American Seacoast Defenses
Forts, Military Reservations and Batteries 1794-1945
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Follow the links on the pages for more information on the harbor defenses from CDSG, FortWiki, and other websites.
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FortWiki.com
The FortWiki site is dedicated to providing information on an extensive set of American forts and military reservations. It has nearly 7,000 content pages, over 26,000 total pages, and nearly 12,500 images. Not only does it prominently feature the American seacoast defense works, forts, and batteries, but it also covers a wide range of U.S. military sites used for air defense, radar, control centers, missile detection, communications, Army Air and Air Force fields and bases, arsenals, proving grounds, and more.
John Stanton began FortWiki.com in August 2005 as an attempt to document some family history using the open-source Wikimedia software which was available for anyone free of charge. The site was quickly expanded to include Oregon military forts and from that start grew into a site that encompassed all defensive fortifications in the U.S. and Canada. John became aware of the CDSG sometime in 2007-2008 and attended the 2009 CDSG Conference in Washington/Baltimore. This coincided with his retirement from a web startup company and he began his full-time dedication to FortWiki. John and his wife have spent the last 15 years traveling the US and Canada, visiting as many military forts and reservations as possible and adding pages about them to FortWiki.
During mid-2024 John transferred the FortWiki domain and the site to the CDSG. If you are interested in general information about a fort or gun battery, including details on its current status, this is the site for you. The CDSG will continue to host this site as an additional resource for the interpretation of military history.
Downloadable PDF lists
First, Second and Third System Forts – (123 System list)
Modern (1890-1945) U.S. Harbor Defenses – (HD fort-battery List) Revised September 2024
U.S. Army Map Symbols – (map symbols)
First & Second System Forts (1794-1812) (online html fort list)
Third System Forts (1820-1867) (online html fort list)
1870-75 construction program (online location list)
Modern Era Harbor Defense Locations (1890-1945) Please note that the MOST ACCURATE fort and battery list is the downloadable PDF file located on this page above!!!
US North Atlantic Coast (online html fort & battery list)
US Mid Atlantic Coast (online html fort & battery list)
US South Atlantic Coast (online html fort & battery list)
US Gulf Coast (online html fort & battery list)
US Pacific Coast (online html fort & battery list)
Hawaii (online html fort & battery list)
Manila & Subic Bay, the Philippines (online html fort & battery list)
Panama Canal Zone (online html fort & battery list )
Alaska (online html fort & battery list)
Other Atlantic & Caribbean defenses (online html fort & battery list)
