Erected to protect Washington, D.C. from the threat of Confederate assault,
this ring of 68 "Circle Forts" scattered
around the capital city's perimeter faced only one direct threat from
Southern forces, when troops under General Jubal Early moved to sweep
Federal soldiers from the Shenandoah Valley and harass Washington in
July 1864.
On July 11, the city was defended by a reduced garrison of 100-day troops, dismounted cavalry, clerks, and convalescents, but Federal reinforcements arrived overnight to bolster its defenses. The Confederate attack on July 12 was easily repulsed. Watching the action from Fort Stevens, President Lincoln became a target for Confederate sharpshooters, the only time a sitting American president has faced direct enemy fire. Eventually, the Confederates withdrew, having seriously threatened but not captured Washington.
Threat: Once intended to serve as the last line of defense for the Union capital, today this ring of fortifications has largely been absorbed by growing neighborhoods as the city swelled beyond its 1860s borders. Although each fort has faced a different fate, they are not preserved as thoroughly as their rich heritage deserves. Approximately 22 defined earthworks have survived and are maintained by the National Park Service and local governments in an uncoordinated fashion. The Park Service has developed a Final Management Plan for the "Fort Circle Parks" that embraces those sites in its charge. At present, aside from the Fort Ward Museum and Park, there is no site-specific interpretive or museum center for the defenses of Washington.
Fort Stevens, partially reconstructed in the 1930s, sits roughly one-half mile from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A counterattack across the hospital grounds killed 49 Union soldiers, who were later interred at nearby Battleground National Cemetery. The Federal Base Realignment and Closure proposal to close the medical center brings threats of commercial development to the site.
There is no comprehensive CWSAC priority classification for the Circle Forts. Fort Stevens is a Priority IV, Class B site.
