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 co