Battlefield, hope well cultural park, Rock Creek Park, et cetera, et cetera. Steve is an expert in civil war err with military occupation, operational command, fortifications, of course, in the western theater. He authored articles in the American Civil War and the defenses of washington. And he holds a masters degree in American History from the middle Tennessee State university. I will go off script one second, steve has done more to bring attention to the civil war defenses of washington than anyone ever has before. So if you dont follow him before this event, follow him on facebook, follow the civil war defenses of washington after this. Keeps it fresh and real and bringing some great information to the front. So, steve, come up. All right. Thank you, i appreciate that. Can everyone see me in the back . Want to make sure i wore something bright enough for everyone to see. Yes. And im from denver, colorado, we call this united in orange. So thank you, rob, and i want to express my gratitude to chris as well for the honor to present at the 6th annual civil war symposium at stevensons ridge in virginia. Last year i was part of the panel. An honor to be back to talk about the battle of fort stevens. So youve been hearing me talk about the battle of fort stevens today and also the civil war defenses of washington. A lot of people ask me what were the defenses of washington, youll hear that throughout the program today. So were going to talk about the only battle that took place within the confines of washington, d. C. Small in scale of some of the big battles that we know and visit and read about, but very large and massive in regards to the political ramifications of the battle, especially to the lincoln administration. So as rob said, im steve phan, a park ranger for the National Park service at the civil war defenses on washington. We manage 17 civil war cites around washington, d. C. , we call that the National Capital region. And at the end of the program, ill talk to you about the then and now of the civil war defenses of washington and what exactly we manage in the National Park service there. So lets get right into it. I have to put it on the on switch. Okay. Were good to go. Really i want to talk about the origins of the defenses on washington and it is really going to start with the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. There will be a secession crisis with South Carolina breaking away from the union and the states that form the confed rates of america. As early as december 1860, James Buchanan outgoing administration, theyre trying to figure out what to do and the biggest thing theyre focusing on is safe and peaceful transfer of power from buchanan to the lincoln administration. So how is this going to work . You got the image of the Capital Building here, where lincoln will be inaugurated in march of 1961. It will come down to the virginia general himself, hes recalled from new york city to washington, d. C. Where he will make his new headquarters. Hes been the commanding general of the United States army for quite some time now. And it is his mission to secure the capital. And hell take every preemptive measure he can to secure the capital in the coming days, weeks and months that will lead to the inauguration. And there it is. The first inauguration f be a hac of Abraham Lincoln. General scott had been planning this for quite some time now. So there was a physical presence on the ground, we got cavalry through the streets, armed soldiers on important avenues of approach to the city, with artillery pieces. There are sharpshooters in the buildings, even soldiers wearing civilian uniforms carrying pistols, just walking the audience. Just to make sure that Abraham Lincoln is safely and peacefully inaugurated as president of the United States. That will happen. So thats the first major step and from there, were going to turn to the state right below washington, d. C. , right across the Potomac River, virginia, where were at today. What was virginia going to do . So in preparation for this, Winfield Scott has his commanders, most notably joseph k. Mansfield, commanding the department of washington and they have their engineers scan the area and come back with a report and this is what their engineers say you have to do something about northern virginia. Im sure a lot of you have been at Arlington National cemetery there, the Arlington Heights, if you looked north across the Potomac River, you can see washington, d. C. Or the federal city. The great fear was that the Confederate Army could roll up artillery to shell the city. That was a justifiable fear. And the moment they believe virginia was going to secede from the union, may 23rd, 1861, that evening three columns of u. S. Soldiers including regulars crossed the Potomac River occupied Arlington Heights including the arlington or and they ship itself towards alexandria. Even once before the battle of manassas the union forces have crossed the river and occupied virginia. I call this the union chill. Youll see what i mean looking at this map here. First spot will be the Arlington Heights. The great fear that they can shell the city from that area especially when virginia breaks away from the union. So march 23rd, the federal army will cross the river and the next day theyll ship southeast to alexandria as well. By the end of may 1861 there are battle troops on the virginia side and most importantly have already begun building the force. There is joseph k. Mansfield tasked