Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Fort Barry
Fort Barry circa
1918. Photo courtesy National Park Service
Fort Barry
by Mr. Gordon Chappell, Regional Historian,
Pacific West Region, National Park Service
At the end of the 19th Century, when modem
artillery of greatly increased range and calibers came into use,
the line of defenses that protected San Francisco Bay shifted
westward to a line stretching from Point Bonita to Point Lobos.
North of the Golden Gate at Point Bonita, this would require
a whole new series of gun emplacements on the Marin Headlands.
It would represent an attempt to match the size and range of
the heaviest guns that could be carried on an enemy warship,
and by locating batteries on the westernmost points of land north
and south of the strait and west of San Francisco Bay, keep enemy
warships beyond a range from which they could shell the city
and its harbor.
But it was not until after the beginning
of the 20th Century that, spurred by the recent Spanish-American
War of 1898, army engineers actually began construction of large
gun emplacements north of the Golden Gate at new locations to
the west, toward the ocean. This land was technically the western
end of Fort Baker, which in 1897 had replaced the Lime Point
Military Reservation of 1850, but it was known unofficially at
first as the Point Bonita Military Reservation. Here, the Corps
of Engineers constructed, more or less concurrently, five batteries:
BATTERY MENDELL - First of the batteries to be built in Fort Barry,
it was commenced in July 1901 and mounted two 12-inch breech-loading
rifles, Model 1895, on Buffington-Crozier "disappearing"
carriages Model 1897. Colonel George Mendell, the engineer officer
who had supervised construction of post-Civil War and early Endicott-type
batteries around San Francisco Bay, had died in San Francisco
in 1902, and on November 22, 1902, the new Marin County battery
was named for him.
BATTERY
ALEXANDER - Commenced in October
1901, this eight-mortar battery, smallest mortar battery in the
defenses of San Francisco, was armed with breech-loading 12-inch
mortars, all Model 1890 mounted on model 1896 Mark I carriages.
The battery was named on November 22, 1902 in honor of Colonel
Barton S. Alexander of the Corps of Engineers, an associate of
Colonel Mendell's and the senior engineer on the Pacific Coast,
who had died in 1878.
BATTERY
EDWIN GUTHRIE - This battery
of four six-inch rapid-fire guns, Model 1900, mounted on barbette
carriages, Model 1900. The emplacement was named on December
27, 1904 in honor of Captain Edwin Guthrie, 15th Infantry, who
died in the Mexican War in 1847.
BATTERY
SAMUEL RATHBONE - The second
six inch barbette battery, this one contained Model 1900 weapons,
on Model 1900 barbette carriages. The battery was named on December
27, 1904 in honor of a lieutenant of artillery killed in action
in Canada in the War of 1812.
BATTERY PATRICK
O'RORKE - It was built to mount
four 15-pounder, 3 inch guns on Model 1903 pedestal mounts. It
was not armed until 1909. The battery was nevertheless named
on December 27, 1904 in honor of Colonel Patrick Henry O'Rorke,
killed at Gettysburg during the Civil War in July 1863.
All of the above batteries were transferred
to the Coast Artillery Corps on June 8, 1905.
Meanwhile, the beginning of this construction
program with Battery Mendell in 1901 logically would require
subsequent construction of a garrison to house the men who manned
the guns. The first detachment of an officer and 23 enlisted
men from Fort Baker, which arrived at the Point Bonita batteries
in July 1903, was forced to live in the magazines of Batteries
Mendell and Alexander. Subsequently, the artillery detachment
occupied several successive temporary camps. Finally on July
16, 1904, the Secretary of War authorized construction of a permanent
post for two companies of the Coast Artillery Corps on December
27, 1904, the War Department designated the new post "Fort
Barry" in honor of Brigadier General William F. Barry, a
colonel of the 2nd Artillery who had died in 1879.
The garrison structures comprised basically
two small complexes of buildings. The main complex was ‘aligned
on the sloping hillside around a small dead end valley or ravine,
the lower reaches of which accommodated a sloping Parade Ground.
