I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4915 
To designate the Civil War Defenses of Washington National Historical Park 
comprised of certain National Park System lands, and by affiliation 
and cooperative agreements other historically significant resources, lo-
cated in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland, that were 
part of the Civil War defenses of Washington and related to the Shen-
andoah Valley Campaign of 1864, to study ways in which the Civil 
War history of both the North and South can be assembled, arrayed, 
and conveyed for the benefit of the public, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 12, 2016 
Ms. NORTON (for herself and Ms. EDWARDS) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To designate the Civil War Defenses of Washington National 
Historical Park comprised of certain National Park Sys-
tem lands, and by affiliation and cooperative agreements 
other historically significant resources, located in the Dis-
trict of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland, that were 
part of the Civil War defenses of Washington and related 
to the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, to study 
ways in which the Civil War history of both the North 
and South can be assembled, arrayed, and conveyed for 
the benefit of the public, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Civil War Defenses of Washington National Historical 
Park Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. 
Sec. 3. Redesignation. 
Sec. 4. Areas included in Civil War Defenses of Washington National Historical 
Park. 
Sec. 5. Possible inclusion of additional areas. 
Sec. 6. National Civil War History Education Center Report. 
Sec. 7. Administration. 
Sec. 8. Definitions. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds and declares as 
follows: 
(1) As the United States concludes the com-
memoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil 
War, 1861–1865, it is fitting and helpful for Ameri-
cans to remember, reflect upon, and learn from the 
storied history, valor, heartbreak, and suffering of 
both sides in this tragic war that so divided and 
scarred the young Nation, but that also served as a 
crucible for the Nation to secure itself as the United 
States and preserve the Union, abolish the injustice 
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of slavery, and become the beacon of hope as a de-
mocracy that it has become for the world. 
(2) The significance of the Civil War to the fu-
ture of the United States is incalculable. The war’s 
lessons and meaning to the history of the United 
States, what it stands for, and its place in the world 
today must be remembered and conveyed to future 
generations. The war pitted family against family, 
brother against brother, friend against friend, Blue 
against Gray. Its battlegrounds were consecrated 
with blood that was shed by many who gave their 
last full measure of devotion. The reunited democ-
racy that emerged, after such a heavy loss of life on 
both sides and the difficult decades of healing that 
followed, made the United States stronger. It helped 
the Nation advance toward achieving the inalienable 
rights and noble goals and values its founders 
sought, but had not fully achieved, in their lifetimes. 
(3) The defenses of Washington played a key 
role in the outcome of the Civil War. They were con-
structed at the beginning of the war in 1861 as a 
ring of fortifications in the District of Columbia, 
Maryland, and northern Virginia, to protect the Na-
tion’s Capital. By the end of the war, these defenses 
included 68 forts, 93 unarmed batteries, 807 mount-
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ed cannon, 13 miles of rifle trenches, and 32 miles 
of military roads. 
(4) The major test of the Civil War defenses of 
Washington came with the Shenandoah Valley Cam-
paign of 1864 when Confederate Lieutenant General 
Jubal Early marched from Richmond to Lynchburg, 
Virginia, and through the Shenandoah Valley to 
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and Frederick, Mary-
land. His major objective, as directed to him by 
General Robert E. Lee, was to attack the Nation’s 
Capital from the north, causing Union Forces to be 
withdrawn from threatening Richmond, the capital 
of the Confederacy. He 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 the District of Columbia at the Battle of Fort 
Stevens on July 11–12, 1864. The Shenandoah Val-
ley Campaign ended when Union Lieutenant General 
Philip Sheridan defeated General Early at the Battle 
of Cedar Creek, Virginia, on October 19, 1864. 
(5) The Battle of Fort Stevens was the second 
and last attempt by the Confederate Army to attack 
Washington. The first major effort to surround or 
capture the Nation’s Capital ended at Gettysburg in 
July 1863. After that historic battle, in his address 
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at Gettysburg Cemetery on November 19, 1863, 
President Abraham Lincoln redefined what was at 
stake: ‘‘a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedi-
cated to the proposition that all men are created 
equal . . . that this nation, under God, shall have 
a new birth of freedom—and that government of the 
people, by the people, and for the people shall not 
perish from the earth.’’. 
