Editing Fort Hamilton (section)

==Today==
[[File:Fort Hamilton Community Club.jpg|thumb|Ft. Hamilton Historic Community Club in the old fort]]
{{more citations needed section|date=December 2016}}
Fort Hamilton is the only active-duty [[United States Department of Defense|DoD]] military post in New York City.<ref name="oasis"/> Fort Hamilton was once a sister fortification to Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. The two forts were part of a system of military installations in New York City, including [[Fort Tilden]] and [[Fort Totten (Queens)|Fort Totten]] in [[Queens]]; [[Fort Wood (New York and New Jersey)|Fort Wood]] and [[Governors Island]] in [[Manhattan]]; [[Hart Island (Bronx)|Hart Island]] and [[Fort Schuyler]] in [[the Bronx]]; and [[Brooklyn Army Terminal]], [[Brooklyn Navy Yard]] and [[Floyd Bennett Field]] in Brooklyn.<ref>{{cite web | last=Chen | first=David W. | title=Fortress New York, Falling to Time; Across City, Vestiges of the Days of Redcoats, Rebels and Russians | website=The New York Times | date=December 16, 2001 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/16/nyregion/fortress-new-york-falling-time-across-city-vestiges-days-redcoats-rebels.html | access-date=October 24, 2018}}</ref>

At present, U.S. Army Fort Hamilton Garrison is the home of the New York City Recruiting Battalion, the Military Entrance Processing Station, the [[North Atlantic Division]] Headquarters of the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]], the 1179th Transportation Brigade and the 722nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron, the latter organization being a geographically separated unit (GSU) of the [[439th Airlift Wing]] of the [[Air Force Reserve Command]]. Fort Hamilton also supports many Army Reserve and New York Army National Guard units, These Army National Guard units include the 133d Quartermaster Company, Company C/642d Aviation Support Battalion, 222d Chemical Company, and the 107th Military Police Company.  Currently Fort Hamilton is under [[United States Army Installation Management Command|Installation Management Command]] headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, TX.

The construction of the [[Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge]] in the early 1960s did away with several historic structures, including [[Fort Lafayette]], which was located near the Brooklyn shore where the bridge tower now rises from the water. During the same period, efforts toward saving the historical heritage of the Narrows increased. Part of the U.S. Army's contribution to preserving this heritage is in the [[Harbor Defense Museum]] at Fort Hamilton.

The [[Casemate Fort, Whiting Quadrangle|original fort]] later became the [[Military officers' club|Officers' Club]] and now houses the Community Club.  The  [[caponier]], a miniature fort guarding the main fort's gate, now houses the [[Harbor Defense Museum]]. Other notable landmarks include the [[Robert E. Lee]] House, where Lee, then a captain, resided while post engineer of the garrison,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Robert_E_Lee/FREREL/1/12*.html|chapter=Five drab years end in opportunity|title=R. E. Lee: A Biography|author-link=Douglas Southall Freeman|first=Douglas Southall|last=Freeman|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|year=1934|quote=...Reaching New York on the night of April 10, 1841, in a period of very bad weather, Lee soon discovered that his task was not as interesting as he had hoped it would be – that it was laborious but technically not difficult. His instructions were to institute somewhat elaborate repairs at Fort Lafayette, and to make various changes in Fort Hamilton, particularly in the parapet, so as to adapt it to barbette guns.}}</ref> and Colonels' Row, six historic townhouses that used to house senior officers. All of these structures are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

In the 2000s, the historic parade field that once lay behind the old New York Area Command (NYAC) Headquarters Building and the Military Personnel Office, former site of numerous ceremonies and festivities, was developed into swiftly built privatized housing. The historic flag pole and cannon are still present at the site, near the old headquarters building and across from the Post Exchange barber shop.

In 2007, the historic brick barracks, located on the plot of land within [[General Pershing|Pershing Loop]] on the eastern portion of the base, which formerly housed the New York Area Command's Ceremonial Platoon and Military Police Company, was demolished. The ceremonial platoon, consisting of only infantrymen, once performed funeral honors and ceremonial functions (such as deployment as color guards in New York City parades, or firing cannons to start the [[New York City Marathon]]), in the greater N.Y. area, including Long Island, New York City, as well as parts of [[New Jersey]], along with the 26th Army Band unit<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=169037371996 26th Army Band unit]</ref> that was similar to the Old Guard in Washington, D.C.

A Civil War-era experimental 20-inch [[Rodman gun]], one of two remaining and the largest gun produced by either side in that period, is in [[John Paul Jones Park]] immediately north of the fort. Numerous shells for this weapon are displayed on the fort grounds. An ex-Navy [[12-inch/45-caliber Mark 5 gun|12"/45 caliber Mark V Mod 8 gun]] is also displayed on post, representative of the type of weapon the fort had in the Endicott era.