with as commander of the department of washington and hes going to be reporting directly to Winfield Scott about what needs to be done to secure the capital. And in charge of the occupational forces is irvin mcdowell. I want to read this account to you, it is from the washington evening star. The day after the union army crosses the river and listen closely, at 4 00 this morning, a large number of government wagons went across long bridge, loaded with picks and shovels and all manner of tools and accompanied with a full cort of carpenters and workmen. The United States forces are now through on the heights on the virginia shore commencing at day break. So a lot of people that believe that the fort fictions were built after the battle. They had five or six forts already built by the time the battle began in july of 16 1861. Most importantly they are really covering the Arlington Heights to make sure no one could shell the capital city. Then you got that quote right there. May 24th, 1861, this is what i call the foundation of the defenses on washington. And youre going to see this evolve over the course of the war and youre going to see how big and elaborate the system gets around the Federal Capital. Is there image of new york excuse me, new jersey troops bulling earth works and well talk ill talk about how that was done. But these are all earth works made out of dirt and wood. There is an image of fort runyan where the pentagon is at. It is the largest fort built in washington, right by long bridge. And if you look at this image here, folks, you can see right on top of the hill is fort elk port. What the federal soldiers do, they come into certain spaces, occupy high grund and Start Building forts. This overlooks the town and it was a commanding position in alexand alexandra. Early image of a sketch here, this was for corporate part of the arlington defenses, you see the wooden stockade there. A noticeable feature as well is the sharpened sticks on the outside of the walls. Almost every single one of the defenses are ill talk more about the construction here in a second. So, everything is really going to change when we talked about mack this past day already. After the battle of first manassas, the union army is driven back to washington, d. C. , there is an order given from general scott to say saying retreat to the protection of the forts. So in a sense the forts had already served their function originally. But when george gets here this is where you see the rapid expansion and evolution of the defenses on washington. I call this the art of fortification and the gentlemen tasked with designing and overseaing the construction of the defenses on washington, is john j. Barnard. The father of the defenses on washington. He served on general mansfields staff. Hell be in charge of the defenses on washington overseeing the construction for three years. So i want to give you a number here. By the end of 1861, going into 1862, there is about 48 forts surrounding this city. Thats an incredible number. And as i move forward in the program, thats actually pretty minuscule. So you got an image here, a little bit harder to read. This is an image of soldiers building the forts. Theyre going to come in and command high ground, occupy key avenues of approach to the city. Theyre going to cut down trees and start piling dirt on top to build the walls. If you happen to own property on high ground or near a really strategic area, too bad. They call it military necessity. We will occupy your ground, we will build forts, you get the land back when the war is over. So by the end of 61 into 62, there was a connected system of fortifications which every point, about 800 to a thousand yard intervals was occupied by some sort of enclosed fort. 800 to a thousand yards with some sort of fortification. So when we talk about washington, d. C. Being one of the most heavily fortified cities in the world, this is what were talking about. So an idea on what the defenses of washington look like. They were built out of earth because they were cheap, you get them up quickly and by the time the civil war began, there was such large caliber artillery pieces that they could knock down stone walls. And general barnard says this, these were temporary. Were going to build these forts, secure the Federal Capital and when the war is over, well return the land back. And thats really what will happen with the defenses on washington. So we have got the wall itself, you got the earth and ditch there, six feet deep, the slope on the outside is called the gloss sea. You see the sticks, and from the birdseye view, you got the port, the bomb proof, the men could stand there if under fire and most likely you would see earth and magazine where they store the ammunition and powder. But each one of the for tt was designed differently. Depending what the topography looked like, they design the forts a certain way. You can see there is an image of fort line here, part of what they call the arlington line. You can see right there, little bit different in design. Just covering as much space as they could, every avenue will approach the city will become and the forts will evolve during the war. I want you to keep that in mind as we move forward in the project here, this lecture. This is for pennsylvania. Built by the pennsylvania reserves. Up in northwest washington near american university. And this will be involved in the battle of fort steven in 1864. Stay tuned with that. By the way, the soldiers did not