Fort Lafayette

About

Fort Lafayette was an island coastal fortification in The Narrows of New York Harbor (New York Bay), built offshore from nearby Fort Hamilton at the southern tip of what is now the Bay Ridge neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn at the western end of Long Island. The fort was built on a natural off-shore island shoal, known as Hendrick's Reef. Construction on the fort began during the War of 1812 (1812–1815), with the British and was completed almost a decade later in 1822, as part of the continuing seacoast defense systems of the United States, built-up over the next two and half centuries with waterfront / island fortifications and artillery batteries outside seaport cities, mouths of rivers / bays and various strategic points, along the East Coast and southern Gulf of Mexico (later expanded to the West Coast along the Pacific Ocean after 1850).

The fort, originally named Fort Diamond after its shape, was renamed to celebrate the Marquis de La Fayette (1757–1834), of France, a hero of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), (commissioned a General in the Continental Army aide to commanding General George Washington and veteran of numerous battles), who would soon four decades later, commence a famous long sojourning visit and grand tour of the enlarged United States during 1824–1825.