The Army constructed the fort during May 1861 as part of its Civil War defenses of Washington (see Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War).

A May 17, 1864, report from the Union Army's Inspector of Artillery (see Union Army artillery organization) noted the following:Fort Albany, Captain Rhodes commanding.–Garrison, one company First Massachusetts Volunteers–5 commissioned officers, 1 ordnance-sergeant, 145 men.

[2] No trace of it remains, although a historic marker shows the location where the fort once stood, guarding the approach to the Long Bridge along the Columbia Turnpike, near the modern-day Pentagon.

[4] The ground on which the fort stood was cut away during the construction of the Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway, in 1942.

[1] Drawing of Fort Albany in the collection of the Library of Congress Retrieved 2018-03-14.