Civil War Defenses of Washington

During the American Civil War, Union forces built in the Washington, D.C. area, included 68 major enclosed forts used to house soldiers and store artillery and other supplies. They also built 93 prepared but unarmed batteries for field guns and seven blockhouses.{{sfnp|NPS, Civil War Defenses of Washington: History & Culture|2020}} There were also 20 miles of rifle pits and 30 miles of connecting military roads.{{sfnp|Cooling|Owen|2010|pp=20}} The Confederacy never captured any of these forts, though some came under enemy fire.

Most were built on the limits of the city, which had remained relatively rural. Most of the land was privately owned and taken over by the military at the beginning of the Civil War.

Some examples include:{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}

• Fort Slemmer: A 24-acre plot was owned by Henry Douglas, a florist. Flowers, 1,970 fruit trees, vines, bushes, and other plants were destroyed to complete the fort. This made the land owner unable to work in this trade.{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}
• Fort Reno: The land belonged to Giles and Miles Dyer. The farmhouse was used by the Army as the headquarters for various commands encamped in the area. The fortification covered 20 acres of land. Some 50 more acres were used for barracks, camps, and a parade ground.{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}
• Forts Chaplin and Craven: These forts were built on land belonging to Selby B. Scaggs. He owned a farm there totaling about 400 acres and worth $52,000. Four laborers also lived there. According to the 1860 Census Slave Schedule, Scaggs was also an enslaver of 16 people.{{NoteTag|From the 1860 US Federal Census for the District of Columbia.}}{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}
• Fort DeRussy: The fort was built on land owned by Bernard S. Swart, a clerk. He lived there with his wife, three children and two farmhands. Today his land is part of Rock Creek Park.{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}
• Fort DuPont: The fort was built on the land owned by 60-year-old Michael Caton, worth $5,000 in 1860. He lived there with his wife, five children (aged 18 to 30), and one domestic worker.{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}
• Fort Slocum: The fort was in part built on the land owned by John F. Callan, also a clerk. He lived there with his wife and their eight children (aged 8 to 24).{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}
• Fort Bayard: The fort was built on land belonging to a farmer named Philip J. Buckey, who lived there with his wife, four children and two servants.{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}
• Battery Kemble and part of Fort Gaines: The land was owned by William A.T. Maddox, a U.S. Marine Corps captain stationed in Philadelphia.{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}
• Fort Stevens: The land belonged to Emory Methodist Church. Some land may have belonged to Elizabeth Thomas, a free black woman. Her house was demolished in the process. Documentation for her ownership was never discovered but the story has become part of the local folklore.{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}

The forts in the District of Columbia were temporary structures. They were in most part built of earthen embankments, timber with limited masonry and were surrounded by trenches and flanked with abatis. They were not designed to serve beyond the Civil War as the land was intended to be returned to its owners at that time.{{sfnp|The Evening Star, The Defenses of Washington during the War, October 9, 1902}}

Most of these owners lost possession of their land for the duration of the war and were unable to receive income from it. Only a few received compensation or rent from the land during the war.{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}}

File:Fort Driveway - (Washington D.C.). LOC 88690813.jpg

File:Map of the District of Columbia - 1901 LOC 87694449.jpg

File:Map of the District of Columbia showing areas recommended to be taken as necessary for new parks and park connections LOC 87694473.jpg

In 1898, an interest in connecting the forts by a road was proposed. Known as the Fort Drive, it would connect all the forts from the east of the city to the west.

In 1919 the Commissioners of the District of Columbia pushed Congress to pass a bill to consolidate the aging forts into a "Fort Circle" system of parks that would ring the growing city of Washington. As envisioned by the Commissioners, the Fort Circle would be a green ring of parks outside the city, owned by the government, and connected by a "Fort Drive" road in order to allow Washington's citizens to easily escape the confines of the capital. However, the bill allowing for the purchase of the former forts, which had been turned back over to private ownership after the war, failed to pass both the House of Representatives and Senate.{{sfnp|House of Representatives of the United States|1919|p=594}}

