Fort McNair

Fort McNair serves as the headquarters for the U.S. Army Military District of Washington and is home to the National Defense University, which includes the National War College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. The installation also houses the Inter-American Defense College. It remains an active U.S. Army post in Washington, D.C., focused on professional military education and ceremonial support for the nation's capital.

Fort McNair was renamed in 1948 in honor of Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, who was killed by friendly fire near Saint-Lô, France, during Operation Cobra in July 1944. McNair had served as commander of Army Ground Forces during World War II and was instrumental in the training and organization of millions of American soldiers. He was posthumously promoted to four-star general in 1954.

Fort McNair was established in 1791, making it one of the oldest military installations in the United States—third oldest after West Point and Carlisle Barracks. It was originally called the Washington Arsenal and functioned as an ordnance manufacturing and storage facility for over a century. The site was renamed Fort McNair in 1948 and has been in continuous military use for more than two centuries.

During the Civil War, the Washington Arsenal (as Fort McNair was then known) was the site of the trial and execution of the Lincoln assassination conspirators in 1865. A military tribunal was held at the fort's penitentiary building, and Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt were hanged there on July 7, 1865. The penitentiary building was later used for the incarceration of Mary Surratt's son, John Surratt, during his own trial.