(6) The Battle of Fort Stevens was the only 
verifiable time that a sitting United States President 
(Abraham Lincoln) came under hostile fire during a 
battle while in office. Nearly all the individual forts 
in the defenses of Washington (on both sides of the 
Potomac and Anacostia Rivers) were involved in 
stopping General Early’s attack. Had that one battle 
at the very edge of Washington been lost, the Na-
tion’s Capital, the Presidency, the Union Govern-
ment, and emancipation all would have been poten-
tially lost and the history of the United States dra-
matically changed. The victory at Fort Stevens not 
only saved the city and the national government, but 
also led to the October 1864 victories for the Union 
in the Shenandoah Valley, which ensured Lincoln’s 
re-election and preservation of the Union at that 
critical moment. 
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(7) After the end of the war, most of the Civil 
War defenses of Washington were returned to pri-
vate land owners, but many were retained by the 
military or the lands were repurchased later by the 
United States. Of the remaining fortifications in 
public ownership, 19 sites (including Battleground 
Cemetery) are owned by the Federal Government 
and managed by the National Park Service, four are 
owned by local units of government in northern Vir-
ginia, and one is owned by Montgomery County, 
Maryland. 
(8) In 1902, the Senate McMillan Commission 
issued a Report on the Improvement of the Park 
System of Washington (U.S. Senate Committee on 
the District of Columbia, Senate Report No. 166, 
57th Congress, 1st Session). The Report called for 
development of a ‘‘Fort Drive’’ to connect the Civil 
War defenses of Washington in the Nation’s Capital. 
Congress appropriated funds to purchase lands for 
the Fort Drive during the 1930s, but it was never 
fully completed. 
(9) Most of the remaining Civil War defenses of 
Washington contain significant natural and rec-
reational resources, and some offer sweeping vistas 
overlooking the Nation’s Capital. With the lands ac-
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quired for the Fort Drive, they provide a linkage of 
urban green spaces that contribute to the history, 
character, and scenic values of the Nation’s Capital 
and offer educational and recreational opportunities 
along with their natural and important historical 
values. 
(10) Sites associated with the Civil War de-
fenses of Washington that are in Federal ownership 
within the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 
of Virginia, and the State of Maryland are managed 
under three separate units of the National Park 
Service (Rock Creek Park, National Capital Parks– 
East, and the George Washington Memorial Park-
way). Action by Congress is needed to protect and 
aid the educational benefits of the unique place in 
history of these sites through proper management, 
stabilization, maintenance, development, use, and, 
importantly, interpretation. 
(11) It is fitting and proper that, as Americans 
reflect upon the legacy of the Civil War, we more 
fully understand and appreciate the roles of the bat-
tles in the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Vir-
ginia, and Maryland related to the defenses of 
Washington. Taken together, these battles were piv-
otal to the outcome of the war and therefore to its 
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impact on the promise of the United States. It is 
therefore in the national interest that these histori-
cally important sites and resources be protected 
from further damage or loss and that they be pre-
served, enhanced, and interpreted for the use, enjoy-
ment, and education of present and future genera-
tions. 
(12) There is a genuine need and compelling 
reason for the United States to rededicate itself to 
and honor the vision and ideals of democracy as re-
flected in the Constitution by commemorating and 
interpreting through this National Historical Park 
the epic story of the American Civil War and the 
profound and lasting impact of the war on the val-
ues, capabilities, and strengths that the United 
States reflects through the ideals that it stands for 
in the world today. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to protect, preserve, enhance, and interpret 
for the benefit and use of present and future genera-
tions the cultural, historical, natural, and rec-
reational resources of the Civil War defenses of 
Washington located in the District of Columbia, Vir-
ginia, and Maryland; and 
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(2) to study and consider creative and cost-ef-
fective ways that the storied history of the Civil 
War, including the defenses of Washington and the 
Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, can be as-
sembled, arrayed, and effectively conveyed to and for 
the benefit of the public. 
