Fortress sights in Washington, DC
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Fort Stevens Park
In a raid on July 11, 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early attacked Fort Stevens, the northernmost of the defensive ramparts ringing the city. A small but fierce battle raged – the only time the Civil War touched District soil – until Early’s men withdrew across the Potomac. Abraham Lincoln himself was drawn into the shooting: the president, observing the battle from Fort Stevens’ parapet, popped his head up so many times that Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr, then a Union captain, yelled ‘Get down, you damn fool, before you get shot!’ The fort has been partially restored, and 41 Union men who died in its defense are buried at tiny Battleground National Cemetery (66…
reviewed
-
B
Fort Lesley J McNair
Located just south of Waterside Park, this was an army post established in 1791; it was burned by the British in 1814. The Lincoln-assassination conspirators were hung at McNair in 1865; it now houses the National Defense University and National War College (closed to the public).
reviewed
