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| Men of the 2nd New York Artillery (Library of Congress) |
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| New visitor center at Fort C.F. Smith Park (Arlington Co. Parks) |
The boys of
the 164th Ohio Volunteer Infantry were quite pleased with their new
post after they completed a journey that took them from Cleveland to
Washington, D.C.
Upon arrival,
they marched down dusty capital roads, across the Potomac River and onto the
ridges and ravines of Arlington Heights, on the Virginia side. There, they
joined the garrison of Fort C.F. Smith, the last in a string of defensive
fortifications that stretched southeast toward occupied Alexandria.
The troops
could feast on luscious blackberries in the thickets (though the grounds had been denuded of
trees so that the artillery would have a clear line of fire), or saunter down
to the Potomac River, less than a mile away, to harvest tasty fish and eels.
“We have a
most splendid location, at an elevation of two hundred feet above the Potomac
river; overlooking the country in every direction,” a soldier wrote on May 21,
1864, to the Tiffin Weekly Tribune (left)
back home. “Off to the east, in full view, is the city of Washington, and the
capitol of our nation; to the south lies Fort Strong; in the west the Potomac
winds its way through the hills, and in the distance may be seen Ft. Ethan
Allen; to the north a beautiful array of hills, with splendid residences
dotting them here and there.”
That sense of
relative calm and comfort was common for thousands of artillerymen and infantry
who occupied 68 enclosed forts encircling the capital. Twenty-two of them were in Alexandria (now
Arlington) County.
None in the
county saw action, but there was always the threat of a Confederate rush on the
capital, which occurred in July 1864, sending the city into panic. That effort was rebuffed at Fort Stevens
in Maryland, on the northern outskirts of Washington.
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| Fortification remnants at C.F. Smith (Arlington Co. Parks) |
Earthwork
remnants in the 19-acre Fort C.F. Smith Park are considered the best preserved of those 22 Arlington-area forts.
While most traces are gone, the ruins of the lunette fort include a bomb proof,
the fort well, the north magazine and 11 of the 22 gun emplacements.
Visitor center tells story of these sentinels
Arlington County park officials late last month opened a
new visitor center at the site. Inside are artifacts, photos, a searchable
database for soldiers stationed at the fort and items geared for children,
including a tent and uniforms they can try on.
While the
park draws birders, walkers and others interested in a meadow and generous tree
canopy, officials want people in the county to know more about its Civil War
past. For a long time, that was limited to Arlington House, also known as the Custis-Lee Mansion, said John McNair, acting park
historian at Fort C.F. Smith.
“Our goal is to … stir excitement in the local
Arlington community for the Civil War history in their back yard,” said McNair.
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| C.F. Smith and other forts (click to enlarge; Library of Congress) |
The perimeter forts were abandoned in 1865 at war’s end. A few remnants exist, including at
the county’s Fort Ethan Allen Park, which was located to the northwest of Fort
C.F. Smith. Today, the site has a nearby county dog park.
A 1994 Washington Post article about the purchase of land for Fort
C.F. Smith Park cited Civil War historians who said the capital's series of surrounding forts, trenches and cannon batteries made up a "largely forgotten legacy that literally is woven into the region's landscape."
Local
counties and the National Park Service
are trying to spark interest in their unheralded contributions to the war
effort. After all, they kept the capital safe.
Trees were cleared and their wood used
Engineer Brig. Gen. John Gross Barnard designed and built the 68 forts, a task
made much more urgent by the ignominious Union defeat at First Manassas in July
1861. Rebel troops weren’t far from the capital – in Falls Church, Va. The Union Army Balloon Corps spied on them
from Fort Corcoran.
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| More scenes from Fort C.F. Smith (Library of Congress) |
Alexandria County (which was renamed Arlington County in 1920) was
largely made up of farms during the war. McNair said because the forts needed
to be in cleared areas, few trees in those areas today are more than 160 years
old. Barns and fences
were taken down for fuel. The impact on Alexandria County residents was
substantial.
Laborers cut
down trees that were used for camp buildings, and the whole operation created
new roads and infrastructure around the capital.
Barnard wrote: “Possession was at once
taken, with little or no reference to the rights of the owners or the occupants
of the lands -- the stern law of ‘military necessity’ and the magnitude of the
public interests involved in the security of the nation's capital being
paramount to every other consideration.”
Gen. Robert E. Lee’s victory at Second
Manassas in 1862 brought renewed concerns.
“Fortifications suddenly grew stronger thanks to soldier and contract
labor,” fort expert B. Franklin Cooling wrote in a feature article for the Civil War Trust. “A free black landowner
watched her house crumble beneath soldier axes and sledgehammers as Fort
Massachusetts was expanded and became Fort Stevens.”
About 20,000 soldiers were required to adequately man these forts. Generals who likely would have wanted them at the front knew
that President Lincoln was consumed with protecting the city.
For some
young men deployed in Virginia, it was their first experience in seeing
plantations and enslaved persons.
“When
soldiers enter Arlington from Washington they sometimes talk about entering the
South, even the Deep South, like Arlington is like Alabama or Mississippi,”
David Farner, a senior staffer with Arlington County Parks & Recreation, says in a video posted on the Fort C.F.
Smith Park website.
