Mr. Lincoln’s Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington
by Benjamin Franklin Cooling III and Walton H. Owen II, The Scarecrow Press, 2009, $50
By the third summer of the Civil War, Washing ton, D.C., was probably the most heavily fortified city in the world. Sixty-eight enclosed earthen forts, 93 supporting batteries and miles of connecting trench lines and military roads guarded Abraham Lincoln’s capital on the Potomac, the military headquarters and living embodiment of his determination to hold the Union together.
No one knows more about this imposing and elaborate defense system than Civil War historian Ben Cooling, who has collaborated with Walton H. Owen, assistant director and curator at the Fort Ward Museum in Alexandria, Va., to produce a revised and greatly improved edition of Mr. Lincoln’s Forts, first published more than 20 years ago.
This book is a must-have for serious historians, dedicated preservationists, armchair enthusiasts and determined battlefield trampers. As a comprehensive and user-friendly guide, it is, and likely will remain, unsurpassed. Sumptuously illustrated with current and period photographs, diagrams and maps, Cooling and Walton provide an eloquent literary tour of Washington City and its suburban environs as they existed in the 1860s. The authors challenge us all to imagine a geography that once dominated the local landscape and now, for the most part, is sadly gone. Because Cooling and Walton believe there is more to this story than an analysis of fortifications and armaments, they also supplement the volume with poignant anecdotes, thoughtfully culled from letters and diaries of soldiers stationed in and around Washington. These observations put a human face on the routine and often boring life of garrison duty in the forts, most of which never fired a shot in anger.
After the war, most of the forts were quickly dismantled and the land sold to private individuals and real estate developers. The authors provide excellent directions to what little is left, most of it unprotected and unimproved, indistinguishable to all but the most observant eye. “The fate of the Defenses of Washington is in each of our hands,” they write, and “only we can accept the challenge to preserve them.”
Originally published in the May 2010 issue of America’s Civil War. To subscribe, click here.
