Civil War Defenses of Washington

Civil War Defenses of Washington
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Fort Stevens, 1864
Location	Washington, D.C.
NRHP Reference #	74000274
Added to NRHP	July 15, 1974

Civil War Defenses of Washington (also known as Fort Circle Parks) is a collection of National Park Service properties in and around Washington, D.C. joined by a similar historic theme. Other forts have become state and city parks, in the area. Together they commemorate the defense of the capital during the American Civil War.

The Washington area had 68 major enclosed forts, as well as 93 prepared (but unarmed) batteries for field guns, and seven blockhouses surrounding it during the American Civil War. There were also twenty miles of rifle pits and thirty miles of connecting military roads. These were Union forts, and the Confederacy never captured one. Indeed, most never came under enemy fire. These were used to house soldiers and store artillery and other supplies.

The following forts are listed in the National Register of Historic Places nomination form.

In 1919 the Commissioners of the District of Columbia pushed Congress to pass a bill to consolidate the aging forts into a "Fort Circle" system of parks that would ring the growing city of Washington. As envisioned by the Commissioners, the Fort Circle would be a green ring of parks outside the city, owned by the government, and connected by a "Fort Drive" road in order to allow Washington's citizens to easily escape the confines of the capital. However, the bill allowing for the purchase of the former forts, which had been turned back over to private ownership after the war, failed to pass both the House of Representatives and Senate.

Despite that failure, in 1925 a similar bill passed both the House and Senate, which allowed for the creation of the National Capital Parks Commission (NCPC) to oversee the construction of a Fort Circle of parks similar to that proposed in 1919. The NCPC was authorized to begin purchasing land occupied by the old forts, much of which had been turned over to private ownership following the war. Records indicate that the site of Fort Stanton was purchased for a total of $56,000 in 1926. The duty of purchasing land and constructing the fort parks changed hands several times throughout the 1920s and 1930s, eventually culminating with the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service taking control of the project in the 1940s.