Women and the Defenses

The Defenses of Washington were built to protect the national capital. During the course of the war, tens of thousands of Federal soldiers and civilian laborers built and garrisoned the capital forts. Although viewed on the periphery, women were intimately connected to the earthen fortresses that encircled Washington DC. Their stories, both triumphant and tragic, are essential to the Faces of the Forts Project.

Fort Homefront

The dissolution of the Union brought war to Washington DC and the surrounding region in 1861. With war came tens of thousands of soldiers and the war material necessary to supply, feed, and train the green troops. The Union Army built the first fortifications across the Potomac in Northern Virginia beginning in May 1861. Following the Union defeat at the Battle of First Bull Run (Manassas) on July 21, 1861, blue-clad troops rapidly expanded the Defenses of Washington, constructing 48 major earthworks by the end of the year. The fortifications encircled the capital city, guarding the approaches to Washington from Maryland and Virginia. The soldiers were encamped in close proximity to the forts, often on land owned by civilians who were openly hostile to the Federal government.

There is no question why the Union Army fortified the heights — to provide it with observation points to pinpoint and track invaders and strongpoints, where they could protect important transportation routes and repel the Confederates without any damage to the city, and to preclude the enemy from using them to shell the city. But, who owned this land before the Civil War and what did they use it for?

Military Necessity

In Virginia, a variety of individuals owned the land on which the Union Army built fortifications, in the Civil War Defenses of Washington, D.C. While men were the primary land owners, there were women who were controlled the property rights as the Union army occupied the high ground around the capital and constructed the Defenses of Washington as a military necessity.

The Union erected both Battery Garesche and a blockhouse on widow lady Margaret B. Dangerfield's "Hampton" farm, near Alexandria, Virginia.

Owen and Mary Murray owned the land on which Fort Hagerty was erected. Before the war they had a farm of over fifty acres in the area. While constructing Fort Hagerty the Army destroyed the cultivated lands including orchards plus the fencing and the partially brick farmhouse.

Both forts Whipple, later Fort Myer, and Cass were erected on Arlington Plantation, owned by Mary Randolph Lee, wife of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The government confiscated the plantation for non-payment of taxes. On January 11, 1864, the U.S. Government purchased the plantation at public auction for $26,800.00 and began burying Union soldiers there (Arlington National Cemetery).

The greatest amount of the fortifications in the Civil War Defenses of Washington were within the District of Columbia. The forts were construction on property owned by a diverse set of families.

Bernard S. Swart, a clerk, owned land in the Northern part of the District of Columbia, some of which is now located in Rock Creek Park. In 1860, he, his wife, Sarah, three children, and two farmhands, Christopher Lambert, 30, and William Hamilton, 19, lived on the farm. After the Civil War began, the Union Army erected Fort DeRussy on Swart's land.

Sixty year old Michael Caton, of Ward 4, valued his real estate at $5,000. in 1860. Living with him were his wife, Sarah, five children between the ages of 18 and 30, and one domestic, aged 16. The Union built Fort DuPont on Caton's land.

Fort Slocum was partially erected on the land of John F. Callan, a clerk. His wife, Sarah A. Callan, and eight children, between the ages of 8 and 24, lived with him. One of his children, James, listed his occupation as "Druggist."

Farmer Philip J. Buckey owned the land on which Fort Bayard was later constructed. Buckey valued his real estate at $5,000. His wife May, four children and two servants lived with him.

William A.T. Maddox, age 47, along with his 28-year old wife Sarah E., owned the land on which the Union Army built Battery Kemble and part of the land on which Fort Gaines was erected. In 1860, he valued his real estate at $20,000. Luckily for him, Maddox had his profession to tide him over; he was a career U.S. Marine Corps officer who in 1860 held the rank of captain and, at the beginning of 1863, was stationed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania serving as an assistant quartermaster.

The Heroine of the Battle of Fort Stevens

Most of the land on which Fort Massachusetts (Stevens) was constructed belonged to Emory Chapel or Emory Methodist Church. Federal engineers discovered strategic high ground a few miles south of Silver Spring, Maryland. This area, known as Vinegar Hill, was home to a community of free African Americans. Numerous publications addressing the original Civil War Defenses of Washington, D.C. and the Battle of Fort Stevens include accounts of a free Black woman named Elizabeth Proctor Thomas who also owned part of the land on which the army constructed the fort. The accounts report that in 1862, the Army tore down Mrs. Thomas's house, described as a "shanty", to expand the original fort. Reportedly, President Abraham Lincoln personally consoled her, saying "It is hard, but you shall reap a great reward."