The structures were laid out like a backward "J" with
the top of the letter to the west . Around the comer of the hillside
southwest of this complex were three more buildings which constituted
the quartermaster/commissary/ordnance complex.
In January 1905 the Quartermaster Department
invited bids for construction of the twenty-one garrison buildings,
all frame except the corrugated iron oil house. The buildings
were finished in the spring of 1907, but the first occupants,
the 161st Company of the Coast Artillery Corps, did not move
in until February 12, 1908. The buildings of the new post included
duplex officers' and noncommissioned officers' quarters, a twelve-bed
hospital, two three-story barracks containing mess halls and
kitchens, a guardhouse, a headquarters, and (around the point
of the hill to the southwest) a complex of warehouses, stables,
firehouse and other support buildings.
In 1922, Battery Guthrie was divided for
better management of the weapons, and the two guns on the left
flank were named on March 22 for Hamilton A. Smith, a West Point
graduate killed in action at Soissons, France, during World War
I in 1918. At the same time, Battery Rathbone was similarly divided,
its left flank guns being named for James F. McIndoe, an engineer
officer who served in France as a brigadier general, where he
died in 1918.
As the years passed, other structures
were added to Fort Barry, notably a Departmental Rifle Range
begun in 1904, the flagpole and a gymnasium and post exchange
erected in 1909, Battery Elmer J.
Wallace, constructed in 1917 for two long-range 12-inch guns
each with a 360-degree field of fire (and later casemated in
1943, a balloon hangar built in 1921which is the last of three
such structures in the defenses of San Francisco to survive,
used today as a stable, and Battery Construction
No. 129 on the high summit to the east, completed in 1943
to contain two 16-inch guns, but never armed or named.
Fort Barry was without a permanent garrison
from 1922 to 1941, but was regarrisoned at the beginning of World
War Il when it saw a tremendous increase in military activity.
There were also many World War II "temporary" structures
in Fort Barry, most of them now gone, and its final defense construction
was a Nike missile site,
SF-88, with its three component complexes: 88A. administrative;
88C, the control site on top of Wolf Ridge in Fort Cronkhite
which included the radar equipment; and 88L, the launching site.
Following the closure of the Nike missile
site in 1974, the fort's last active military use was as a housing
area for Army personnel stationed at the
Presidio of San Francisco. Today the old
cantonment area serves the same purpose for National Park Service
personnel and 'park partner' groups such as the Marin
Center for the Arts and Headlands' Institute.
Fort Barry
by Justin Ruhge
In 1901 the Engineering Department prepared
to construct Endicott fortifications on the coast outside the
Golden Gate at the western end of Fort Baker in an area that
was commonly, but unofficially, called the Point Bonita Reservation.
Originally five batteries were planned. Plans and estimates for
the first two batteries to be called Mendell and Alexander were
prepared by September 1900. The only road to the planned construction
sites from Fort Baker was by a crude five-mile long road started
by Colonel Mendell in 1876 with a peak elevation of 640 feet
above the water. This road was considered inadequate for the
purpose. Local engineers requested funds for construction of
a wharf at Bonita Cove and a single-track tramway up the 250-foot
cliff to the construction site. The wharf was constructed east
and 1,600 feet north of Point Bonita not far from the Coast Guard
buildings. The wharf measured 208 feet by 20 feet and the pier
head measured 100 by 50 feet. The deep end of the pier was in
26 feet of water. A 250-foot trestle supporting a single track
designed to carry loads of up to six tons in weight was constructed.
A quarry was opened below the crest of
the hill, and a steam-driven derrick lifted the stone 92 feet
to the crusher. A 1,600-foot tramway led from the concrete mixer
to Rodeo Beach for hauling sand and a 20,000-gallon water reservoir
was constructed. In the winter months a steam engine pumped water
to the reservoir from a gulch and in the windy summer months
a windmill was used. These facilities were completed by September
1901.
Henry P. Christie built a special barge
costing $20,000 in San Francisco with which to transport the
guns, carriages and heavy materials to the Bonita Cove wharf.
