• Bugler sounding Taps

    Civil War Defenses of Washington

    District of Columbia

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Battery Kemble

Battery Kemble was located at an elevation on Ridge Road (now Nebraska Avenue). The battery held two 100-pounder Parrott rifles, placed in such a way as to sweep Chain Bridge and Virginia beyond. Today, the parapet and gun positions are fairly well-preserved and remain visible. The site is located within Battery Kemble Park, bounded by Chain Bridge Road, MacArthur Boulevard, 49th Street, and Nebraska Avenue, NW.

Battery Kemble was named after Gouveneur Kemble of Cold Springs, New York, former superintendent of West Point Foundry.

 

 

Did You Know?

Fort Stevens

As early as the 1820s, free African Americans settled in a community called Vinegar Hill, an area now known as Brightwood. During the Civil War, Fort Stevens was built within Vinegar Hill boundaries and repulsed the only Confederate attack on the District of Columbia.