In June 1864, Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early was dispatched by General Robert E. Lee from the Confederate lines around Richmond, Virginia, with orders to clear the Shenandoah Valley of Federal forces and, if practical, to invade Maryland, disrupt the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and threaten Washington, D.C. This movement was intended to force Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant to divert troops from other campaigns, relieving pressure on Confederate forces elsewhere.
The Battle of Fort Stevens took place July 11–12, 1864, in Washington County, D.C., in present-day Northwest Washington, less than 4 miles from the White House. Union forces under Major General Alexander McDowell McCook defended the position, with reinforcements arriving under Major General Horatio G. Wright. Early's Confederate forces launched attacks against the strong defenses of Fort Stevens during two days of skirmishing. Then-President Abraham Lincoln personally observed the battle's fighting from the fort.
Early's attack caused significant consternation within the U.S. government, as the Confederate forces had penetrated to within close proximity of the nation's capital. However, the reinforcements under Wright and the strong defensive fortifications of Fort Stevens minimized the threat posed by the invasion. After two days of skirmishing, Early withdrew from the position without attempting any serious assaults. The battle demonstrated that while the Confederates could threaten Washington, the city's defenses remained formidable enough to repel the assault without requiring the massive diversion of Union forces that Lee had hoped to achieve.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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