General War Order No. 1

On this day, 150 years ago, President Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1, in a desperate effort to push Little Mac into doing something - anything - against the South.

Two weeks earlier, in a tense meeting with various generals and cabinet members, General George McClellan claimed to have a plan for a campaign against Virginia, but he refused to provide any details of the plan. But in the two weeks that followed, Lincoln failed to see McClellan making any preparations for a campaign.

In his frustration, without consulting any members of his cabinet, he issues General War Order No. 1, ordering "a general movement" of all Union Land and Naval forces against the Confederacy to be launched on February 22, George Washington's birthday.

Lincoln's General War Order No. 1,
courtesy of the Library of Congress

McClellan will bristle at this mandate, and he will argue for more time. Nonetheless. this order will prompt him to begin concrete preparations for his Urbanna plan, which will eventually become the Peninsula Campaign, his epic incursion into Virginia in April 1862.

Battle of Mill Springs

"Their Government has laid heavy taxes on you to carry on this unnatural war, which is openly avowed to be to set at liberty your slaves, and the ensuing steps in which will be to put arms in their hands, and give them political and social equality with yourselves."

Brig. Gen. Felix K. Zollicoffer

On this date, 150 years ago, Brig Gen Felix Zollicoffer was killed in the battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky, the first major Union victory of the Civil War.

1/13/1861: Little Mac Returns ... with a Secret Plan

On this day, 150 years ago, Gen. George McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac and General-in-Chief of all Federal armies, recovering from a month-long struggle with typhoid fever, emerged from his sick bed and returned to active command.

Gen. George B. McClellan
courtesy of Civil War Academy.com

Three days earlier, at the suggestion of Quartermaster Montgomery Meigs, President Lincoln had convened the first of several war councils. McClellan had been bedridden since mid-December, and Lincoln feared he may remain so for many more weeks to come. In his absence, Lincoln called on his other generals (Irvin McDowell and William Franklin) to consider new plans for an offensive against Virginia.

It was during the first meeting, on Jan. 10, that Lincoln reported said that “if General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it, provided I can see how it can be made to do something.” At this meeting, McDowell proposed another advance on Manassas, while Franklin proposed an advance on Richmond from the Chesapeake Bay. Lincoln tasked these men to study their options more fully and scheduled another meeting.

The following day, soon-to-be Secretary of War Edwin Stanton visited McClellan and warned him of the "grand conclave" that had met without his knowledge. McClellan interpreted the meeting as a conspiracy against his authority. On the morning of the 12th, he "gathered strength enough" for a carriage ride to the White House, paying the President an unannounced visit. Surprised by his seemingly sudden recovery, Lincoln invited him to the next war council, scheduled for the following day.

On that day, January 13, 1861, Gen. McClellan attends an awkward meeting at the White House with President Lincoln, Quartermaster Meigs, Generals McDowell and Franklin, and Secretaries Chase and Seward. During this meeting, McClellan reveals that he does, in fact, have a plan for a campaign against Virginia ... but refuses to discuss any details of the plan. Once McClellan assures him that a fixed date is set for the assault, Lincoln does not press him to reveal its details.

This is the first step towards implementing McClellan's Urbanna Plan, the initial draft of what will become the Peninsula Campaign, the Union invasion of Virginia from the Chesapeake Bay, destined to be the largest military mobilization of the Civil War.

For a more detailed (and more amusing) version of these events, please check out the excellent Civil War Daily Gazette.

Fort Marcy: Defending the Chain Bridge

My Sunday plans at Fort Marcy didn’t fare much better than Saturday, but it wasn’t my fault. According to the NPS calendar of events, an event had been scheduled for 1pm that afternoon. We arrived about 1:10, and here is what we saw:

Slow day at Fort Marcy

I was rather deflated. Fort Marcy is a nice park, but I almost never see any activity out there. It features a large open space ringed by earthworks, with a few picnic tables, a couple of cannons, and some interpretive signage. It seems like an ideal space for some “living history” activity. I can’t guess why it was cancelled.