It bristled with firepower
Fort C.F. Smith, built in early 1863, was considered to be well-designed
and sophisticated, with C-shaped earthworks and protected areas for infantry.
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| C.F. Smith |
Built on land owned by Thomas Jewell, it eventually was named for Maj. Gen. Charles Ferguson Smith, a
mentor of Ulysses S. Grant who later served as a subordinate. Smith died of a
non-combat injury shortly after the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862.
Armament included a seacoast howitzer, 24-pounder siege guns, 12-pounder
field howitzers, Rodman rifles, three siege mortars and other guns, for a total
of 17 to 20 artillery pieces.
The property included barracks, officers’ quarters, a cookhouse and
other buildings. Photographs kept by the Library of Congress show a pleasant camp, a haven well back from the front
lines to the south.
Between 100 and 300 might be at Fort C.F. Smith at a time. The number
included heavy artillerymen, who also could be deployed as infantry.
Among the units stationed there were the 3rd Battalion, 5th
New York Heavy Artillery; the 2nd New York Heavy Artillery; the 1st
Rhode Island Light Artillery, Battery H; and the 30th Company of Unattached
Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. The 2nd New York is the unit featured
in the Library of Congress photo collection.
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| Fortification remnants at C.F. Smith (Arlington County Parks) |
All quiet on the Potomac?
The forts on the Arlington Line, plus Ethan Allen, were built to
complement each other. “One
fort doesn’t need to protect everything. It can rely on other forts,” said
McNair.
That’s why
most of the guns in the lunette at C.F. Smith are trained to the northwest, to
cover the gap between it and Ethan Allen, instead of to the south, where
Confederates attackers would likely emerge. Fort Strong took care of that
sector.
The elaborate
Arlington Line was meant, in part, to guard the Key Bridge and Aqueduct Bridge
approaches to Georgetown and Washington. While there was plenty of drilling,
training and marching, there would be down time. Baseball was popular.
In late May
1864, another soldier with the 164th Ohio writes that morale is
good.
“All is quiet
on the Potomac. But the grand veteran army of the Potomac is not quiet.”
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| Searchable kiosk at park's visitor center (Arlington County Parks) |
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| Young visitors can try on uniforms |
Things certainly
weren’t too quiet north of the Potomac River, just two months later.
Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early decided to attack the capital via Silver
Spring, Md., where Fort Stevens’ guns bristled.
There was
real cause for concern. The capital’s defensive fortifications had about 9,000
troops -- less half of their ideal staffing -- in the summer of 1864, because
so many men had been sent to Grant’s Army of the Potomac for the push on
Richmond and Petersburg. Many of those holding the fort, so to speak, were poorly trained reserves.
Reinforcements
rushed to near Fort Stevens helped stem Early’s advance, on July 11 and 12,
ending the only Rebel action against Washington. Some men of the 164th
Ohio took part in the fighting there. President Abraham Lincoln went to Fort
Stevens on July 12, and famously stood on the parapet. According to legend, young
officer Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said, “Get down, you damn fool!”
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| Entrance to visitor center, more earthworks |
'Quality' earthworks remain at Fort C.F. Smith
After the war
ended, Fort C.F. Smith’s structures were removed and it was largely forgotten,
returning to residential and agricultural use. The 107th U.S.
Colored Troops for a time occupied the Arlington forts, said McNair.
Some families
whose land was taken were able to get compensation for the loss of property and
damage during the war. The 65-year-old Jewell testified that he lived on the property with his family until
"the soldiers robbed my house and ordered me off” what became Fort C.F.
Smith.
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| Artifacts are on display |
The property
was never developed, but the construction of 24th Street on Fort
C.F. Smith’s southern edge plowed through one-third of the site, and other
features wore away, leaving few. Not many earthworks are left.
But some well-reserved,
unrestored ones remain, and they are the focal point of a park that includes
a half-mile trail near George Washington Parkway and the Spout Run Parkway.
“Our
earthwork remains … considering the condition of the individual gun platforms
and ramparts, I am surprised at how good a condition they are in,” McNair told
the Picket. “It was a quality over quantity issue.”
The property
and a house used for events and weddings was acquired from the Hendry family,
which witnessed rapid growth in the area -- “the story of the agricultural
community giving way to suburban homes,” said McNair.
According to
the Post article, only three perimeter forts, Stevens, Foote and Ward, are
restored close to their wartime appearance.
Park offers programs and tours
Fort C.F.
Smith Park is nestled into an Arlington neighborhood, where homes typically
sell for $1 million to $3 million.
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| Trail at Fort C.F. Smith Park near George Washington Parkway |
Day visitors
include joggers, dog walkers and students out of school. “We do have a very
good, dedicated birding population out here. This is a big site in Arlington
for bird watchers.”
“Our big goal
is to get people more invested in the role that Arlington County played during
the Civil War,” said McNair. “By and large, Arlington County residents are very
passionate about their local park spaces and curious about the history they
never learned otherwise.”
The county is
offering history-based summer camps, school trips and guided tours of Civil War
sites. “Fort C.F. Smith historic programming is going strong now and will get
bigger and better with the help of the new visitor center.”
The staff is
contemplating doing more on the war’s home front, including interpreting the
lives of white civilians and enslaved persons.
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| 2nd New York at Fort C.F. Smith (Library of Congress) |
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