[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 14, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E186]
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

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 14, 2018

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I 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 the District of Columbia or 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Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, to be withdrawn.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 and 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.
  I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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