[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 5, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CIVIL WAR DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON NATIONAL 
                          HISTORICAL PARK ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 5, 2014

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of 
the Civil War, my colleagues Representatives Donna Edwards, Jim Moran 
and Frank Wolf join me to introduce a bill to recognize and preserve 
the Civil War Defenses of Washington located in the District of 
Columbia, Virginia and Maryland. The defenses of Washington, including 
forts, unarmed batteries and rifle trenches, created a ring of 
protection for the nation's capital during the Civil War. This bill 
would redesignate the 22 Civil War Defenses of Washington currently 
under National Park Service jurisdiction as a national historical park, 
and allow other sites associated with the Civil War Defenses of 
Washington that are owned by a unit of local government in Maryland, 
Virginia, or the District of Columbia to be affiliated with the 
national historic park through cooperative agreements. This bill would 
also require the Secretary of the Interior to facilitate the storied 
history of the Civil War for both the North and the South, including 
the history of the defenses of Washington and the Shenandoah Valley 
Campaign of 1864, being assembled, arrayed and conveyed for the benefit 
of the public for the knowledge, education, and inspiration of this and 
future generations.
  The Civil War Defenses of Washington were constructed at the 
beginning of the war, in 1861, as a ring of protection for the nation's 
capital and for President Abraham Lincoln. By the end of the war, these 
defenses included 68 forts, 93 unarmed batteries, 807 mounted cannons, 
13 miles of rifle trenches, and 32 miles of military roads. The major 
test of the Civil War Defenses of Washington came with the Shenandoah 
Valley Campaign of 1864, when Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal 
Early, directed by General Robert E. Lee, sought to attack the nation's 
capital from the north, causing Union Forces threatening to attack 
Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, to be withdrawn. General 
Early was delayed by Union Major General Lew Wallace at the Battle of 
Monocacy on July 9, 1864, and was stopped at the northern edge of 
Washington at the Battle of Fort Stevens on July 11-12, 1864. The 
Shenandoah Valley Campaign ended when Union Lieutenant General Philip 
Sheridan defeated General Early at the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, 
on October 19, 1864.
  Nearly all the individual forts in the Civil Defenses of Washington--
on both sides of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers--were involved in 
stopping General Early's attack, and the Battle of Fort Stevens was the 
second and last attempt by the Confederate Army to attack Washington.
  Taken together, these battles were pivotal to the outcome of the war 
and the freedom and democracy that the war represented for this 
country. It is therefore fitting that we recognize these sites by 
redesignating them as a national historic park as we commemorate the 
150th anniversary of the Civil War.
  I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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