Fort Woodbury

Fort Woodbury
Part of the Civil War defenses of Washington, D.C.
Court House, Arlington County, Virginia
Lithographic print of Fort Woodbury by Lieutenant Charles Ferdinand Gruner of 4th Michigan Infantry
Site information
TypeLunette
Controlled byUnion Army
ConditionNo visible remnants
Site history
Built1861
Built byU.S. Army Corps of Engineers
In use1861–1865
MaterialsEarth, timber
Demolished1865
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Fort Woodbury was a lunette fortification built in 1861 by the 4th Michigan Infantry Regiment during the early American Civil War. It was part of the larger Arlington Line, an extensive network of fortifications erected in present-day Arlington County, Virginia designed to protect Washington, D.C. from Confederate attack. Like the other three lunettes in the Arlington Line, Fort Woodbury occupied the highlands in Arlington that had a direct line of sight towards Washington.

Fort Woodbury did not experience any action throughout the course of the Civil War and was abandoned after the war's end in 1865. The site of the fort was eventually chosen for Arlington County's courthouse in 1898 and is today part of the Court House neighborhood, where it is marked with a commemorative sign.