The morning times., 1896-06-14

and Tenleytown were built Forts De Russy,
Saratoga, Thayer and one or two others.
| Fort De Russy was located, as stated at
| the outset, in what Is now ROCK creek
Park. 1t held commanding position.
sweeping the valley of Rock Creek, ana
proved of great value when Early made
| his descent upon Washington in July,
1864, when success might have set back
| the end of the war for year or more
| and cnst the government millions OF money
and thousands OF men.
West and south of Tenleytown were To-
Gated Fort Sumner and series OF sup
porting works along Powder Mill Run
and beyond tie reservoir. works were con
structed near Glen Echo and Great Faiis
| to protect the water supply.
On the other side of the Anacostia River
| eastern Branch) the Notifications begaI
| with Fort Mahan, near Benning, to protect
| the road along the river toward Hadens-
burg. From this works were constructed
| along the great ridge extending by Union
town and Anacostia toward oxon Hill ana
| called Fort Meigs, Fort Carroll. Fort Gre
BILE and Fort Stanton. On that side also
were placed Forts dupont, Baker, Davis,
| Wagner, Ricketts, and Snyder.
CHAIN OF DEFENsEs.
| The protection was deemed nearly coin-
| plete wien two mountain howtzcrs and
u
| so as to command Chain Bridge Gen. W. r.
| Smith later located and built Forts Ethan
| Allen and Marcy. One enumeration gives
| in all at that time % forts south of the fo-
| tomac, A forts and three batteries between
| the Potomac and the Anacostia; and IL
| forts beyond the Anacostia. A later count
| made o3 forts and % batteries extending
| over total line OF 80 miles. Counting two
| men TO the yard in front and one in the rear,
| these required for their defense $4,000 men.
| With three relays for each gun there
| would be needed in addition 5000 artillery
| men to serve the cannon.
In all. these forts numbered 613 guns and
| 10 mortars. The cannon were mainly "A
| and 80 -pounders, with siege guns and rifled
| Parrott guns. They would be deemed nova
| days 10 constitute a very. insufficient arma- :
| nient for auy sort of defense. Most of the
pieces have already been given away to
| Grand Army posts and military schools for
| purposes OF ornament.
GUNS ARE SCATTERED.
The disappearance of the forts that
held them has kept pace with the scat
| tering of the guns. OF the seventy-five
earthworks enumerated by commission
empowered by Congress to report upon
| the fortifications of Washington, very few
| traces remain. Only an old resident here
and there can point out a rapidly disap-
pearing ridge at this point and that as
part of Fort Corcoran, or Fort Runyon,
Fort Stanton, of Fort Stevens. Fort
Myer, SO far as the records go, was
not then in existence under any form or
name, and Forts Foote and Washington
were not counted among the immediate
defenses of Washington.
on the heights south of Arlington vii
laGe and just this side Nauck's station on
the Southern Road can be found series
OF ramparts, overgrown with young pines.
These are supposed to have been part of
Fort Richardson. Through the pines run
hog paths, and the ground seems to bc
unOccupied and unused.
REMINDER OF STIRRING SCENES.
Near the center OF the low lines of earth
work is an old breastwork with higher
walls and IL thriftier growth of trees, in
cluding other varieties with the pine.
This, it is supposed. was the stronghold
of the fortification.
On the north Of the city stands a
mournful reminder OF those trying days,
and marks the site of one Of the series of
fortresses. This is Fort Stevens Mill
tary Cemetery. Its entrance is within II
few feet of the Brightwood car line, about
a mile and quarter he yond the postoffice,
and just this side of Silver Springs. There
are buried tbirty-seven men killed in the
fight with Early, and for three years past
the late Capt. Stephen w. Baxter had
taken care of the grounds and watched
over their remains.
"On fame's eternal camping ground
Their low green tents are spread,
And glory guards in silent round
The bivouac of the dead"
EARTHwORKS HAVE DISAPPEARED.
There is hardly a trace OF the earth
works that were located there for the pro-
lection of the capital. Indeed recent
..S.l
of Fort Stevens was wholly unsuccessful.
Near Brightwood is a plowed field just to
the right OF the car tracks, which shows IL
ridge considered to be part of Fort Stew ems,
butit would not be taken as u portion of an
old fortifjcation if it were not particu-
larly pointed out.
Yet completely as these old ea rthworks
have gone from the face OF the earth, they
proved in their day the security of Wash
ingtoD.
On June 12, 1864, Lee ordered Early to
take Ewell's corps of the Army of Northern
Virginia, then lying at Gaines Mill, at Cold
Harbor, with two battalions of artillery
and move down the Shenandoah b valley. He
took Nelson's and Braxton's batteries,
with Gen. Long as chief of artillery, and
started at 3 O'Clock next morning by way
of Louisa Courthouse and Charlottesville;
went through Swift's Gap in the Blue
Ridge. struck Gen. Hunter in the rear and
drove him out of the valley.
ON TO WASHINGTON
he then received orders from Lee to
cross the Potomac near Leesburg or at Har-
per's Ferry and threaten Washington. He
was to cooperate with Gen. Breckinridge.
Gen. Early has stated that when he start
ed on his raid he had only 5000 muskets
under his commnad and they had been for
ten days in o continuous fight from the
wilderness to Cold Harbor. Divisions had
been reduced to brigades and brigades to
regiments. AS he moved into the valley he
had Imboden, McCausland, jackson and
Jones, with about 10000 muskets. he
crossed the Potomac near Harper's Ferry
about July 2, and on July was at Fred
erick, where he was met by Gen. Wallace
With only about 400 men Gen. Wallace
risked battle, and, while defeated, de
Iayed the Confederate force. twenty four
hours. This gave time for the Union troops
to come up from Virginia and protect the
capital.
NEAR THE CAPITAL.
On July 10 Early appeared at Rockville,
where he was confronted for u short time
by o small force of cavalry under Major
Fry. On July IL McCausland's men came
down the Georgetown pike from Rockville,
while ImbodeD and others moved uround
| to the north and marched In along the