The California State Military Museum
The California State Military MuseumA source of confusion in any discussion of the military posts of San Francisco Bay is Fort Winfield Scott. 'Defining exactly what and where it was is no simple matter., and there were two phases to the use of the term, But for the purpose of understanding what it meant there are two central facts: Fort Winfield Scott was physically a part of what is generally understood as the Presidio of San Francisco; and since 1910 it has comprised in part a geographically separate and architecturally distinct set of buildings around a separate parade ground most of them built in 1910. 1921 and 1912. The layout of the buildings was in the form of a hook or -backwards "J" with the top of the letter to the north.
The earliest usage of the name was somewhat different, The masonry and brick fort built in the 1850s on the site of the old Spanish Castillo de San Joaquin did not., for more than twenty years after acquiring its first garrison in 1861. have a formal military name. The point of land on which it was built had been called-by the Americans "Fort Point" because of the location there of the old Spanish castillo and., subsequently., the American fort which replaced it. But that was not the official name of the fort. It was referred to in official army documents as "the fort at Fort Point.," but of course in common usage, the term "Fort Point" more often referred to the fortification itself than the point of land on which it stood,
Then on November 25, 1882, Headquarters of the Army issued General Orders No. 133 which officially named that fort at Fort Point., "Fort Winfield Scott.," after the general who was a hero of the Mexican War and who commanded the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War. However., only four years later, the fort was downgraded to being a mere sub-post of the-Presidio of San Francisco with its none discontinued on September 15, 1886. In common usage, of course,, the name survived for many years more, although it had no administrative meaning.
Planning had
been in progress in the 1890s as new types of breechloading long
range guns were being emplaced around San Francisco Harbor for
a garrison for the men to man those which were within the Presidio
as well as a coast defense headquarters distinct from the Presidio. But this -was not actually constructed
until 1909-1912, and when was finished the old name was resurrected,
On June 18, 1912, in response -to instructions issued from the
War Department in Washington on February 16, the Western Division
published General Orders No. 11 which stated that "Fort Winfield
Scott., California, is established as an independent coast artillery
post, to take effect at 12 o'clock noon., June 19, 1912, and the
headquarters of the Artillery District of San Francisco will be
located thereat." Thus Fort Winfield Scott was a coast artillery
garrison which comprised roughly the northwestern quarter of the
land in the boundaries of the Presidio of San Francisco., and
had responsibility for all the seacoast defense batteries , torpedo
or mine facilities., and other supporting structures elsewhere
in the Presidio, but principally along its northern and western
edges. Defining the actual boundary of Fort Winfield Scott is
virtually impossible as it seems never to have been consistently
specified. The one and only true "entrance" to Fort
Winfield Scott consists of lettering spelling out that name, flanked
by the crossed-cannon-with-shell insignia of the Coast Artillery
Corps, which are on the east side of the Highway 1 overpass over
Kobbe Avenue (see photograph above.)
The key buildings
of the new post were Mission Revival style barracks and other
structures around the Parade Ground. The first built were buildings
1206, 1207 and 1208, reinforced concrete barracks with mess halls
and kitchens included built in 1910 at the northwest corner of
the Parade Ground. In 1911, two more of these were added., Buildings
1202 and 1203. In 1912 the largest amount of construction took
place: Post Headquarters No. 1201, five more barracks with mess
halls and kitchens included (1204, 1205, 1216, 1217 and 1218),
a Band Barracks (1214), a Guardhouse(No. 1213) at the northeast
corner of the Parade Ground, and the unlikely combination of a
Quartermaster Storehouse and Bowling Alley (No. 1219), This comprised
the basic Fort Winfield Scott artillery garrison complex.
Another complex of officers' quarters was absorbed into the new artillery post. These were the stately officers' quarters on Kobbe Avenue. The earliest of these, Nos. 1302 and 1304, were built in 1902. Then in 1910 three were added (1300, 1308 and 1310) and in 1912 seven more (1314, 1320, 1322, 1324, 1326, 1328 and 1334). A Bachelor Officers' Quarters with Mess (1330) was added in 1915, A general's residence across the street was erected in 1915 (1337) and another in 1943 (1332) to the southeast. Other buildings were added in later years.
Although always physically a part of the Presidio of San Francisco, Fort Winfield Scott functioned sometimes as a separate military command partially dependent on the Presidio for logistic support., sometimes as a sub-post of the Presidio itself'. answerable to the Presidio commander. On November 27, 1922 it was designated headquarters for the "Coast Defenses of San Francisco," but on June 9, 1925, that term was changed to "Harbor Defenses of San Francisco." As headquarters for that function., Fort Winfield Scott had at different times a number of sub-posts of its awn in the Bay Area: these included Forts Baker., Barry and Cronkhite in Marin County and Forts Miley and Funston in San Francisco. Neither the Presidio of San Francisco nor Fort Mason were ever sub-posts of Fort Scott, although both had some guns and other ancillary facilities (searchlights fire control stations, torpedo or mine facilities, etc.) that did come under Fort Winfield Scott's command.
Fort Winfield Scott's independent role., established in 1912, seems to have permanently ended on June 25, 1946, when it was designated a sub-post of the Presidio of San Francisco.. Although it was reclassified under the Commanding General of the Sixth Army on September 25, 1946.
Fort Scott had one other significance in history, On June 1, 1946, the army's Coast Artillery School was transferred from Fort Monroe., Virginia,, to Fort Winfield Scott., where it operated for a brief period before coast artillery defenses became obsolete when confronted with modern air power guided missiles,, and nuclear weapons., which of course made Fort Scott's own mission obsolete. Since then., Fort Winfield Scott's barracks have served other purposes., and in 1981 house the 504th Military Police Battalion.
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