Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Hancock, Fort

One of the most important protective works on the Atlantic coast, established on Sandy Hook, N. J., about 20 miles from New York City, and named in honor of Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock. The locality was first used by the government as a proving-ground for heavy ordnance. The main ship-channel lies directly across the end of the Hook, and through this is the entrance to the lower bay of New York. This consideration suggested the advisability of making the Hook a strong fortified post, and the work was carried on so thoroughly that when war was declared against Spain (1898) Generals Miles and Merritt pronounced Fort Hancock impregnable. At that time four batteries were sent there, and the works, which can scarcely be discerned from sea, were further equipped with two 16-inch disappearing guns, one 8-inch pneumatic dynamite gun, two 12- [245] inch and four 10-inch rifles, and two mortar batteries of sixteen guns each.