Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-09

Napoleon set the style for all the military
world to follow by locating the enemy near
the latters capital city. In his campaign
against Russia this mode of attack led to
the most crushing disaster which ever be-
fell his armies. But he had established
the theory; and every war from the year
Moscow burned in the face OF the French
to the day when the new world and the old
met In the East Indies has been war
either of attack on a national capital or In
defense of one.
The effect Of Napoleon's military strate-
gies was strong on the American students
of warfare in the early nineteenth CEN
fury, and was clearly manifest IN the costly
war with which that century was most sig
nally marked in the United States. Cam
paigns waged about the Mississippi; armies
fought their way through the heart OF the
confederacy; hotillas besieged or defended
southern ports; but the axis OF the civil
war and It's most spectacular variant were
Grants logged attack on Richmond, the
capital of the confederacy. and Early's dash
toward Washington.
BY singular inappiication among the Of
ficers of the American army. this theory
Of warfare left their capital as deferseless
as any roadside village In the country. Inc
attack on Fort Sumter, April II, 1851
found the seat of federal government al
together without works Of defense. Ihe
city afforded them shining mark both to
seamen gunners with batteries afioat In
the Potomac and to artillerymen with pat
teries planted on the high hills in the midst
of which the new city now rears lts
splendid and graceful dome. This seems
ever the more remarkable to latter day
students they turn their attention 10
the successful incursion of 1914, when Al
miral Cockburn and General Ross drove
before them a scattered resistance and took
complete possession of their enemys ad-
mnistrative center.
This condition did not, 1t could not, last
long In little more than a month, Generai
J. C. Mansfield-a chief officer of engineers,
located forts for the protection of the two
approaches from the south, Fort Corcoran
on the heights which now COMMANDED me
old Aqueduct bridge; Forts Albany ana
Runvon near the Virginia end Of the Long
bridge: Fort Ellsworth on the high hill west
Of Alexandria. These works were begun
Nav % 1861. The two months which fol-
lowed brought with them the defeat Of the
Union forces at Bull Run. Up to this time
technical objections had prevented the con-
structon of important new works. But
that disaster brought the confederate forces
to Munsons Hell, an elevation four miles
from the Washington water front; and
with the banners of the confederacy waving
In clear sight from the Capitol itself. these
objections were swept aside and the con-
struction of defenses begun In earnest.
u 0cueIdl oySteiL
commission was formed of the best en-
gineers in the army. Generals Totten,
Neigs. Barry and Cullum united with Cen
eral Barnard in a commission to consider
the necessity of completing the four forts
named and establishing general system of
defense. Their work resulted in plans for
an entire Gordon of forts and rifle pits
which Tapped each other like links in
chain for a distance of thirty-seven miles.
There were 1o6 forts and batteries. Contra
bands. labnrers and soldiers were put at
work on thrty-five miles of rifle-pit con-
struction When the plan of the four en-
gineers was finally completed-which was
hardly before General Early attacked Fort
Stevens in 1St4-Washington rested secure
IN the midst of a district guarded against
attack from any quarter.
To comprehend the theory which this
system was based it is necessary of course
to study the topography of the defended
territory. Washington city was then small.
1t was built largely on low lands at the
juncture of the Anacostia and Potomac
rivers Before il. like the two arms Of the
letter "A" were two converging ridges
one reaching roughly from the Little Falls
of the Potomac to Alexandria, the other
following the Anacostia from the eastern
corner of the District of Columbia to a
point a little north of Alexandria on the
opposite side of the river. Back Of the city,
following old Boundary street. was the cross
bar of the "a" In the form of plateau and
this plateau stretched backward to another
of hills In a hollow triangle with
Georgetown the west slightly elevated
and correspondingly more exposed.
The Means of Approach.
Eight channels of approach were open
the old road from Bladensburg. the It'll
street pike, from Montgomery county the
road from Rockville which ran through
Tenleytown, the Chain bridge. just south
which connected Virginia and Georgetown
the Long bridge. which would admit an
enemy into the very heart of the city; the
Potomac river. which flowed from both
sides of the city. and the Oxon Hill road
which opened a way to the capital from
all the Prince George district.
These avenues of approach all cut through
the Gordon of hills. 1t was possible then to
guard them adequately by means OF forts
erected on outlying heights. All but one
offered two broad. commanding hills one
on either side. the exception being the
Oxen Hill road. which surmounted the ridge
on the left arm OF the "A"
Sixteen forts then sufficed TO guard the