a powder magazine, a guard house, officers' quarters, enlisted men's barracks, and storage buildings. It was built near the end of the Civil War and saw no action,
Today, only the original earth walls remain, but with the efforts of the Friends Of Point Lookout
, many of the structures have been reconstructed through research and drawings found in the archives. Visitors can tour a guard house, officer quarters, and the barracks.