About the Topic:
Fortress Washington was under siege. Three years of extensive construction, expansion, and training—all at the expenditure of exorbitant resources—to protect the capital had come down to a race.
The Confederate Army of the Valley District, commanded by Lt. Gen. Jubal Early, advanced toward Washington DC along the Rockville-Georgetown Pike on the morning of 10 July 1864. The day was hot and humid, and dust covered the road as the exhausted rebel force aimed to complete their campaign by seizing the Federal capital. But Early—General Robert E. Lee’s “Bald Old Man”—was running out of time.
The previous day, Early's infantry and cavalry columns unexpectedly ran into heavy Federal opposition along the Monocacy River on the outskirts of Frederick, Maryland; only token resistance had anticipated. Major General Lew Wallace, commander of elements of the Federal Middle Department (8th Army Corps), had cobbled together a hodgepodge of rear-echelon, garrison, and part-time troops to engage Early, hopefully long enough for reinforcements to arrive on the field and, most importantly, secure Baltimore and Washington.
Support also appeared on the waterways. The Federal high command outside Petersburg, Virginia finally responded to ominous reports of a large Confederate force operating in the Shenandoah Valley, and troops advanced north into Maryland. Wallace’s prospect of delaying Early improved dramatically with the arrival of veterans from the Army of the Potomac.
Brigadier General James B. Rickett’s 3rd Division 6th Corps led the vanguard of reinforcements dispatched from the trenches of Petersburg. It was Rickett’s division that Early’s men confronted on the morning of 9 July, turning a minor action into a major battle. The blue-clad defenders, outgunned and undermanned—a rare occasion for Civil War battles—retreated in disorder toward Maryland after an 8-hour fight. As a result, recalled one of Early’s division commanders, Major General James B. Gordon: “The way lay open to Washington.”
Awaiting the Confederate army was one of the most heavily fortified cities in the world. By the summer of 1864, the elaborate defensive system encircling Washington DC was composed of 60 forts, 93 detached batteries, 5 blockhouses, fortified bridges, over 30 miles of military roads, and armament massing 800 cannons. Supplementing the defenses was a garrison of over 30,000 men. The capital defenders comprised heavy artillerist—expertly trained to operate the large caliber artillery pieces mounted in the forts—together with a mix of infantry and cavalry regiments. Nominally, such a heavy force entrenched in fortified positions made foolhardy and desperate for an enemy to advance on Washington DC. But 1864 called for desperate measures by both the Union and Confederacy.
Steve Phan will continue this discussion during his presentation to the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia on March 9, 2021.
Links to Phan's work:
The Origins of Fortress Washington | Emerging Civil War
Fortress Washington, Part II | Emerging Civil War
Steve T. Phan is a Park Ranger and Historian at the Civil War Defenses of Washington. He is currently serving as the acting Chief of Interpretation at Camp Nelson National Monument in Kentucky. Mr. Phan has also worked at Richmond National Battlefield Park, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Stones River National Battlefield, Rock Creek Park, and Buffalo Soldiers National Monument.
A military history scholar of the Civil War era, Mr. Phan’s research focuses on military occupation, operational command, and fortifications during the Civil War. He is the author of articles about Asians and Pacific Islanders in the Civil War and the Defenses of Washington for numerous publications.
Mr. Phan was nominated for the National Park Service Tilden Award for Excellence in Interpretation (2019). He holds a Master’s degree in American History from Middle Tennessee State University.
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