By Elliot Carter

Fort Reno is today home to a park, reservoir and middle school. Flashback 150 years ago and the site was a Civil War military fortification. Located at the highest point in Washington, Fort Reno's guns watched over the strategic intersection of River Road and Rockville Pike (today Wisconsin Avenue).

The fort was built by 600 Pennsylvania reservists. It had two sections, and the main fort was linked in with the forward battery by a communication trench. Earthworks circled the position and protected gun platforms and bombproof magazines. When construction was complete the garrison was strengthened by 3,000 additional troops from New York, Indiana, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The troops had a sprawling tent camp nearby and did not actually live in the fort.