Fort Ellsworth Fort Ellsworth was a timber and earthwork fortification constructed west of Alexandria , Virginia , as part of the defenses of Washington , D . C . during the American Civil War . Built in the weeks following the Union defeat at Bull Run , Fort Ellsworth was situated on a hill north of Hunting Creek , and Cameron Run , ( which feeds into it ) . From its position on one of the highest points west of Alexandria , the fort overlooked the Orange and Alexandria Railroad , the Little River Turnpike , and the southern approaches to the city of Alexandria , the largest settlement in Union - occupied Northern Virginia . Occupation of Alexandria . The occupation of Northern Virginia was peaceful , with the sole exception of the town of Alexandria . There , as Colonel Elmer E . Ellsworth , commander of the New York Fire Zouaves ( 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment ) , entered a local hotel to remove the Confederate flag flying above it , he was shot and killed by James Jackson , the proprietor . Ellsworth was one of the first men killed in the American Civil War . Throughout the remainder of the war , Alexandria would lean strongly towards the Confederate government , necessitating continued occupation by a Union garrison . Washington D . C . Fortifications . Over the seven weeks that followed the occupation of northern Virginia , forts were constructed along the banks of the Potomac River and at the approaches to each of the three major bridges ( Chain Bridge , Long Bridge , and Aqueduct Bridge ) connecting Virginia to Washington and Georgetown . While the Potomac River forts were being built , planning and surveying was ordered for an enormous new ring of forts to protect the city . Unlike the fortifications under construction , the new forts would defend the city in all directions , not just the most direct route through Arlington . In mid - July , this work was interrupted by the First Battle of Bull Run . As the Army of Northeastern Virginia marched south to Manassas , the soldiers previously assigned to construction duties marched instead to battle . In the days that followed the Union defeat at Bull Run , panicked efforts were made to defend Washington from what was perceived as an imminent Confederate attack . The makeshift trenches and earthworks that resulted were largely confined to Arlington and the direct approaches to Washington . On July 26 , 1861 , five days after the battle , Maj . Gen . George B . McClellan was named commander of the military district of Washington and the subsequently renamed Army of the Potomac . Upon arriving in Washington , McClellan was appalled by the condition of the city ' s defenses . " In no quarter were the dispositions for defense such as to offer a vigorous resistance to a respectable body of the enemy , either in the position and numbers of the troops or the number and character of the defensive works . . . not a single defensive work had been commenced on the Maryland side . There was nothing to prevent the enemy shelling the city from heights within easy range , which could be occupied by a hostile column almost without resistance . " To remedy the situation , one of McClellan ' s first orders upon taking command was to greatly expand the defenses of Washington . At all points of the compass , forts and entrenchments would be constructed in sufficient strength to defeat any attack . Alexandria , which contained the southern terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and one of the largest ports in the Chesapeake Bay , was an object of " anxious study . " Planning and construction . In August 1861 , General McClellan assigned General J . G . Barnard to take charge of construction to begin creation of a really complete system of defenses Gen . Horatio Wright , oversaw the construction of Fort Ellsworth , and Gen . John Newton , who was in charge of the forts south of Four Mile Run , supervised the construction and managed the flow of men and material . The Fort was constructed on Shuter ’ s Hill to the east of Samuel Cooper ’ s Cameron plantation house . Wartime use . On June 26 , 1861 , 30 - 10 Pounder Rifled Cannon were tested at Fort Ellsworth . Col . J . Howard Kitching with the 6th New York Artillery occupied Fort Ellsworth : Now we are in Fort Ellsworth . . . It is a very fine piece of work on a splendid commanding position , overlooking Washington , Alexandria , and all the surrounding country , for fifteen or twenty miles . When we came in here . . . it was occupied by four hundred ' man - of - war ' s men : ' in fact , a complete frigate ' s crew - and they have been spending the past two months in putting the fort in order , just as sailors do , sodding and whitewashing everything , and planting evergreens , until the inside of the works is the very picture of neatness . They moved on to Fort Worth , on Wednesday , November 27 , 1861 . Fort Worth , Va . , December 3 , 1861 . My dearest L : I received your lovely letter , and would have answered it immediately , but that I was taken sick the day after I got it , and have been sick ever since . We received orders late Wednesday night to move our two companies which had been guarding Fort Ellsworth to Fort Worth , the next morning , Thanksgiving Day . So we were obliged to give up our comfortable quarters , and take up our line of march for an unfinished earthwork , on the outskirts of our line of fortifications ; where instead of spending our time drilling on the guns , and teaching our men something useful , we are forced to take up our axes and shovels , and go to work upon the Fort . In Ellsworth we had very nice quarters within the works , and everything convenient , and were able to crib a little time every day to ourselves . In 1862 , Nathaniel Hawthorne visited the Fort , as detailed the " Atlantic " : We paid a visit to Fort Ellsworth , and from it [ s ] ramparts ( which have been heaped up out of the muddy soil within the last few months , and will require still a year or two to make them verdant ) we had a beautiful view of the Potomac , a truly majestic river , and the surrounding country . The fortifications , so numerous in all this region , and now so unsightly with their bare , precipitous sides will remain as historic monuments , grass - grown and picturesque memorials of an epoch of terror and suffering : they will serve to make our country dearer and more interesting to us , and afford fit soil for poetry to root itself in : for this is a plant which thrives best in spots where blood has been spilt long ago , and grows in abundant clusters in old ditches , such as the moat around Fort Ellsworth will be a century hence . In September , 1864 , Company F , 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery Regiment was assigned to the Fort . The George Washington Masonic National Memorial was built on Shuter ' s hill , the site of the fort .