History of Battery Rodgers Hospital
Corner of Fairfax and Franklin Streets
Battery Rodgers was part of a large complex built to protect the Potomac River approaches to Washington from attack in connection with a fort on the Maryland side of the river. It was named for U.S. Navy Captain George Washington Rodgers, killed on August 17, 1863, during the attack on Fort Wagner, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. In addition to a small hospital, the fort also had two barracks, a prison, a mess hall, and a slaughterhouse located behind the battery.
- Benjamin Franklin Cooling III and Walton H. Owen, Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington, Scarecrow Press, 2009, p. 47.
Historic Image
Title: Battery Rodgers, (interior), vicinity, Alexandria, Va.
Image Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Image Date: photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed between 1880 and 1889
Medium: 1 photographic print on card mount : gelatin silver print.
Library of Congress Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-32756 (digital file from original item) LC-BH825-16 (b&w film copy neg.)
Library of Congress Call Number: LOT 4166-H, no. 42 [P&P]
Library of Congress Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
Quartermaster Map
The Quartermaster map shows the hospital on Fairfax Street, along with the other buildings and earthworks of Battery Rodgers.
Location and the Site Today
Battery Rodgers was located at the corner of Fairfax and Franklin Streets. Water Street, on the map, is now called Lee Street. Land east of Battery Rodgers has been filled in beyond what is now Union Street, and is now the site of Ford's Landing homes and Jones Point Park.
- Google Maps. See the location today.
- Civil War Hospitals Map. See location of hospital in relation to others.
- Union Hospitals in Alexandria. Return to main page
- Alexandria Civil War Hospitals. interactive Story Map
- Alexandria Civil War Hospitals. Walking Tour Brochure