Despite that failure, in 1925 a similar bill passed both the House and Senate, which allowed for the creation of the National Capital Parks Commission (NCPC) to oversee the construction of a Fort Circle of parks similar to that proposed in 1919.{{sfnp|The Evening Star, Linking of Forts Embodied in Plan, December 4, 1925}} The NCPC was authorized to begin purchasing land occupied by the old forts, much of which had been turned over to private ownership following the war. Records indicate that the site of Fort Stanton was purchased for a total of $56,000 in 1926.{{sfnp|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Part 2, Chapter 3 Endnotes)|2020}} The duty of purchasing land and constructing the fort parks changed hands several times throughout the 1920s and 1930s, eventually culminating with the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service taking control of the project in the 1940s.{{sfnp|Wagner|Sauers|1939|p=40}}

During the Great Depression, crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps embarked on projects to improve and maintain the parks, which were still under the control of District authority at that time. At Fort Stanton, CCC members trimmed trees and cleared brush, as well as maintaining and constructing park buildings.{{sfnp|NPS, Record Group 79, 1935}} Various non-park buildings were also discussed for the land. The City Department of Education proposed building a school on park land, while authorities from the local water utility suggested the construction of a water tower would be suitable for the tall hills of the park.{{sfnp|NPS, Record Group 66, 1952}} The Second World War interrupted these plans, and post-war budget cuts instituted by President Harry S. Truman postponed the construction of the Fort Drive once more. Though land for the parks had mostly been purchased, construction of the ring road connecting them was pushed back again and again. Other projects managed to find funding, however. In 1949, President Truman approved a supplemental appropriation request of $175,000 to construct "a swimming pool and associated facilities" at Fort Stanton Park.{{sfnp|House of Representatives of the United States|1949|p=40}}

In 1963, when President John F. Kennedy began pushing Congress to finally build the Fort Circle Drive,{{sfnp|Martha Strayer, JFK Settles Battle Over Ft. Drive, Washington Daily News, May 28, 1963}} many in Washington and the National Park Service were openly questioning whether the plan had outgrown its usefulness.{{sfnp|National Capital Planning Commission|1965|pp=3–9}} By this time, Washington, D.C. had grown past the ring of forts that had protected it a century earlier, and city surface roads already connected the parks, albeit not in as linear a route as envisioned.{{sfnp|The Washington Post, Fort Sites Eyed for Future Use, October 2, 1964}} The plan to link the fort parks via a grand drive was quietly dropped in the years that followed and replaced by a plan to instead build a Fort Circle Trail.

The National Capital Parks-East unit of the National Park Service administers Forts Foote, Greble, Stanton, Ricketts, Davis, Dupont, Chaplin, Mahan and Battery Carroll in the District of Columbia and Maryland. The Rock Creek Park unit administers Forts Bunker Hill, Totten, Slocum, Stevens, DeRussy, Reno, Bayard, Battery Kemble and Battleground National Cemetery in the District of Columbia. The George Washington Memorial Parkway administers Fort Marcy in Virginia.{{sfnp|NPS, Civil War Defenses of Washington: Contact Us|2020}}

In 2024 legislation was proposed that would reorganize the forts into a national historical park, though the National Park Service opposed changes to the existing administration.{{sfnp|U.S. Department of the Interior, H.R. 7976|2024}}

File:Defenses of Washington, extract of military map of N.E. Virginia - showing forts and roads LOC 88690675.jpg defenses of the national capital of Washington, D.C., including forts, roads, and railroads]]

File:Fort Stevens.jpg

File:Battleground Cemetery.jpg]]

The 1865 map shows the following fortifications, some of which no longer exist. Forts in italic type are included in the National Register of Historic Places listing.