It was 78 feet long, 18 feet wide and had a displacement of 102.5
tons.
As at Fort Baker, the engineers required
some temporary buildings. These consisted of an office, mess
house, two bunkhouses holding 150 men, latrine, cement shed,
stable for 24 horses, store house on the wharf, and a combination
carpenter and blacksmith shop. This last contained a drill press
and a circular saw, both driven by a gasoline engine. How times
had changed since the engineers had begun constructing fortifications
on lonely Alcatraz Island in 1854. The temporary character of
these structures may be seen by their modest construction costs
of $6, 451. None of these facilities remains standing today.
Work on the two batteries proceeded rapidly.
In August 1902, Major General R. P. Hughes, commanding the Department
of California, wrote the Adjutant General requesting coast artillery
troops at Point Bonita. A detachment of one officer and twenty-three
enlisted men from Fort Baker arrived at Point Bonita in July
1903, thereby marking the beginning of permanent occupation.
This detachment first lived in the magazines of Batteries Mendell
and Alexander. A $161 kitchen and mess room was requested for
their use. Then on July 16, 1904, the Secretary of War authorized
construction of a permanent post for two companies of the Coast
Artillery Corps. On December 27, 1904 the War Department announced
the establishment of Fort Barry in General Orders No. 194. The
Fort was named in honor of Brigadier General William Farquhar
Barry, a regular army artillery officer who had commanded the
2nd Artillery at the time of his death in 1879. He had distinguished
himself during the Civil War, particularly in the capture of
Atlanta and in the surrender of Confederate General, Joseph E.
Johnston.
The boundary between Forts Barry and Baker
was established by the true north line running from the tip of
Point Diablo.
Despite the Fort's establishment and the
transfer of the completed batteries to the artillery in June
1905, the garrison continued to consist of the small artillery
detachment living in its temporary quarters near what would become
the departmental rifle range. In January 1905, the Quartermaster
Department invited bid proposals for the construction of twenty-one
buildings at Fort Barry. All were to be frame buildings except
the oil house, which was to be built of corrugated iron. The
contract was let to Joseph Campbell of San Francisco for principal
construction and others for plumbing/heating and wiring. The
buildings were finished in the spring of 1907 but the first occupants,
the 161st Company of the Coast Artillery Corps, did not move
in until February 12, 1908.
The garrison structures comprised basically
two small complexes of buildings. The main complex was aligned
on the sloping hillside around a small dead-end valley or ravine,
the lower reaches of which accommodated a sloping Parade Ground.
The structures were laid out like a backwards "J" with
the top of the letter to the west. Around the corner of the hillside
southwest of this complex were three more buildings which constituted
the quartermaster/commissary/ordnance complex. The buildings
of the new post were as follows: duplex captains' quarters, two
duplex lieutenants' quarters, two duplex non-commissioned officers'
quarters, a hospital steward's quarters, a twelve-bed hospital
of standard design, two three story barracks containing mess
halls and kitchens, a guardhouse which is now gone, a headquarters,
and around the point of the hill to the southwest, a quartermaster
and commissary storehouse, an ordnance storehouse, and a bakery.
There were also at one time a stable, wagon shed, coal shed,
oil house, firehouse, and quartermaster shop, all gone in 1981.
As the years passed, other structures were added to Fort Barry,
notably a Departmental Rifle Range, begun in 1904, the flagpole
and a gymnasium and post exchange erected in 1909. As presented
earlier, Fort Barry was connected to Fort Baker by a road and
tunnel.
Fort Barry was without a permanent garrison
from 1922 to 1941 but it was regarrisoned at the beginning of
World War II. Many temporary structures were added then but have
since been removed. The Fort continued to be used by the Army
in 1981; however, it has been included in the Golden Gate National
Recreation Area.
(1) The construction for Battery Wallace began in 1917, but the
guns were not proofed until 1928. During 1942-1943, the guns
were casemated and the battery was stood down from active status
in 1944.
