entrance San Francisco Bay was inhabited by humans since time immemorial. Ancestors of Ohlone and Miwok tribes camped near the bay, which was their source of food and means of transport. Remains of 4,000-year-old Ohlone tribe settlements can be found off the coast, less than a mile from Fort Point. Castillo de San Joaquin.
Expedition Gaspar de Portola land came in 1769 for the San Francisco Bay. Seven years later, the English created the first European settlement here from the Catholic mission and presidio (military post). The fear of the advancing British and the Russians, Spain strengthened its base in the narrowest part of the bay (near the entrance to her), where Fort Point now stands.
Castillo de San Joaquin, built in 1794 was the construction of brick Adobe weapons consisting of 9 to 13 guns. The small fortress guarded the English colony to 1821, when Mexico gained its independence and took control of the region. In 1835 the Mexican army moved to Sonoma and the Bay facility was abandoned and left to the mercy of the elements - rain and wind that skruszyły Adobe walls. In 1846 war broke out between Mexico and the United States. On July 1, U.S. Army officer, John Charles Fremont, Carson, together with putty and ten companions made an assault on the Castillo, which turned out to be ... abandoned. After winning the war with Mexico in 1848, California was given to the United States. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in the American River has attracted tens of thousands of prospectors to gold. In 1849 most of the hunters arrived by sea, by what San Francisco has become a major port on the west coast. 
When in 1850, California became the 31st state of the U.S. Army and the Navy commissioned the construction of a series of fortifications that had protected the bay of San Francisco. Coastal defense system required to build Fort Point and many other fortifications in strategic locations, such as the Presidio, Lime Point, Angel Island and Alcatraz. Fort Point and the Civil War.
Armijny Corps of Engineers began work on Fort Point in 1853. The idea was to construct a fort in such a way that the defense systems cover up the largest possible area of \u200b\u200bthe bay.
plans also set out the structure of holes lowest for the artillery firing as he could to the water level so that the fired bullets can bounce off the surface of the water and ricocheted hit enemy ships. In the construction of the fort was reduced from a cliff a cliff 90 meters to 27 meters above sea level. 7-meter thick walls and multi-level casemates were typical for the system (Third System) coast defense introduced after the war with England in 1812. 
In 1854, the Inspector General Joseph FK Mansfield said: "- This point is key to the entire Pacific coast ...". In 1861, the eve of the impending civil war, the Army mounted in the fort the first cannon. 
Col. Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of the Department of the Pacific, prepared to defend the bay and sent troops to the fortress. Shortly afterwards, Johnston commander resigned and joined the Confederate Army. He was killed at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. During the war, gunners in the fort waiting for the enemy that never came. Confederate warship CSS Shenandoah was planning an attack on San Francisco, but on the way to the port captain learned that the war is over. It was August 1865. 
Severe damage similar forts on the Atlantic coast during the War (Fort Sumter in South Carolina and Fort Pulaski at Georgia), questioned the effectiveness of brick walls. The Army will soon leave Fort Point, which has never not permanently occupied. 
In 1882, Fort Point was officially named Fort Winfield Scott - the famous hero from the war with Mexico. The name is not accepted, and later called as artillery position in the Presidio. In the new century.
In 1892, the Army began building a new system of fortifications in the so-called system of Endicott - concrete with steel reinforcements and a breech loadable armament departments. Within eight years, all 102 smoothbore cannons of Fort Point were dismantled and sold for scrap.
Fort, moderately damaged by an earthquake in 1906 r, was used in the next four years as a barracks and a warehouse. Soldiers of the 6th U.S. Coast Artillery stationed here during World War II in order to protect the minefields and anti-submarine warfare (the Golden Gate Bridge was a special extended network of anti-submarine). Behavior Fort Point. In 1926, the American Institute of Architects has proposed conservation of the fort because of its unique architecture of the military.
plans to build a bridge, Golden Gate Bridge in 1930 assumed the removal of buildings, but the chief engineer Joseph Strauss plans redesigned so as to save the fort. 
On October 16, 1970 President Richard Nixon signed the bill creating Fort Point National Historic Site. Fort Point can be visited from Friday to Sunday. 
One of the most spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge can be enjoyed from the walls of the fort.  |
| Fort Point |
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