• Fort Cross (MD)
• Fort Kirby (MD)
• Fort Sumner (MD)
• Battery Alexander (MD)
• Fort Simmons (MD)
• Fort Davis (MD)
• Battery Benson (MD)
• Battery Bailey (MD)
• Fort Mansfield (MD)
• Battery Cameron {{Coord|38|54|56.3|N|77|05|19.7|W|name=Battery Cameron}}
• Battery Parrott {{Coord|38|55|14.0|N|77|05|25.8|W|name=Battery Parrott}}
• Battery Kemble {{Coord|38|55|49.4|N|77|05|46.8|W|name=Battery Kemble}}
• Battery Martin Scott {{Coord|38|55|49.6|N|77|06|40.1|W|name=Battery Martin Scott}}
• Battery Vermont {{Coord|38|56|15.0|N|77|06|40.0|W|name=Battery Vermont}}
• Fort Bayard {{Coord|38|57|18.7|N|77|05|29.4|W|name=Fort Bayard}}
• Fort Gaines
• Fort Reno {{Coord|38|57|10.2|N|77|04|41.9|W|name=Fort Reno}}
• Battery Rossell
• Fort Kearny
• Battery Terrill
• Battery Smead
• Battery Kingsbury
• Fort De Russy {{Coord|38|57|48.7|N|77|03|04.1|W|name=Fort De Russy}}
• Battery Sill
• Fort Stevens {{Coord|38|57|50.2 |N|77|01|46|W|name=Fort Stevens}}

File:Topographical map, 1st Brigade, defenses north of Potomac, Washington, D.C. (West).jpg

File:Topographical map, 1st Brigade, defenses north of Potomac, Washington, D.C. LOC 88690656.jpg

• Fort Slocum {{Coord|38|57|36.7|N|77|00|38.9|W|name=Fort Slocum}}
• Fort Totten {{Coord|38|56|51.8|N|77|00|18.5|W|name=Fort Totten}}
• Fort Slemmer {{Coord|38|56|23.0|N|77|00|05.0|W|name=Fort Slemmer}}
• Fort Bunker Hill {{Coord|38.935509|-76.987628|format=dms|name=Bunker Hill}}
• Fort Saratoga {{Coord|38|55|47.3|N|76|58|43.3|W|name=Fort Saratoga}}
• Fort Thayer {{Coord|38|55|42.5|N|76|58|16.5|W|name=Fort Thayer}}
• Fort Lincoln {{Coord|38|55|31|N|76|57|04|W|name=Fort Lincoln}}

• Fort Mahan {{Coord|38|53|42.6|N|76|56|41.6|W|name=Fort Mahan}}
• Fort Chaplin {{Coord|38|53|19|N|76|56|34|W|name=Fort Chaplin}}
• Fort Meigs
• Fort Dupont {{Coord|38|52|22.1|N|76|56|26.3|W|name=Fort Dupont}}
• Fort Davis {{Coord|38|51|59.6|N|76|57|06.7|W|name=Fort Davis}}
• Fort Baker
• Fort Wagner
• Fort Ricketts {{Coord|38|51|24.5|N|76|58|32.8|W|name=Fort Ricketts}}
• Fort Stanton {{Coord|38|51|29.5|N|76|58|54.9|W|name=Fort Stanton}}
• Fort Snyder
• Fort Carroll {{Coord|38|50|16.4|N|77|00|24.7|W|name=Fort Carroll}}
• Fort Greble {{Coord|38|49|32.8|N|77|00|55.8|W|name=Fort Greble}}

• Fort Foote, MD {{Coord|38|46|0.1|N|77|01|40.1|W|name=Fort Foote, MD}}
• Battery Rogers, VA {{Coord|38|47|42.6|N|77|2|35.88|W|name=Battery Rodgers, VA}}
• Fort Washington, MD{{Coord|38|42|39|N|77|01|59|W|name=Fort Washington, MD}}

File:Civil War earthworks in the woods, Mount Eagle Park.jpg area of Fairfax County, Virginia]]

From North to South:

• Fort Marcy {{Coord|38|56|2.4|N|77|07|33.6|W|name=Fort Marcy}}
• Fort Ethan Allen
• Fort C. F. Smith
• Fort Bennett
• Fort Strong (formerly Fort DeKalb){{sfnmp|1a1=Cooling|1a2=Owen|1y=2010|1p=115|2a1=Swain|2y=2008|2p=1}}
• Fort Corcoran
• Fort Haggerty
• Fort Morton
• Fort Woodbury
• Fort Cass (later within Fort Myer)
• Fort Whipple (later within Fort Myer)
• Fort Tillinghast
• Fort McPherson
• Fort Buffalo
• Fort Ramsay
• Fort Craig
• Fort Albany
• Fort Jackson
• Fort Runyon
• Fort Richardson
• Fort Barnard{{Cite web|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?MarkerID=5158&Print=1|title = Fort Barnard Historical Marker}}
• Fort Berry{{Cite web|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?MarkerID=5154&Print=1|title = Fort Berry Historical Marker}}
• Fort Scott
• Battery Garesche
• Fort Reynolds
• Fort Ward
• Fort Worth
• Fort Williams
• Fort Ellsworth
• Fort Lyon
• Fort Farnsworth
• Fort Weed
• Fort O'Rourke
• Fort Willard