There was no central power plant for Fort
Barry. The post power was commercial from a substation at Fort
Baker. Three separate battery plants furnished power for fortifications
purposes. Mendell Plant supplied current to Mendell, a type B
switchboard, the mining casemate, four fire control stations,
and a meteorological station. It was located in the left flank
of Mendell in rooms beneath the loading platform of emplacement
2. It consisted of three 25-kw, 125 v, dc. gasoline sets. Guthrie
Plant supplied current to Guthrie, Battery Alexander, Battery
O'Rorke, and one fire control station. Located in the traverse
between emplacements 3 and 4, it consisted of two 25-kw, 125-v,
dc. gasoline sets. Rathbone Plant supplied current to Rathbone.
Located in the traverse between emplacements 1 and 2, it consisted
of two 25-kw sets.
The mining casemate at Fort Barry was
completed in 1909. It was turned over to the troops on November
11, 1910. It was the first casemate designed and located for
mining in the waters outside the Golden Gate. It was located
next to Battery Mendell. The structure was 58.5 feet long by
24 feet wide. The inside was divided into a dormitory, operating
room with seven panels for mine control, engine room, toilet,
cabinets and storage battery room. The structure was bomb-proofed
in September 1918 at a cost of $24,830. This mine casemate was
designated MI and controlled the North Channel minefields. Mine
casemate MII was located on the eastern side of Point Bonita.
Cable hut MI stood on the eastern side of Point Bonita.
Fort Barry had four searchlights assigned.
Two were located at Tennessee Point at elevations of 149 and
129 feet. Constructed in 1913, the mission of these two 60-inch
lights was to illuminate North Channel, North Bank and Main Channel.
Both lights were mounted on elevators so they could be stored
underground when not in use. 25 kw, 125-v, dc. gasoline power
supplies were used for both. These were numbered Searchlights
Nos. 14 and 15.
A third 60-inch searchlight was located
near Bird Island at 91 feet above sea level. The shelter is visible
from Battery Mendell. The fourth was a 60-inch light located
just below the Point Bonita Lighthouse on a narrow rock outcropping.
The shelter is in a good state of repair. Both lights had independent
25-kw, 125-v. dc. gasoline powered electric generator sets. Both
were built in 1913.
Searchlights 14 and 15 remained part of
Fort Barry while control of 15 and 16 were transferred to Fort
Chronkite when that post was established in 1940.
Fort Barry Searchlight No.
16, 1913. Mounted on an elevator platform so the light could
be stored underground when not In use. Located on the Tennessee
Point Military Reservation. Army Presidio Museum Archives, Golden
Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco.
Fire Control Stations
A two-story concrete station at an elevation
of 278 feet on Point Bonita had served as the B1 S1 station for
Battery Mendell. A Swasey DPF, type A II and an observation telescope
were available. It also served as the BC2 B4S4 for Battery Alexander.
Two World War II type stations were located north of Battery
Mendell. They served as M4, Mines II, Fort Winfield Scott, and
B2S2 Chamberlin, Fort Winfield Scott. Further to the northwest
under a ledge of the cliff is a concrete dug-in fire control
station dating from before World War II, it served as B1S1 for
Battery Smith, Fort Barry. Located on Rodeo Hill were two stations
that were the BC and the B1S1 for Battery Wallace. On Wolf Ridge
above Battery Townsley on the lower side of the road is B1S1
for Battery Construction 129. Overlooking Muir Beach at Frank
Valley are B4S4 for Battery Wallace, B2S2 for Battery Smith,
M3, and Mines I. All the stations were the steel and concrete
pillbox designs of World War II. At Hill 640 Military Reservation
located on a high point of land between the Coast Highway and
the White Gate Ranch on Panoramic Highway are five fire control
stations. One of them is B3S3 for Battery Construction 129.
Two fire control stations were located
on Wildcat in the Bear Valley area
of Point Reyes National Seashore. These were the most northerly
of all the stations in the harbor defenses of San Francisco.
Their assignments were B7S7, Townsley, Fort Cronkhite, and B7S7,
Battery Construction 129, Fort Barry.
