Fort Stevens Park

Today, Fort Stevens is a tiny green space in semi-​urban DC, good for jogging and dog walking. But in 1864, it was the site of a little known battle which almost changed US history.
Knowing President Lincoln’s sensitivity to any threat to Washington DC, General Lee ordered Jubal Early to attack the US capitol, gambling an attack here would scare the Union Army sufficiently to abandon its siege of Petersburg. Early outflanked Grant’s army by moving thru the Shenandoah Valley and Maryland, surprising the depleted line of forts which surrounded the city. Union militia and trainees rushed to the defenses and stopped Early’s advance, possibly saving the capitol.
«We didn’t take Washington,» Early told his staff officers, «but we scared Abe Lincoln like Hell.» He probably didn’t realize how true those words were. While visiting the fort, Lincoln attracted the attention of Confederate snipers — becoming the only sitting US president to come under fire from an enemy combatant. A monument explains how close we came to losing him, just months before the next election.
While the northern side of the fort is completely gone, the walls and dry moat of the southern defenses are still in decent condition. A few cannon are also on display. There is plenty of street parking in the surrounding area. A few minutes drive away, a few of the soldiers killed here are buried in Battleground National Cemetery.

We came here on Saturday, it was the 145^th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Stevens.
It is shocking to think that General Jubal Early and about 15,000 confederates attacked D.C. right here. They were held off for 24 hours by a raggle taggle group of boys and old men before reinforcements came arrived and saw them off.
Abe Lincoln himself came to the fort to survey the battle and was shot at. Two famous aspects to this — it is still the only time an American president has come under fire from enemy forces, and future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes is alleged to have shouted at him «Get down you fool. «You can stand on the parapet exactly where he stood.
The Fort is still very much intact — you can see the defences, the cannons now pointing at urban streets, the park service has helpful guides that tell you how the battle progressed and show you the line of Forts protecting the Federal City from Fort Bayard on Western Avenue to Fort Totten in the Eastern side.
The re-​enactment had soliders from the 87^th Pennsylvania and cadets from the First US Colored Troops — a middle and high school program for D.C. school kids. The Federal City Band was also playing — in period costume, with period instruments, and we were treated to only the third public performance in US history of a tune composed especially for Lincoln’s inauguration. The second performance was at the inauguration of that other tall skinny guy from Illinois.
This is administered by the Park Service and is a lovely, quiet, peaceful park just one block in from the magnificent hustle and marvellous miscegenation of Georgia Avenue.