Rebel General Jubal Early with 15,000 battle-hardened veterans of Lee's army advanced on Washington but were summarily turned back at the gates of the city. Unsubstantiated reports of Rebel numbers and rumors of atrocities were greatly exaggerated, causing many citizens to flee in panic. On July 9th Early's thrust across the Potomac had been heroically delayed by a scratch force of national troops pulled together at the Monocacy River under the command of General Lew Wallace. Consequently, Early and his marauders did not reach the formidable fortifications on the outskirts of Washington City until the eleventh. Once reinforcements from General Grant's army arrived, the game was up, and Early was forced to retreat back to the Valley of Virginia. (But not before maliciously burning to the ground the house of Postmaster General Montgomery Blair at Silver Spring.) This gave rise to the humorous observation that when the rebels arrived to capture Washington City, "Early was late!" Not to be outdone, the profane General Early is reported to have exclaimed, "We may not have taken Washington, but we scared Old Abe like h---!"
Far from being "scared," the President, a few senators and members of the Cabinet, notably Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, came out to Fort Stevens to have a first-hand look at the progress of the battle from the ramparts. Heavy skirmishing was occurring beyond the fort's walls as Union infantry advanced to meet the rebel attack. Sharpshooters firing from trees and abandoned houses threatened the President and his entourage as they stood upon the parapet. After a surgeon standing right beside the President was hit and severely wounded, General Wright ordered the Commander-in-Chief down from the works. One officer nearby, perhaps not recognizing the President, was reported to have shouted, "Get down, you fool!" Mr. Lincoln reluctantly complied and sought a safer place to view the battle. It is believed to have been the first and only time an American President has come under hostile enemy fire that didn't emanate from the opposition press. Whether or not rebel marksmen specifically targeted the President may never be known.
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| President Abraham Lincoln under rebel fire at Fort Stevens, July 12, 1864. (Bas-relief by Schwizer in Jubal Early's Raid on Washington, 1864 [p. 142]) |
Mr. Lincoln had been highly displeased upon learning that Gustavus V. Fox, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, had ordered two or three gunboats up the Potomac to stand by with steam up in case the present emergency required that the President be evacuated. However, President Lincoln was not content to ride out the storm confined to the White House. Instead he and Mrs. Lincoln, in the presidential carriage, rode out the Seventh Street Road to Fort Stevens to watch the battle in progress on two successive days, July11th and 12th.
Ultimately, Fort Stevens with its heavy artillery and the other forts that form a protective ring around the Capital proved their worth, even undermanned as they were, as the works were just too strong for a raiding party the size of Early's force to invest and overrun. The ordnance at Fort Stevens alone boasted four 24-pounder seacoast cannon firing in barbette; six 24-pounder siege guns in an embrasure; two 8-inch siege howitzers; five 30-pounder Parrott guns, plus a 10-inch siege and a 24-pounder Coehorn mortar. The Confederates' plan to siphon off troops and relieve Lee's army besieged at Petersburg, succeeded to some degree, but not enough to materially alter the strategic situation there. We daily await the news that General Grant's troops will have breached the works at Petersburg, the so-called "Backdoor to Richmond," and sent the rebels flying.
- H. J. W.
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| Members of the 6th Independent Battery, New York Artillery at Fort Stevens [i.e., Parker Press Park, Woodbridge, NJ] prepare to fire as President Lincoln and an unidentified lady look on. Photo courtesy of William Myers. |
[Editor's note: For more information, see B. F. Cooling's Jubal Early's Raid on Washington, 1864]