live in the forts, the soldiers lived in camps around the forts, with tents and they built wooden barracks. Great image or sketch or the diagram of fort pennsylvania, it shows you all the different structures that are around the fort. This occupied almost 100 acres of land. Okay. So this is one my favorite images. A relatively small fort and east d. C. Called port slimmer. You see what the defenses on washington looked like. First of all, youre looking north into maryland. Pretty open, natural landscape there. You got the large earthen walls themselves, the ditch right there, the mounted artillery pieces so this is what the defenses of washington look like during the American Civil War. So 1861, i told you, about 48 forts around the city mounting about 400 cclellan says the ent circumference was protected. During the Peninsula Campaign to fredericksburg, the maryland campaign, all the campaigns, the original soldiers of the army of the potomac built the forts. And here it is, a diagram of what the forts are designed or look like in on the virginia side during the war. You can see fort running, i talked about how large it was, each port was shaped different, depending the ground. This is fort sea of smith, part of the arlington line there, see them looking south directly to virginia and see how open the landscape is. The soldiers did it on purpose, cut down all the trees, they test fired with their cannons every single day. They knew all the ranges. By 62 to 63, guys that occupied the forts trained to be in the defense of washington. This is fort marcy, we know this is an early war image, you see the real intense those will all be replaced by wooden barracks, deeper into the war. Okay. So we started with 48 forts, by the end of 1862, into 63, there is 60 forts around the city. It is only going to get igger and bigger. Theyre responding to what the Confederate Army is doing in the field. So the reason why the ports get expanded in 1862 is because of general lees invasion of maryland that september. The federal engineers realized that the Confederate Army could come from maryland and attack the city and they enlarged the forts. They had more of them. They large caliber guns. This will be really important because thats where the Confederate Army is coming down in 1864, from maryland. They also protected their bridges as well. This is chain bridge. Some people have been over there. They literally had block houses as well. Mostly on the virginia side, covering protecting the rail system there. And this is on chain bridge, a two gun battery, sitting on top of the bridge. So every measure that was needed to protect the city was taken. And they also had what we call batteries, so what the federal engineers realized when they did a study of the defenses at the end of 1862 was first of all they were not big enough, they needed to be expanded and they needed larger caliber artillery pieces, so this is battery kimble, one of our nps sites and held two 100 pound rifles. They add about 16 100 pound rifles to the defenses on washington and several of those will be engaged during the battle of july of 1864. So battery filled in the earth works or the line between the forts. 1800 to 1,000 yards apart. In between them, they would be connected by earth works or trenches and fill them in with batteries. Battery would waz s an unclosed cannon position. You can see there say building right there, the ambassadorses are denresidence is behind this battery. It is in immaculate washington in northwest washington, d. C. , west of Rock Creek Park and it is stunning. On the front of the property i think it says battery teral. And the ambassador just retired recently, but secretary told me that every time you sign a card, it says home of battery teral. Were very proud of it. This is a battery in Rock Creek Park. Some of these were armed with artillery pieces, others were kept unarmed. If the city came under attack, they could fill in the batteries with artillery pieces from central inside the city. This is in Rock Creek Park and if you look at this image here, you can see all the embrace, there is six there, thats a full size civil war battery. This is a sitting in Rock Creek Park and pretty good condition. So this is what the defenses on washington looked like. Okay, what about 1864 and 1865, Confederate Army surges toward washington, d. C. I want to get you this number here. So we started with 48. Were going to 60. By 1864, there are 68 around washington, d. C. Okay. Supported by 93 batteries, mounting 807 can nonz, 98 borders, 20 miles of earth works, 30 miles of military road that connected the forts to each other. The army cut down 20,000 acres of trees. To build these forts. So think about that. We go from five or six forts in may of 1861, by the time jubal early gets to d. C. , there will be 68 forts around the capital. Mounting 900 artillery pieces. So thats what we like to say, one of the most heavily fortified cities in the world and most likely most heavily fortified cities in the western hemisphere. This is what the forts look like. This is forward todd, this is the where the soldiers came into the fort. You can see the magazine where they want to store the ammunition behind the soldiers here. This is fort lincoln and northeast washington, d. C. Near bladensburg. We know anything about the war of 1812, they were fearful of they had a really large fort there. And i want you to look closely at this image. This is fort lincoln as well. We know this is a later war image