As I mentioned in my last post, Fort Stevens is now on the CWPTs “most endangered” list along with the remnants of 67 other “Circle Forts” that guarded Washington during the Civil War.
Circle Forts, Washington, D.C. Erected to protect the Union capital from the threat of Confederate assault, the Circle Forts are a ring of 68 fortifications scattered around Washington. On July 11, 1864, the city was defended only by a motley crew of short-term recruits and convalescents — but Federal reinforcements arrived just in time to save the city. Watching the action from the ramparts of Fort Stevens was President Abraham Lincoln, the only time a sitting American President has faced direct enemy fire. Today, the ring of fortifications has largely been absorbed by growing neighborhoods, and, although each fort has faced a different fate, none are preserved as thoroughly as their rich heritage deserves.
Here’s what it looks like today, standing on the parapet looking north toward what once was the Confederate position. The monument, showing where Abe Lincoln came under fire (a surgeon standing next to him was wounded) was put up by the surviving VI Corps veterans in 1920. Once this fort was several miles beyond the city; now, as you can see, it’s well inside town.
A thousand yards north, where once stood a spacious mansion, now stands Water Reed Army Medical Center. Confederate sharpshooters fired on Ft. Stevens from the grounds, and until the 1960s a large tulip tree there was referred to as “the sharpshooter’s tree.” Today, there’s still a plaque. My reconstruction of the battle (which you may read about in my book) shows that the heaviest fighting of both days took place on the grounds of Walter Reed on the evening of July 12, when two brigades of Getty’s division of VI Corps tried to drive away the sharpshooters of Rodes’s division. Rodes sent up reinforcements and a sizable open-order battle developed on top of the knoll, with each side claiming to have repulsed three attacks by the other. Some 5,000 men were involved in the fighting, and around 500 were killed or wounded on each side, making it a bit more than just a “skirmish.”
Walter Reed is due to be closed soon as part of Base Realignment, and no one know exactly what will happen to that land. Developers, naturally, are casting covetous glances and no one seems to be speaking up for preserving at least some of the Confederate positions. Fort Stevens, which is only half a city block, is also sadly neglected, with few visitors. One recent visitor described it as “a public disgrace once again, a dump site for everything from broken liquor bottles and trash on the gun platforms behind the revetments to used condoms embellishing the parapets — there really is no excuse for this on public land. Moreover, it is an insult to the memory of those who fought and died there.”
I agree, and it’s a sad thing. I hope to be able to post more about this to raise awareness of the need to preserve this vital piece of American history.
Fred Ray
April 25, 2006
Check out Beyond the Crater: The Petersburg Campaign Online for the latest on the Siege of Petersburg!
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