Washington's Civil War Defenses and the Battle of Fort Stevens
Dr. B. Franklin Cooling
By the close of the Civil War, Washington, D.C. was the most heavily fortified city in North America, perhaps even in the world. According to the report of the army’s official engineer, her defenses boasted 68 enclosed forts with 807 mounted cannon and 93 mortars, 93 unarmed batteries with 401 emplacements for field guns and 20 miles of rifle trenches plus three blockhouses. Moreover miles of military roads, a telegraphic communication system and supporting infrastructure — including headquarters buildings, storehouses and construction camps — ringed the city. Thus, “the finest existing example of the system of defenses based upon a series of detached forts connected by a continuous trench line†contributed to a sense of “seeming impenetrability.†Yet, that system came close to failing at a critical juncture in the war that might well have cost President Abraham Lincoln his life, the Union its war and the country her national unification. This unsung story finds scant attention today in history books or at the various parks preserving the remains of some 22 fortifications, including Fort Stevens, site of a critical battle during Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s 1864 attempt to capture the American capital.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/washingtons-civil-war-defenses-and-battle-fort-stevens