of the fort because as you see in the corner there, there is a 100 pound rifle. It could fire three or four miles. That is what will be running into on july 11th, 1864. They started mounting the rifles in july, excuse me, in 1863. And one of the most popular images, this is gun number 13 at fort totten. A couple of things i want everyone to notice here. Again, this is maryland. Look how open the landscape is there. It is quite dramatic. This piece itself, gun number 13, you see the number there, 100 pound rifle was engaged in battle. So we know that this gun was fired in action against the Confederate Army as theyre moving toward d. C. We have an image of the southeast forts across the anacostia river. We know this is a late war image as well. You got the original wall there. And the army started adding what we call bastion. See that right there, popping out. Think of all of the star ports you may have gone to, you can cover the flanks of the fort. They started adding those in 63 as well. Forts are constantly evolving during the war. And this is an internal magazine of one of the defenses on washington. This is fort stanton on the southeast side. Hard to see with the lighting here. But majority of the magazines were made out of earth, reinforced with wood. And this particular instance they had german engineers come in to construct this masonry magazine. This was taken by me last winter. So it is in immaculate condition, 150 plus years later, on top of the cover and base of species, plants, weeds and things like that. Inside you see these were built to last. And also they built forts to cover the river and everyone will like these images here. Not only protected the land side of the city, but also the river as well. They were fearful the confederates could send iron clad gun ships and shell the city. So they built two major important works which the general called model works in 1863. This is fort fort foot, one of mps sites. This is battery on the alexandria side and youve got a 200pound parrot rifle and those are the two largest guns they have in washington, d. C. The rodman guns can fire a 400pound round and penetrate iron clad gunships. Thats why these were on the river, and to give you an idea of how big those are. Theres me right there. These guns were mounted remounted in 1980 apparently they were sitting on the ground and in the 1930s they were so heavy to move the army just left them there so we came in and remounted them. Okay. So lets talk about the battle of fort stephens and its really going to be the campaign of 1864, and its going to count down early, so how does this begin and why start with the beginning of 1864 when general u. S. Grant is brought out west given command of all general troops in the United States army and as told by lincoln to take the war into the confederacy and lets hope to end it by the end of the year and thats what grants going to do as we know and hell personally supervise the overlap campaign against robert e. Lee. As weve heard before, he doesnt look back any he attacks in may 1864 and this will have dramatic ramifications on washington because prior to the campaign the word Abraham Lincoln mandated there be 25,000 to 30,000 men at all times. Specifically, they have the a artilleryists. And in may and june alone 18,000 heavy artillorrists are sent to petersburg. This, i believe, clearly shows lincolns evolution as commander in chief and he knows theres a lot and its an Election Year and hes trying to win the war. So what about the confederate perspective here . By end of june and july of 1864, lees pinned against rich mopd and petersburg so hes going to send this guy right here and drew was just talking about him, his battle men and his original plan is not to march north and take the word of washington and baltimore. He had more immediate issues to deal with, and thats going to be the union army of West Virginia operating outside of lynchburg, virginia. Literally coming up with the confederate capital and lees army right there. And theres going to be a confederate force with John Breckenridge in that area and his first orders are to assist John Breckenridge, and drive the army completely out of the valley and if possible, follow him. So this is what general lee wrote in his action report dated july 19, 1864, and this is talking about the earliest movement from Richmond West towards the shenandoah valley. This is from general lee, and affectionately and if possible, strike a decisive blow at the same time general lee was instructed at his success justified it, and the enemy retreated down the valley to pursue him and an opportunity offered to follow him into maryland. It was believed that it was freed from the presence of the enemy and it was helped that by threatening washington and baltimore general grant would be compelled either to weaken themselves so much for their protection as to afford us an opportunity to attack him or that he might be induced to attack us. So theres a couple of things that lee wants here. His objectives were to remove the operating mission and threaten the north, if possible, and to weaken grants sieges around richmond and petersburg and actually all of that does happen during the campaign and you will will see what i mean. So on june 13, 1864, he is headed toward lynchburg and hell arrive two days later and his movement in many ways shock the union army under david hunter in the valley and theyll completely vacate the valley. Hunter is not intrigued through the valley. He heads