Battery West: A Response To Rifled Guns

Two Rodman cannons in brick and earthwork Battery Wast overlooking the bay.

Fort Point became obsolete during the US Civil War due to a shift in weaponry to rifled cannons, which were very accurate and could knock down brick forts by hitting the same spot repeatedly. As a result, the US Army started working on several new gun positions behind earthen berms on the bluffs above Fort Point. By 1873, Battery West was completed and armed with twelve 15-inch Rodman cannons. These cannons were mounted in the open spaces between the earth-covered brick magazine buildings you see before you. Ammunition was stored underground in the magazines.