• Bugler sounding Taps

    Civil War Defenses of Washington

    District of Columbia

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Places

Today nineteen fort sites are administered by the National Park Service located on approximately 130 acres. Each fortification was a link in this chain of forts surrounding the capital city during the Civil War. Click the hightlighted fort name to learn more about its story and the role it played in defending the District of Columbia.

Fort Foote
Fort Greble
Battery Carroll
Fort Stanton
Fort Ricketts
Fort Davis
Fort Dupont
Fort Chaplin
Fort Mahan
Fort Bunker Hill
Fort Totten
Fort Slocum
Fort Stevens
Battleground National Cemetery
Fort DeRussy
Fort Reno
Fort Bayard
Battery Kemble
Fort Marcy

Click here for an historic map of the Civil War Defenses of Washington with fortifications owned by the National Park Service highlighted.


  • Fort Ward and the Civil War Defenses of Washington Fort Ward and the Civil War Defenses of Washington

    links to Fort Ward website

Did You Know?

Isaac Ingalls Stevens

Built in 1861, Fort Stevens originally was named Fort Massachusetts. The fort was renamed Fort Stevens in 1863 after Isaac Ingalls Stevens. Stevens was the governor of the Washington Territory.