west towards West Virginia and completely vacating the valley against his orders. So what is the earliest path. As i said, we have the army of West Virginia under david hunter who vacates the valley, leaving the valley completely open and he will eventually lose his job about this, and we talked about siegel before. Hes back. Siegel is commanding the arm ney West Virginia at Harpers Ferry. He actually puts up a pretty decent short fight at Harpers Ferry before hes relieved and from my friend in the back there weve got sweet lou wallace, where the 8th army corps will be his initiative in many ways washington d. C. So whats going on with the federal high command here . Theyre headed north towards the Potomac River in maryland, there are reports that theres a large enemy force operating in the valley thats getting all of the way up to the apartment and his chief of staff henry howlick, and theyre forwarding that information to general grant down in petersburg. First of all, grants like, dont worry about that. David hunter is in the valley and hell take care of that and howard tells him i dont think hes in the valley anymore, man. You better figure something out. So for Abraham Lincoln and grant this becomes a Good Opportunity so grant believes as does lincoln that hey, if we can separate whatever force this is away from lee, lets destroy this force before he crosses the Potomac River. So they see this as an opportunity in washington, d. C. If you ask general howlick it becomes a crisis. And hell head towards Frederick Maryland and the federal high command at last, he realizes theres a major threat to washington and baltimore at this point so whats going to happen . Youll appreciate my graphics here. So lets send up howel. The federal armys got the interior alliance and theyve got navy and transport ships and theyll send up veterans. Their first troops that will be coming up will be the Third Division of the 6th corps under james rickets and wait for it, my friends boom all right . So hes sent all of the way up chesapeake and hes going to arri arrive in baltimore, and from there theyll use rail transportation to take him out to maryland, where hell make the defense along the river, and he realizes im trying to buy as much time as i can for other reinforcements to be set up, but now this really becomes a race here, okay . What else do we have . We have the first and Second Division of the sixth corps i should send out the rest as well. How about that . They head all of the way up to washington, d. C. , they arrive on july 11th. The same day they march down the road in washington, d. C. , well talk about how close they did, and theres going to be more coming. All of the way from the gulf of mexico, the department of the gulf is the 19th army corps. They were supposed to reinforce grant around petersburg. They arrive on transport ships and grant just orders them up. Thank you, my friends. Ive spent a lot of time on that. We have reinforcements coming, but will they get there in time . This is why it is so important. It will buy the union army and the Federal Capital the War Department one full day. So this is from lou walls. You will have to make every exertion to save washington and baltimore so on july 9, 1864, theres an eight and a half hour pitch wall along the banks of the river and lou wall with the support of james rickets Third Division, and a very strong and stealth defense, but towards the evening they will be driven off the field, and if you can see it in this image here from the civil war trail map, rickets will be covering his left frank and when theyre driven off the field he has no option, but to head toward baltimore. Think about that. Hes retreating toward baltimore. Theres nothing in the way to get to washington, d. C. And general john b. Gordon and hell have the army of the district. Before i get there listen to this account from lou walls. He writes this through the War Department as his army is retreating towards baltimore and its a see what you think about this. I thought the enemy at Frederick Junction from 9 00 a. M. To 5 00 p. M. I am retreating with the battered and half demoralized column, and the forces of the enemy, at least 20,000, and they do not seem to be pursuing. You have to use every exertion to save baltimore and washington. I think the troops of the 6th corps fought magnificently. I was totally overwhelmed by the Harpers Ferry arriving during the battle. And two regiments are covering my retreat. I shall try to get to baltimore. Pretty reassuring message he said to the War Department, didnt he . So early is on his way to washington. So on the morning of july 10th, excuse me, hes going to make a march towards washington. Hes about 40 miles away. Okay. So youll appreciate this. This is my favorite quote from the entire Campaign Around washington. I call this reach for the stars. The federal high command and wait until you see this quote here. So we have Brigadier General j. R. West on recruiting duty, excuse me. He writes a telegram to the chief of staff offering his services and you see howlicks response. You have five times as many journalists here as we want, but are rarely in need of privates. Anyone volunteering in that capacity will be thankfully received. So ill tell you this, my friends. There are a lot of artillery pieces and a lot of out of work generals and theres not enough privates. So theres going to be quite the dilemma here so let me give you an idea of what this looks like. Of course, we have the commander