District of Columbia,

July 11–12, 1864

In the spring of 1864 more than 48,000 men had been sent from the Military Defenses of Washington to reinforce the Army of the Potomac. The capital had only 9,000 Home Guards, one-hundred- day Ohio troops, clerks, and convalescents to man the sixty-eight forts protecting the city. One of the forts was Fort Stevens.

On July 10 CS General Early’s exhausted Confederates marched from Monocacy toward Washington. The following morning dawned hot and humid as they arrived in what is today Silver Spring, Maryland, where Early established his headquarters on the Blair property. He pushed his skirmishers forward to scout the Federal defenses. The Union line on the north side of Washington straddled the Seventh Street Road (now Georgia Avenue). The northernmost earthwork, Fort Stevens, was located just west of the road near Rock Creek. The Confederates encountered Federal skirmishers near the fort, and the exchange of fire convinced Early that the works were strongly held, when in fact only a heavy artillery battery occupied the fort. Confederate sharpshooters fired from a tulip tree that is on the grounds of Walter Reed Hospital.

The Federal defense of Washington was quickly strengthened. Elements of US Major General Horatio G. Wright’s veteran VI Corps began to arrive that day by transport from City Point, Virginia, raced through the capital, and by the evening had occupied the line of forts. The XIX Corps, en route from New Orleans to reinforce US General Grant at Petersburg, was also diverted to Washington for the Federal attack up the Seventh Street Road on July 12. Early did not have the strength to capture the city, so he demonstrated against Forts Stevens and DeRussy while he planned his retreat. President Lincoln was at Fort Stevens when the Union troops drove the Confederates back from their advanced position before the forts.

Early sent 1,500 cavalrymen under CS Brigadier General Bradley T. Johnson to raid toward Baltimore and free 10,000–12,000 Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout, where the Potomac merges with the Chesapeake. This was to be a combined operation with two Confederate steamers from North Carolina: the ships were to land 1,800 soldiers on July 12 and join with Johnson to free the prisoners. However, the press learned of the operation, and Union gunboats took positions commanding the land and water approaches to the prison pier. CS Major Harry W. Gilmor raided the outskirts of Baltimore, cut the Philadelphia & Wilmington Railroad northeast of the city, and briefly captured US Major General William B. Franklin on a train. Johnson continued his raid, threatening the eastern defenses of Washington near Beltsville. Early recalled Johnson and Gilmor on July 12 for the retreat to Virginia. The Confederates reached White’s Ford on the Potomac the next day and camped at Leesburg on July 14.

Estimated Casualties: 373 US, 500 CS