Fort Hunt Park

Fort Hunt was built on the bank of the Potomac River in 1897 at the beginning of the Spanish-American War to defend Washington, D.C. from naval attack. During World War II, the fort was used to interrogate captive German officers. Fort Hunt is the site of the death of Lieutenant Commander Werner Henke, the highest-ranking German officer to be shot while in American captivity during World War II. On 15 June 1944, he dashed to the fence of the interrogation center and began to climb over. He continued to climb after being ordered to stop and a guard shot him dead with a sub-machine gun.