SEC. 3. REDESIGNATION. 
The Civil War defenses of Washington are hereby re-
designated as the Civil War Defenses of Washington Na-
tional Historical Park. 
SEC. 4. AREAS INCLUDED IN CIVIL WAR DEFENSES OF 
WASHINGTON NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK. 
(a) AREAS UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE 
NATIONAL
PARK
SERVICE.—The National Historical 
Park shall include all areas associated with the Civil War 
defenses of Washington that are currently owned by the 
Federal Government and under the administration of the 
National Park Service, each as depicted on appropriate 
maps maintained by the Secretary of the Interior, includ-
ing the following: 
(1) The following fortifications and associated 
lands: 
(A) Battery Kemble. 
(B) Fort Bayard. 
(C) Fort Bunker Hill. 
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(D) Fort Carroll. 
(E) Fort Chaplin. 
(F) Fort Davis. 
(G) Fort DeRussy. 
(H) Fort Dupont. 
(I) Fort Foote. 
(J) Fort Greble. 
(K) Fort Mahan. 
(L) Fort Marcy. 
(M) Fort Reno. 
(N) Fort Ricketts. 
(O) Fort Slocum. 
(P) Fort Stanton. 
(Q) Fort Stevens. 
(R) Fort Totten. 
(2) The following affiliated National Park 
Areas: 
(A) Fort Circle Drive. 
(B) Battleground National Cemetery. 
(C) Fort Washington. 
(D) Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm. 
(b) POTENTIAL AFFILIATION OF ELIGIBLE AREAS 
OWNED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—Any site associated 
with the Civil War defenses of Washington that is owned 
by a unit of local government in Virginia, Maryland, or 
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the District of Columbia, may become affiliated with the 
National Historical Park pursuant to a cooperative agree-
ment entered into between the unit of local government 
concerned and the Secretary, including the following: 
(1) In Virginia: 
(A) Fort Ward, City of Alexandria. 
(B) Fort C.F. Smith, Arlington County. 
(C) Fort Ethan Allen, Arlington County. 
(D) Fort Willard, Fairfax County. 
(2) In Maryland: Battery Bailey, Montgomery 
County. 
SEC. 5. POSSIBLE INCLUSION OF ADDITIONAL AREAS. 
(a) AFFILIATION AUTHORITY.—Any site associated 
with the Civil War defenses of Washington that is owned 
by a private individual or organization or a unit of local 
government in the District of Columbia, Virginia, or 
Maryland, other than those listed in section 4, that the 
Secretary determines is eligible for affiliation with the Na-
tional Historical Park, may be affiliated with the National 
Historical Park pursuant to a cooperative agreement en-
tered into between the site owner and the Secretary. The 
Secretary may purchase such properties from willing sell-
ers, subject to the availability of private sector donated 
funding or appropriations. 
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(b) CONSENT REQUIRED.—No non-Federal property 
may be included in the National Historical Park without 
the written consent of the owner of the property. 
(c) PROHIBITION ON USE OF CONDEMNATION.—The 
Secretary may not acquire by condemnation any land or 
interest in land under this Act or for the purposes of this 
Act. 
(d) CONSULTATION AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.— 
The Secretary shall consult with interested officials of 
State governments and units of local government, rep-
resentatives of interested organizations, and interested 
members of the public before executing a cooperative 
agreement under this section or section 7(d). 
SEC. 6. NATIONAL CIVIL WAR HISTORY EDUCATION CEN-
TER REPORT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In furtherance of and consistent 
with section 2, the Secretary shall study and consider cre-
ative and cost-effective ways to facilitate the storied his-
tory 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 assem-
bled, arrayed, and conveyed for the benefit of the public 
for the knowledge, education, and inspiration of this and 
future generations about the impact of that war on the 
United States and its fledgling democracy, abolition of 
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