Elizabeth Thomas was intimately connected to Fort Stevens in the decades after the Civil War. She sold a portion her Fort Stevens acreage to William Van Zandt Cox who hoped to preserve the remaining earthworks and establish a park. Veterans of the battle, both Union and Confederate, invited Thomas to attend a special dedication of a stone boulder which marked the spot President Lincoln was under fire on November 7, 1911. Following the war, Elizabeth Thomas spent years filing claims for damages against the federal government. An unconfirmed account states that Thomas was eventually awarded $1,835 in 1916, a year before she died.

Home is Where the Fort Is

As army camps sprang up around Washington D.C. in 1861, thousands of Federal soldiers

The dissolution of the Union and the subsequent Confederate bombardment sparked war. In Washington D.C., army camps sprang up around the capital thousands of Federal soldiers were rushed to defend the precarious city. The soldiers were not alone. The volunteers were sometimes joined by their wives and families, especially during the first year of the year prior to Union spring offensives in 1862. The accounts vary but there were women who accompanied their husbands to war where they found employment around the camps as the soldiers drilled and erected the Defenses of Washington. There was also a large influx of civilians who were hired to assist the army with construction projects. Work camps comprising tent and wooden structures were constructed behind the forts for the civilian employees, and included superintendent offices, cook houses, mess hall, wash and laundry rooms, and other shops related to construction. Doubtless many women, including formerly enslaved African Americans, were hired as support staff.

Co. B, 9^th New York Heavy Artillery garrisoned at Fort Mahan (Eastern Branch Line) in 1863. Sergeant Ebenezar Page was accompanied by his daughter (either Ellen or Esther), who established a school for soldiers at the fort’s mess hall. Each student was charge .50 cents to attend the makeshift school.

14 miles south of Fort Mahan along the Potomac River in Maryland was Fort Foote. Elements of the 9^th New York Heavy Artillery (Companies C, D, E) constructed the for in the fall of 1863. Brigadier General John G. Barnard described it as a model earthwork. Like their comrades at Fort Mahan, at least one member of the regiment was accompanied by a family member. Private Charles McDowell enlisted at Lyons, New York in August 1862. When the regiment was detailed to construct Fort Foote in August 1863, Charles was joined by his wife Nancy, who started a bakery business. Nancy sold homemade fruit pies, usually apple, to the soldiers at camp. She nearly succumbed to typhoid fever in 1864 and was forced to return to New York to recover.

The Political Belle of Washington

Kate Chase was an icon of the Victorian Era. At age 15, she found herself in the role of the second most prominent woman in the District of Columbia behind First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. She filled the important role of hostess to Salmon P. Chase, the former United States Senator and Governor of Ohio, who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln. Chase accompanied her widowed father to Washington, and quickly became the most envied hostess in the Federal capital. She excelled at the role and was widely regarded for her cunning intellect at social gatherings. Her party invites became the most sought-out ticket in the city during the Civil War. Chase was able to soothe the egos of her father’s prominent guests, setting the stage for Salmon to leverage ideas, policies, and aspirations, including his attempt to wrestle away the Republican nomination from Lincoln in 1864.

Ms. Chase was seen outside the confines of the city as well. She often visited the Defenses of Washington, playing guest to the headquarters of general officers at the forts in Virginia and Maryland. She married Rhode Island Governor William Sprague in November 1863. The couple had four children together. She remained a constant political force for her father, who was appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1864, and later aligned with the Democratic Party in hope of gaining the nomination in 1868.

The National Tribune aptly described Kate Chase's influence in Washington, writing: "No one woman had more to do with influencing the movements on the military and the political chessboard than she, and it was her influence largely that kept McClellan at the head of the military.”[1] . Kate passed away in Washington D.C. on July 31^st, 1899 and her body was returned to her childhood hometown buried next to her mother and father in Cincinnati, Ohio. [1]The National Tribune. (Washington, D.C.), 17 March 1898. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.