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Published: February 8th 2023
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Fort Stevens was one of a circle of defensive forts built during the Civil War to protect Washington, DC, from Confederate attack. Collectively, the were known as the Defenses of Washington. The most famous engagement at Fort Stevens occurred 11-12 July 1864 when Confederate forces under Jubal Early attacked the fort in an attempt to capture Washington. (There is a speculative fiction novel in which the Confederates win this battle, Washington is captured and Lincoln taken prisoner.)
Aware that the conflict was near, President Lincoln ventured out to what was then the rural outskirts of Washington to view the engagement. He was there while the battle raged and is the only sitting President, as Commander in Chief of the military, to come under actual fire. Today, Fort Stevens is primarily a group of surviving earthworks with interpretive historical markers and two cannon. July 12, 2014 marked the 150th anniversary of the battle. To commemorate the sesquicentennial, reenactors representing Union troops, civilians, and Abraham Lincoln himself gathered under the sponsorship of the National Park Service. A costumed storyteller recounted the African-American experience in 1864 while living history demonstrations of Civil War musket firing, camp life, a fife and drum unit and
Union Soldier
Union reenactor representing the 1st Regiment, United States Colored Troops. Battle of Fort Stevens sesquicentennial.
DSC_0005 battlefield medicine took place on the field. A Postal Service philatelic display offered commemorative covers. I purchased one. Other attendees had come in costume as well, including a Girl Scout troop representing the ladies of Rockville who came to assist.
The Confederate forces were repulsed, with an estimated 500 casualties, and retreated back to Virginia. Fifty-nine Union soldiers were killed in action. Forty-one are buried at nearby Battlefield National Cemetery, the smallest of the National Cemeteries. I also stopped to visit Battlefield National Cemetery on Georgia Avenue.
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