Battery Ricketts

Battery Ricketts

NPS / Claire Hassler

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Picnic Table, Public Transit

Battery Ricketts (often referred to Fort Ricketts in period blueprints, maps, and records) was constructed as part of the Eastern Branch Line (Anacostia River) defenses. The battery was designed to protect the eastern end of the two bridges crossing the Anacostia (at the Navy Yard and two and a half miles upstream at Benning's Bridge), and to occupy the heights above the Navy Yard and Washington Arsenal.

The battery swept a deep ravine that fronted Fort Stanton a few hundred yards to the west, covering a major blind spot in the center of the Eastern Branch Line. Ricketts took the shape of a four-faced lunette battery mounting four large guns with a stockade closing off the rear. The original length of the parapet was about 82 yards (75 meters) of which 45 yards (41 meters) survive today.