BATTLE OF FORT STEVENS

The 'Battle of Fort Stevens' was an American Civil War battle fought in what is now Northwest Washington, D.C., as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864, Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early's attempt to seize the city of Washington and distract Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia. Early's arrival in the outskirts of Washington was delayed by Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace and his troops at the Battle of Monocacy, which allowed Union reinforcements from Grant to come to Washington's defenses. Early retreated after a one-day effort to take the city.
President Abraham Lincoln rode out to observe the attack, and was briefly under enemy fire before he was brusquely ordered to take cover by an officer who did not recognize him (apocryphally, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.). Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, former U.S. vice president and one of Lincoln's opponents in the presidential election of 1860, was one of the Confederate commanders; the Battle of Fort Stevens marks the only occasion in American history when two former opponents in a presidential election faced one another across battle lines. Early remarked to one of his officers after the battle, "Major, we didn't take Washington but we scared Abe Lincoln like hell."
Fort Stevens is now maintained by the National Park Service. The fort is located near 13th St NW between Rittenhouse and Quackenbos Streets NW. The battlefield cemetery is located nearby, at 6625 Georgia Avenue NW.

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External links

References

★ National Park Service battle description

★ Kennedy, Frances H., ed., ''The Civil War Battlefield Guide'', 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998, ISBN 0-395-74012-6.

Notes

External links

★ Battleground National Cemetery

★ National Park Service website for Fort Stevens

★ Sixth Army Corps Monument at Fort Stevens