• Field artillery in the American Civil War
• List of forts in the United States
• Parrott rifle
• Seacoast defense in the United States (Fort Washington, Fort Foote, and Battery Rodgers)
• Siege artillery in the American Civil War

{{NoteFoot|50em}}

{{Reflist|40em}}

{{refbegin|60em}}

• {{cite book |last1=Cooling |first1=Benjamin Franklin, III |last2=Owen |first2=Walton H., II|section=Defense Posts for the Long Bridge — Forts Albany, Runyan, and Jackson: Fort Albany |title=Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qRIuDHJoTEC&pg=PA90 |date=2010 |edition=New |pages=90–92 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6307-1 |lccn=2009018392 |oclc=665840182 |accessdate=2018-03-05 |via=Google Books |url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312195701/https://books.google.com/books?id=3qRIuDHJoTEC&pg=PA90 |archivedate=2018-03-12}}
• {{cite book |last1=Wagner |first1=H.S. |last2=Sauers |first2=Charles G. |title=Study of the Organization of the National Capital Parks |publisher=National Park Service |date=1939 |location=Washington, DC |page=40 |chapter=National Capital Park and Planning Commission}}
• {{cite book |title=Record Group 79, Records of the National Park Service, National Archives, Records of the Branch of Recreation, Land Protection, and State Cooperation, Narrative Reports Concerning ECW (CCC) Projects in NPS Areas, 1933–35, District of Columbia, Boxes 11, National Capital Parks, Narrative Report covering Fifth Enrollment Period, ECW Camp N.A. #1, Washington, DC, Apr–Oct 1935 |publisher=National Park Service |date=1935 |ref={{sfnref|NPS, Record Group 79, 1935}} }}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite book |title=Record Group 66, Records of the National Park Service, National Archives, Entry 17, Project Files, 1910–52, Forts, Fort Stanton |publisher=National Park Service |date=1952 |ref={{sfnref|NPS, Record Group 66, 1952}} }}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite book |author=House of Representatives of the United States |author-link=House of Representatives of the United States |title=House Executive Document No. 361, 81st Congress, 1st Session, "Supplemental Estimate of Appropriation for the Department of the Interior," October 11, 1949 |date=October 11, 1949 |page=40 }}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite web |title=Civil War Fort Sites | url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/74000274_text |date=1974 |ref={{sfnref|NHRP, Civil War Fort Sites|1974}} | access-date=August 15, 2011}}
• {{cite web |website=American Trails |title=Fort Circle Parks Trail |publisher=National Recreation Trails|date=June 1, 1971 |url=https://www.nrtapplication.org/trails/fort-circle-parks-trail | access-date=August 20, 2024 |ref={{sfnref|American Trails, Fort Circle Parks Trail|1971}} }}
• {{cite web |title=Civil War Defenses of Washington: History & Culture |url=https://www.nps.gov/cwdw/learn/historyculture/index.htm |date=October 14, 2020|work=NPS.gov |publisher=National Park Service (US Govt) |access-date=May 29, 2020 |ref={{sfnref|NPS, Civil War Defenses of Washington: History & Culture|2020}} }}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite web |title=The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3) |url=http://www.npshistory.com/publications/cwdw/hrs/chap3-1.htm |date=October 14, 2020|work=NPS.gov |publisher=National Park Service (US Govt) |access-date=May 29, 2020 |ref={{sfnref|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Chapter 3)|2020}} }}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite web |title=The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Part 2, Chapter 3 Endnotes) |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/civilwar/hrs2-3n.htm |date=October 14, 2020|work=NPS.gov |publisher=National Park Service (US Govt) |access-date=May 29, 2020 |ref={{sfnref|NPS, The Civil War Defenses of Washington: Historic Resource Study (Part 2, Chapter 3 Endnotes)|2020}} }}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite web |title=Civil War Defenses