Point Bonita Lighthouse located
on Fort Barry, 1930. Taken from a Navy ship. To the left of the
lighthouse is the searchlight shelter and to the left of that
is the Fire Control Station for Battery Mendell. U.S. Navy Photograph
# 80-G 71868-2, National Archives, Suitland, Maryland.
Departmental Rifle Range
In 1904 military prisoners from Alcatraz
constructed the first modern small arms range on the Pacific
Coast. Located at Fort Barry, this outstanding piece of work
came to be called the Departmental Rifle Range and troops from
all posts in the Bay Area made an annual pilgrimage there for
target practice. One aspect that was overlooked during construction
of the range was that if a man raised his rifle too high, he
shot over the backstop ridge directly toward Battery Kirby. An
alarmed district engineer wrote in 1910 that some half-dozen
bullets had penetrated the tin roofing over the concrete traverse
of the battery. From then on no repairs or practice firing were
carried on at Kirby during rifle practice.
Image courtest of
the Sacramento District, US Army Corps of Engineers
Balloon Hangar
The Fort Barry Balloon hangar was constructed
in 1921. This is the only survivor of the three such hangars
constructed at that time. Helium-filled balloons were used for
observation purposes in the firing of the larger coastal guns.
One other similar hangar is known to exist on the Pacific Coast
at Fort Worden State Park, Washington in 1979. The Fort Barry
hangar has been used to store military equipment and horses among
other things.
SCR-296 Fixed Coast Artillery Gun-Laying Medium Wave Radar
Set No. 5
Description: Fixed Coast Artillery gun-laying
medium wave radar, assigned to modern 6 inch or larger batteries.
Uses: Set is designed to track a surface
target in range and azimuth. Data are sent to the plotting room
and used in firing. An SCR-296-A normally is assigned to one battery,
but may furnish data to more. Works with IFF RC-136-A.
Performance & Sitting: Range is shown
on "A" scope. The target is tracked in azimuth with
a pip matching oscilloscope or a zero-center meter. Range accuracy
is about ± 30 yards while azimuth accuracy is about ±
0.20 degree under the best conditions. The set has a dependable
range of 20,000 yards on a destroyer size target when employed
at a height of 145 feet. Site should be not less than 100 feet
above sea level; 150 to 500 feet is recommended.
Mobility: Shipment includes areas and separate
generator. When crated the total weight is 91,763 lbs. Largest
unit is 5,270 lbs.
Installation: SCR-296-A includes a tower,
an operating building, and two power plant buildings. The tower
is obtainable in heights of 25, 50, 75, and 100 feet. Concrete
floors must be put in locally.
Personnel: Operating crew consists of 5
men in addition to a power plant operator and maintenance man
who should be available at all times.
Power: Primary power of 2.3 KW is supplied
by PE-84C -- commercial or auxiliary 110 V, AC single phase.
Generator needs high octane gasoline.
In 1943, Batteries Mendell and Alexander had their armament removed
and scrapped. Battery Wallace and its long-range 12-inch guns
were placed on the inactive list in 1944, only a year after modernization
of the battery had been completed. In 1946, the 3-inch guns of
antiaircraft Battery No. 2 were salvaged, as were the 3-inch
guns of Battery O'Rorke. That fall the last of the Coast Artillery
troops left Fort Barry. The four 6-inch rapid-fire batteries
continued to be functional because of their mission to give protection
to the minefields. When submarine mining was transferred to the
U.S. Navy in 1949, Fort Barry ceased to have any role in harbor
defense.
For a time after World War II, 40-mm guns
and 50-caliber machine guns were authorized for Fort Barry. The
40-mm guns, nine in number, were stored in the balloon hangar
and at Battery Construction 129. All of the 40-mm guns were removed
from Fort Barry in the summer of 1946. In is unknown were the
machine guns were stored.
