Enjoy a few select videos and audio files, as well as some photo galleries of various forts across the National Park Service. For a complete list of photo and multimedia files related to forts in the National Park Service, visit our Multimedia Search page.
Video
Introduction to Fort Stevens and Civil War Defenses of Washington
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- Duration:
- 2 minutes, 5 seconds
An overview of the Civil War Defenses of Washington, the roles of Fort Stevens and other forts in the Civil War, and how park visitors can experience these places today.
African American Communities and the Civil War Defenses of Washington
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Transcript
The Civil War served as the catalyst that would forever change the landscape of this country and of the District of Columbia. As the war raged on, thousands of slaves used the commotion and bloodshed to escape from oppression. In the process the war brought a large percentage of the enslaved population to the forts surrounding, as well as protecting, Washington, DC. These individuals left with the hope of finding both freedom, as well as new opportunities. A large portion of these African Americans, both free and enslaved, came from Southern states as well as nearby Virginia and Maryland. When they arrived at these forts, they were given basic resources and shelter. And, in exchange, they were hired by the Union army. "Contraband," as they were called, reflected their status as spoils of war. In the years to follow, African American settlements grew and eventually experienced a heightened period of economic as well as social prosperity, building entire communities for their families despite the amount of discrimination they experienced. Some of these communities, established in the shadow of Civil War Defenses of Washington, may still exist today. Descendants of Civil War refugees may trace their community beginnings to the neighborhoods surrounding Fort Davis, Fort Dupont, and Fort Mahan east of the Anacostia River and Fort Reno, Fort Slocum, Fort Stevens, Fort Bunker Hill, and Battery Kemble in Northwest Washington. The National Park Service in partnership with American University wants to learn about this community history and hear the stories of contemporary African Americans with ties to these parks. Sharing your story will help the National Park Service to document and preserve resources of historical importance that are still important to the community today. Can you trace your heritage to the Civil War? If you have connections to Civil War descendant communities and would be interested in sharing your story with the National Park Service please visit: https://www.nps.gov/cwdw or contact project researcher Professor Sue Taylor at: suet@american.edu. Your story is important and together we can preserve these important places of community, hope, and freedom -- today and in the future.
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- Duration:
- 2 minutes, 46 seconds
This brief video describes the African American Civil War Descendants Study.
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Black Jack Ruts – Place to visit on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail
Walk through five distinct swales created by thousands of heavily loaded freight wagons as they traveled the Santa Fe Trail. A quarter mile, gravel trail loops through and along the swales that are up to 15 feet wide, and 4 and a half feet deep. Exhibits tell the site’s history and significance as you explore. Most of this tallgrass prairie remains unplowed, offering visitors a chance to see the landscape as trail travelers would have over a hundred years ago.
- Duration:
- 1 minute, 3 seconds
Fort Scott Movie-Introduction
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- Duration:
- 2 minutes, 30 seconds
Introductory portion of Fort Scott's Movie-Dreams and Dillemmas
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Freedom’s Fortress: Escape to Freedom
Empowered by a legal loophole, thousands of enslaved Africans escaped and found refuge at a Union-held fort during the Civil War. Fortress Monroe in Virginia became the site of the first “contraband camp”; a spontaneous community of self-emancipated blacks where inhabitants often became recruits for military service.
- Duration:
- 4 minutes, 27 seconds
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40 for 40: Welcome to Fort Stanwix
2016 is the 40th anniversary of Fort Stanwix National Monument opening to the public and the park is celebrating by releasing a series of 40 short films about the park's history and its future!
- Duration:
- 1 minute, 23 seconds
Audio
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Freedom’s Fortress: Escape to Freedom
Empowered by a legal loophole, thousands of enslaved Africans escaped and found refuge at a Union-held fort during the Civil War. Fortress Monroe in Virginia became the site of the first “contraband camp”; a spontaneous community of self-emancipated blacks where inhabitants often became recruits for military service.
- Duration:
- 4 minutes, 27 seconds
Photo Galleries
Photo Gallery
Aerial Photos Forts of Charles...
15 Images
Photos taken of Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney, and Charleston Light in March 2016.
Photo Gallery
Living History Day
3 Images
Fort Point Living History Weekend is FREE to the public. As a visitor you will have an opportunity to engage with our reanactors, and experience the sights and sounds of an active U.S. Army fort during the 1860's. There will be activities for all ages to enjoy.
Photo Gallery
Fort Pickens Area
21 Images
Historic Fort Pickens was designed and constructed to defend Pensacola Bay and the Pensacola Navy Yard and Depot from foreign attack. The fort stood with its sister forts throughout the country safeguarding the democratic institutions of the young republic, and today it is an enduring symbol of the United States. The area also features a campground, visitor center, historic batteries, beach accesses, a fishing pier, and other amenities for visitors to enjoy.
Photo Gallery
Fort Pulaski
24 Images
Fort Pulaski is an excellent example of a Third System Fortification.
Photo Gallery
Aerial Views of Fort Larned
47 Images
Thank you to our friends group, the Fort Larned Old Guard, for having new aereal photos taken of Fort Larned.
Photo Gallery
African American Heritage Week...
5 Images
In April 2009, historian Nancy J. Dawson and her students from Western Kentucky University performed an original historical drama about African-American soldiers and their families at Fort Donelson.
Photo Gallery
Cabrillo National Monument Vis...
8 Images
The Cabrillo National Monument Visitor Center Historic District (Visitor Center Historic District), constructed in 1963-1967, offers commanding views of the San Diego coast as well as interpretive exhibits and programs. Built as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 Program, an effort to revitalize the National Parks nation-wide after WWII, the Cabrillo Visitor Center was designed to represent the Park Service's modern image. The Visitor Center is now one of the most complete and significant expression of the Park Service Modern style, while also being the only of the California Mission 66 visitor centers that provides an example of the Mission 66 program objectives within a southern California coastal context. It displays the California school of landscape design”, which took the modernist forms and ideals and adapted them to California's Mediterranean climate and tradition of utilizing outdoor space.
Photo Gallery
Fort Vancouver
24 Images
Fort Vancouver cultural landscape at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Washington
Photo Gallery
Fort Union: The Land and Sky
6 Images
More than 180 years after the American Fur Company chose the location to build its grandest Upper Missouri trading post, the landscape remains one the posts' builders and employees would readily recognize. The location selected wasn't one they'd themselves picked out, however; it was a spot suggested by members of the Assiniboine tribe long-familiar with the region. They knew the dense gravel deposits on the Missouri River's north bank west of the Yellowstone River helped to prevent the land's erosion. That wisdom alone helped to preserve the fort's remains, which made it possible to reconstruct the post on its original location in the 1980s and 1990s. This is why the views from today's Fort Union so closely resemble the historic scenes preserved in drawings, paintings, sketches, and photogrphs produced during the post's active years, 1828-1867.
Photo Gallery
Fort Tilden Nike Missile image...
11 Images
Fort Tilden was one of the two Nike Missile sites that are now part of Gateway National Recreation Area. The other is Sandy Hook.
Photo Gallery
Fort Stanwix
9 Images
Images of the Fort Stanwix cultural landscape at Fort Stanwix National Monument, New York.
Photo Gallery
Barracks and Parade Grounds at...
12 Images
The East Barracks/Parade Ground is an approximately 38 acre designed historic landscape central to the Vancouver Barracks developed by the U.S. Army between 1849 and 1947. This landscape includes the Parade Ground and the East Barracks and was listed on the National Register in 2007 as part of the Vancouver National Historic Reserve Historic District.
Last updated: January 4, 2023