of Washington: Contact Us |url=https://www.nps.gov/cwdw/contacts.htm |date=October 14, 2020|work=NPS.gov |publisher=National Park Service (US Govt) |access-date=July 7, 2011 |ref={{sfnref|NPS, Civil War Defenses of Washington: Contact Us|2020}} }}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite journal |title=The Defenses of Washington during the War |journal=The Evening Star |location=Washington, DC |via=Newspapers.com |issue=15482 |date=October 9, 1902 |page=21 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/145416324 |ref={{sfnref|The Evening Star, The Defenses of Washington during the War, October 9, 1902}} |access-date=September 1, 2024}}
• {{cite web | title=H.R. 7976 | website=U.S. Department of the Interior | date=July 24, 2024 | url=https://www.doi.gov/ocl/hr-7976 | ref={{sfnref|U.S. Department of the Interior, H.R. 7976|2024}} | access-date=September 1, 2024}}{{PD-notice}}
• {{cite journal |title=Linking of Forts Embodied in Plan |journal=The Evening Star |location=Washington, DC |via=Newspapers.com |issue=15482 |date=December 4, 1925 |page=21 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/145416324 |ref={{sfnref|The Evening Star, Linking of Forts Embodied in Plan, December 4, 1925}} |access-date=September 1, 2024}}
• {{cite journal |last=Strayer |first=Martha |title=JFK Settles Battle Over Ft. Drive |journal=The Evening Star |location=Washington, DC |via=Newspapers.com |issue=15482 |date=December 4, 1925 |page=21 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1043581184/ |ref={{sfnref|Martha Strayer, JFK Settles Battle Over Ft. Drive, Washington Daily News, May 28, 1963}} |access-date=September 1, 2024}}
• {{cite news |title=Fort Sites Eyed for Future Use |newspaper=The Washington Post |location=Washington, DC |date=October 2, 1964 |ref={{sfnref|The Washington Post, Fort Sites Eyed for Future Use, October 2, 1964}} }}
• {{cite web |editor-last=Swain |editor-first=Craig |date=March 3, 2008|url=https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5112|title="Fort Strong" marker|work=HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Data Base|accessdate=March 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306034316/https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5112|archive-date=March 6, 2018|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all |page=1}}
• {{cite book |author=National Capital Planning Commission |author-link=National Capital Planning Commission |date=1965 |title=Fort Park System: A Re-evaluation Study of Fort Drive |publisher=National Capital Planning Commission |location=Washington, DC |pages=3–9 }}
• {{cite web |author=House of Representatives of the United States |author-link=House of Representatives of the United States |title=Journal of the 66th Congress, 1st Session |website=Congress.gov |date=January 4, 1919 | url=https://www.congress.gov/bound-congressional-record/1918/01/04/house-section |page=594 |access-date=September 1, 2024}}{{PD-notice}}

{{refend}}

{{GeoGroup}}

• {{Commons category-inline}}
• {{NRHP url|id=74000274|title="Civil War Fort Sites"}}, NRHP
• {{NRHP url|id=78003439|title="Defenses of Washington (Civil War Fort Sites)"}}, NRHP
• Floyd, Dale E. [http://www.c-span.org/video/?305822-1/civil-war-defenses-washington-dc Civil War Defenses of Washington, D.C.], National Cable Satellite Corporation, March 14, 2012
• [https://www.nps.gov/cwdw/index.htm National Park Service: Civil War Defenses of Washington]

{{Civil War DC forts}}

{{Washington, D.C. hiking trails}}

{{Protected Areas of the District of Columbia}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

{{Portal bar|American Civil War|Architecture|National Register of Historic Places}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Defenses Of (Civil War)}}

Category:American Civil War forts in Virginia

Category:American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places

Category:Forts in Maryland

Category:Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.

Category:National Recreation Trails in Washington, D.C.