Troop Assignments
A rapid buildup of Coast Artillery units
at Fort Barry in 1941 symbolized the approach of America's entry
into the war. All structures, permanent and temporary, at the
Fort and at the new Fort Cronkhite cantonment were utilized to
capacity. Personnel took stations at the guns, mortars, fire
control stations, searchlights, mine casemates and the antiaircraft
guns. All the Harbor Defense stations and installations at San
Francisco were manned by twelve noon on December 7, 1941. On
that date six batteries of the 6th Coast Artillery were stationed
at Fort Barry. These were Headquarters Battery, 4th Battalion,
assigned to the G-2 Station, Battery H assigned to Rathbone-McIndoe,
Battery I assigned to Smith-Guthrie, Battery K assigned to Wallace,
Battery L assigned to Mendell, and Battery M assigned to antiaircraft
searchlights. In April 1942, Battery G, 6th Coast Artillery was
assigned to the 3-inch antiaircraft guns; Battery C, 130th Coast
Artillery was assigned to the 3-inch antiaircraft guns; and Headquarters
Battery, 266th Coast Artillery, and Batteries A, B, C, 266th
Coast Artillery assigned to the 6-inch guns. By April, Headquarters
Battery, 1st Battalion, 6th Coast Artillery had taken station
at Fort Barry.
In addition to the Coast Artillery, a
battalion of infantry troops from the 7th Infantry Division was
rushed to Fort Barry to prepare the beaches to the north against
enemy landings. The infantrymen laid barbed wire entanglements,
dug slit trenches and cleared fields of fire for automatic weapons.
Such modernization programs as installing
fire control and surveillance radar, casemating Battery Wallace,
gas proofing fire control plotting rooms, and building 16-inch
Battery Construction 129 were rushed toward completion during
1942 and 1943. Battery Bonita, below the lighthouse, was armed
with two 37-mm automatic weapons on mobile mounts in 1943. These
were replaced by two 40-mm weapons in 1944.
As the war turned in favor of the allies,
this success gradually reduced the garrison at Fort Barry. In
October 1944 a major reorganization of the Harbor Defenses occurred
resulting in reducing the Coast Artillery to three batteries
at Fort Barry.
Headquarters Battery, 2nd Bn., 6th Coast
Artillery, which had arrived from Fort Cronkhite on January 24,
1944, was redesignated the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment,
172nd Coast Artillery Bn. and assigned to GATE CP. Batteries
H and I, 6th Coast Artillery, which had been at Fort Barry since
before Pearl Harbor, were redesignated Batteries A and B, 172nd
Coast Artillery Bn. respectively. Battery A was assigned to the
6-inch guns at Rathbone and McIndoe, while B manned the 6-inch
guns of Smith and Guthrie. These assignments were another reflection
upon the continuing importance of the 6-inch batteries in covering
the submarine mine fields.
Another reorganization occurred after
the war, on September 15, 1945, when Battery B, Harbor Defenses
of San Francisco, was assigned to Rathbone and McIndoe, and Battery
C, Harbor Defenses of SF, took charge of Smith and Guthrie. On
August 1, 1946 the 55th and 515th Coast Artillery Batteries replaced
these units. These two batteries had a brief existence and both
were deactivated on November 25, 1946.
In 2004, Fort Barry is an integral part
of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Marin Headlands
Visitor Center is located there. The many surviving elements
of the seacoast and missile defenses of San Francisco Bay combine
to demonstrate the evolution of harbor defense during the twentieth
century. The original post buildings illustrate an early twentieth
century coast artillery fort. Here the artillerymen manned the
outer line of defense of the western front through two World
Wars.
References: A History of
San Francisco Harbor Defense Installations: Forts Baker, Barry,
Cronkhite, and Funston by Emanuel Raymond Lewis, 1965, Prepared
for Division of Beaches and Parks State of California; Historic
Resource Study Forts Baker, Barry and Cronkhite, by Erwin N.
Thompson, 1979, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California;
Seacoast Fortifications San Francisco Harbor by Erwin N. Thompson,
1979, Golden Gate National Recreation Area; Historic Fort Barry
by Gordon Chappell, 1981, National Parks Service; Artillery At
The Golden Gate by Brian B. Chin, 1994.
