Battery Baldwin (site) (San Francisco, California) | artillery battery

 artillery battery, historical layer / disappeared object

"This Endicott battery was named in War Department General Order 105 October 9, 1902, in honor of 2nd Lieutenant Henry M. Baldwin, Fifth Artillery, who died of wounds received at Cedar Creek, Virginia, on October 19 1864. Lt. Baldwin was born in New Jersey, and appointed from New Jersey.

"This Battery was armed with Two 3-inch rapid fire 15 ponder Model 1898, nos. 73 and 74 manufactured by Diggs Seabury Gun and Ammunition Company, but were modified by Frankford. These guns cost $3,165.00, and were placed 30' apart. It had a range of 15500 yards.

"The guns in this battery were mounted Diggs-Seabury (Balanced Pillar Mounts) Model 1898 nos. 73 and 74. This was a unique model that warrants special comment, the 3-inch gun on a carriage known as the Balanced Pillar Mount, operated somewhat in the manner of the large gun lift carriage. This mount consisted of a vertical, telescoping cylinder that allowed the entire gun and carriage to be lowered behind the parapet crest after firing.

"This battery saw service from October 9 1902 until May 26 1920, when the guns were dismounted The perfection of underwater mines made inner-harbor defensive works largely obsolete, so this battery was disarmed in 1920. For many years it was believed that the construction of the Doyle Drive highway approach to the Golden Gate Bridge had destroyed the empty battery, but the California Department of Transportation in a July 1995 excavation of the area to remediate lead build up in the area has uncovered the old fortification,. buried at the time, and it looks very intact, this is a real find."

Read more here: www.militarymuseum.org/BtyBaldwin.html