in chief himself, president Abraham Lincoln at the top and we have the secretary of War Edwin Stanton and watch this list get bigger and bigger and bigger. He commands the 22nd core and and weve got talk about an out of work general, and we have the formerly of the army and the cumberland and hes just hanging out looking for a job and they give him one. Hes in command during the battle and actually does serve pretty well. Youve got the famous master general, Staff Engineer montgomery meeks and this is the famous battle where the War Department enlists 1500 government clerks. Hes going to be in charge of the government clerks. Hes in town. Lets give him a job, too. So lets give him double day, i see forts out here, but there are zero men and the loyalty with Union Loyalists and hes going to be commanding volunteer companies. Heres another general thats been looking for a new assignment and this is recently relieved of duty from the army of the james with benjamin butler. Hes on his way to d. C. So they are elements of the 19th army corps. So hes set up to command all of the reinforcements that are set to prove and reinforce it. So literally reaching for the stars. So what is in d. C. At this point . 108 men and invalids we have here and you can defend washington and scarcely baltimore. So what do we have in washington, d. C. . We have elements of the u. S. Treasury department guard. [ laughter ] not the most elite force and this is a cool image. You have elements of the Federal Reserve corps. Theyll see pretty heavy action during the battle, and heres another image of the invalid corps wearing their famous uniforms and you can see the officer there is missing his arm. And they see them unattached and there will be a couple of regiments in defense of the capital. You have 100 day National Guard troops organized in 1864 to fill quotas. These men men if they sign up theyll avoid the draft and the soldiers from Port Stephens are the 150th ohio National Guard and theyre normally college students. The earliest veterans. So well speed this up a little bit. Well talk about the battle now and youll see the route that theyll take to washington d. C. That will be coming from Frederick Maryland where he fought the battle and well get to rockville maryland right there and hell split his force into two. His infantry will shift to the east and down towards d. C. And his cavalry will be on the georgetown pike and wisconsin avenue towards washington, d. C. , and if he keeps on going down the road hell go to tinnily town and right below that is georgetown. 1965 or 64. Every avenue approach, and there is down the rockville pike, and we call it Georgia Avenue today. And at fort reno, and pennsylvania. There was a large single tower there and you can see the calms from miles away because of the dust. So what happens on the morning of july 11, 1864, theyll make the advance toward the capital. The 6th core has not arrived on the field yet and hell run into resistance from the veteran reserve core elements from the 150th National Guard and other troops protectioning the city. So let me read the earliest account real quick. So what do you see when you arrive your washington . This is on the actual report. We continue the march, and the day was so excessively hot and even at the early hour of the morning and it is so dense that it became necessary to slacken our pace. Nevertheless when we reached the occasion the men were almost completely exhausted and not conditioned to make the attack. He talks in detail what he saw what the defense was on washington. Its moved up to the vicinity, and these we found to be very strong and constructed very scientifically and they consist ditches and palisades in front and every approach swept by a crossbar of artillery including some heavy guns. Im determined at first to make an assault and it became apparent that the enemy had been strongly reinforced and a pretty dramatic, dynamic account of washington. He does say at the end that it was strongly reinforced and that was not exactly the case yet because you can see here theres a message within Port Stephens that the enemy is within 110 yards of fort stephens and you can see the time of 1 30 p. M. Whats really important is this, folks, at 12 00, theres a message that comes from headquarters in d. C. And the 6th army corps has landed off the Potomac River and theyll make their way up. And what about Abraham Lincoln and we believe hes out there both days, july 11th and 12, 1864. Hell be out there we believe around an hour when the battle initially begins and when he hears that the 6th corps has arrived at the river he rides down to greet them and there are so many different accounts talking about the president greeting them and wishing them well and telling them if you run to confederate soldiers, tell them this is just the beginning and there are a lot more coming and most famously, he tells the soldiers you cant be late if you want to get early. Do you think hell appreciate that . [ laughter ] one of my favorite lines. Okay. So heres fort stephens in 1865. If you look in that road right there and thats the seventh street road or Georgia Avenue thats when it will be coming down on the morning of july 12th and the afternoon of july 12th. Im basically out of time here. When he has it with reinforcements internally force him back about a thousand yards back of fort stephens and thats the earliest high watermark because by the evening time the 6th corps was on the field and they take up positions