Unfinished DC Business - Ft. Stevens

In July of 1864, the Army of the Potomac was applying considerable pressure on the defenses around Richmond.  Confederate General Robert E. Lee detached his Second Corps, under the command of General Jubal Early, to reclaim the Shenandoah Valley, a vital food source for the Confederates, and, if possible, invade Maryland from there.  All of this would be done in the hope that the mere presence of the Second Corps in the area would pose a threat to Washington, DC, and force Union commander Ulysses S. Grant to recall some of the troops around Richmond in order to protect his own capitol.

Early won an engagement at Lynchburg, Virginia, and then another at Monocacy, Maryland.  At noon on July 11, his troops arrived just outside of Silver Spring, Maryland, and began scouting the Union positions.

They ran into the northern portion of the ring of forts that protected Washington, DC.  More specifically, they ran into Ft. Stevens.  (A complete account of the battle can be found HERE).

 I mention all of this because, one day, as I drove down Georgia Avenue - the most direct way into the city from where I lived - I saw a sign: Ft. Stevens.  I turned left and drove up the hill.

(Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)

As it turns out, Ft. Stevens is important for three reasons.  1)  A portion of it still exists.  2) The battle there was really the only significant time that the ring of defenses around Washington, DC was tested (Early decided the defenses were too strong for his force, and withdrew, but he had accomplished his chief aim.  To bolster the Union defenses, Grant had sent his VI Corps and XIX Corps from the outskirts of Richmond).  And 3), President Lincoln himself rode out to watch the battle develop, since it was just a few miles north of the White House.  As he stood on the earthen ramparts, a Union surgeon nearby was hit by sniper fire.  Officers scurried to get the President under cover, but it was one of only two times that a U.S. president has come under enemy fire while in office (the other being President Madison's brief escapade during the Battle of Bladensburg (Maryland) during the War of 1812).

The restored part of the fort now looks like this:

The rock monument that is somewhat visible behind the far cannon in the picture below allegedly marks the spot where Lincoln stood as he observed Confederate forces maneuvering for position.

The fort was a terrific way to start a Sunday drive into the city, and it was my introduction to the the Civil War Defenses of Washington. 

In Washington, DC, it doesn't take long to realize that, throughout the capitol's relatively short history, there have always been planners and thinkers who wanted the city to be a grand symbol of the world's greatest democratic experiment. 

After the Civil War, the city's defenses were abandoned and fell into disrepair.  But, in 1902, instead of selling off the many strips of land for private development, a special congressional committee, with unusual foresight, recommended keeping the derelict earthworks and half-buried trenches and converting them into lands reserved for public use.

Thus was born the substantial ring of green space around the city that is sometimes known as the Fort Circle Parks.

From the National Park Service website:

On forested hills surrounding the nation’s capital are the remnants of a complex system of Civil War fortifications. Built by Union forces, these strategic buttresses transformed the young capital into one of the world's most fortified cities. These forts remain as windows into the past in the midst of D.C.’s urban green space, offering recreational, cultural, and natural experiences.

From the original circle of fortifications, nineteen parks remain (in red on the map below) and are administered by the National Park Service.