[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 55 (Tuesday, April 12, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E416-E417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




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

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 12, 2016

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, as we commemorate the 155th anniversary of 
the start of the Civil War today, my colleague Representative Donna 
Edwards joins 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 state governments 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Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, to be withdrawn.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

[[Page E417]]

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 
155th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.
  I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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