behind the northern defenses and the 19th core elements arrive, as well. So the battle his chance to even break into the city is over. The battle is not in until the next day and ill skip to that quickly. Heres a great image of fort stevens in 1865. You can see how open thats Silver Spring maryland. Pay close attention to that tree right there as we move forward. I call it the high watermark. It will be the section between fort stephens and fort slocum. By that time theyll arrive to push back, but he does not leave the city and he hangs out around this area. If anyones been to walter reed medical center, he lacks in that area, and the 100pound parrot rifles from the ports will go into action. So when they attacked fort stephens they took fire from both their left and their right and thats why we designed a certain way to provide mutual support and this is what he said on the next day and he found out that troops were lining the forts and he had no chance to take the city. So lets talk about Abraham Lincoln. He arrives on july 12th again on the afternoon and this is when we get into mythology here. The president is under fire during the battle because his account with the insurgent walking with the president. He said i heard a thought and i heard someone had been shot and he was standing right next to lincoln and he falls down wounded and somebody tells the president get down you fool. Get down you damn fool. Get the hell out of here go find protection and until after the battle, and they told him get down, you fool and we can talk about that. And the battle will end on july 12th when they leave the forts and they attack north. So the veteran sixth core arrives and theyll be under frank wheaton. They renamed it after the battle for him. The union army will leave Port Stephens and theyll attack north on both sides of florida avenue and thus ending one of the most important battles of the American Civil War. Thank you very much. [ applause ] i have one question about the fans. Anyone . You guys are slow. His name is steve phan, and he was talking about fort stephens. Fort stephens was rebuilt by the ccc in the 1930s, so what you see is that construction right there. Very good. Please stand and introduce yourself. Im doug pollack from chesapeake, virginia. Did any confederate shells, artillery shells at all get into washington, d. C. During the earliest drive and got to that point . Yes, sir. You say the fort fired back at him. The fort fired quite a bit of rounds during battle. He was trying to get his infantry to the city so quickly that the majority of his artillery was in the ware and they were taking heavy artillery fire, as well, but they were able to lob shells into the city not very effective. What is the last question over here . Please stand and introduce yourself. Im ariana king. Good to meet you. Why didnt he meet 24 hours for the ransom, and why didnt he go down and he would have been ahead of the game. Outside of frederick, maryland. When he runs into wallace on july 9th along the base, he thought he was facing rear echelon troops which he was. And they were on the division of the sixth core. And when he realizes veterans were out of time and thats yet next day he rushes his army as quickly as possible to washington, d. C. I dont know the details about that. Referring to ryan, as steve was talking about it, he leaned over and said someone should write a good book about that. In fact, ryan, you did write a good book about that. If youre interested more about the battle ryan will be happy to answer your questions. Steve will be available to answer questions and look for the man in the orange blazer. Not hard to miss. Well take a fiveminute break. Ladies and gentlemen, stephen phan. Thank you very much [ applause ] all week were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on c span of 3. Lectures in history, american artifacts, reel america, the civil war, oral histories, the presidency and special event coverage about our nations history. Enjoy American History tv now and every weekend on cspan3. This week, American History tv is on cspan3 every day with prime time features each night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Tonight, the 75th anniversary of the battle of the bulge where Adolph Hitler launched a surprise counter offensive against allied forces. Watch American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan3. American history tv products are available on the cspan online store. Go to cspan. Org for American History tv and check out all of the cspan products. The house will be in order. For 40 years, cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy, vents from washington, d. C. And around the country so you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979 cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Next on American History tv. Civil war trails executive director drew gruber talks about the 1862 battle of williamsburg, virginia and why it was overshadowed this year by larger and bloodier battles and why williamsburgs colonial history has long obscured the story. Part of the emerging civil war blog symposium. This is 50 minutes. Good afternoon. So i get the privilege of introducing a really good friend of mine and drew and i have been arguing what i should do with this introduction and i will promise and just read what you sent me. Its kind of funny, actually. Drew gruber has lived a life not nearly as exciting or interesting as those who fought in the battle for williamsburg