The grounds of Fort Marcy

Fort Marcy is the only unit in the NPS Fort Circle Parks located on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. It is located in McLean, VA, accessible from the northbound side of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Along with Fort Ethan Allen, Fort Marcy was an earthwork fort built to guard access to the Chain Bridge, one of the main access points into Washington from Virginia.

Fort Marcy during the Civil War,
courtesy of Wikipedia.

Fort Marcy was built on Prospect Hill, which overlooked the Leesburg Turnpike. Fort Ethan Allen overlooked Military Road. Both forts were built on property belonging to Gilbert Vanderwerken, and they were connected by an extensive line of rifle trenches that stretched to the Potomac.

One of the two guns in Fort Marcy.
By 1862, the fort  was armed with 17 guns and 3 mortars.

Originally the fort was called Fort Baldy Smith, after Brig. Gen. William F. Smith, whose men had originally occupied the hill and started work on the fort. General George McClellan officially named it Fort Marcy on September 30, 1861, in honor of Brig. Gen. Randolph B. Marcy, his chief of staff and father-in-law. After a long and complicated courtship, McClellan married Ellen Marcy on May 22, 1860, about a year before he was appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac.

The fort saw no action during the war, but the men stationed there spent much of the war on alert.

A Visit to the Lincoln Memorial

Sadly, my weekend plans did not pan out as I hoped. I had to run an important errand on Saturday morning, and so did not get to Rock Creek Park in time for the 11 AM hike to Fort DeRussy. (Luckily, the NPS has another DeRussy hike planned for February 4. Perhaps I’ll have better luck then.)

Not wanting to waste a beautiful day, we found some parking on Constitution Avenue near the State Dept, and then ambled over the Einstein Memorial and then on to the Lincoln Memorial.

Always fun to visit Lincoln.

The weather was excellent, the crowds were thin. Certainly not a bad alternative to a fort hike.

The Reflecting Pool is being renovated,
and still looks pretty rough.

On Sunday, we made it to Fort Marcy. More on that tomorrow.

"The Bottom Is Out of the Tub"

On Friday, January 10, 1862, the President, in great distress, entered my office. He took a chair in front of the open fire and said, ‘General, what shall I do? The people are impatient: Chase has no money and he tells me he can raise no more; the General of the Army has typhoid fever. The bottom is out of the tub. What shall I do?’

                        --Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs

It was 150 years ago today (according to Montgomery Meigs) that President Lincoln made his famous lament that "the bottom is out of the tube.” At the time, Gen. McClellan was sick with fever, the Army of the Potomac was idle, the armies of the Western Theater were also idle, winter was setting in (thus precluding the prospects of any major action for months), and Lincoln was feeling pretty low.

Meigs responded by suggesting that Lincoln call a war council of his other generals to review the situation and consider a possible action in McClellan’s absence. Lincoln would call that council two days later, which would inadvertently push McClellan into launching his historic Peninsula Campaign.

To prepare for the imminent anniversary of the Seven Days Battles, I am currently reading Stephen W. Sears' excellent To the Gates of Richmond. As April approaches, don't be surprised if the Peninsula Campaign starts to monopolize my attention on the blog.

Warm Day on the Accotink

No history lessons today, but I do have some more pics from Lake Accotink. Three days ago, while standing on the A&O foot trail, I enjoyed a few minutes of snow. Today, I enjoyed the remarkable absence of snow.

This foot trail was built on the original rail bed
of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad.

We had excellent weather today, clear skies, high around 60 degrees. So I spent my lunch break at Lake Accotink (again), and I suddenly remembered that, at about this time year, we visited Lake Accotink and it was completely frozen over.

Lake Accotink, the modern trestle, with historical marker
and official Civil War Trails interpretive signage.

More accurately, it was Christmas Day 2010. During that holiday week, we also visited Turkey Run Park and Fort Washington. We saw ice on the Potomac River. It was seriously cold. But this year, it's been fairly warm (with a few periods of chilliness). Of course, I'm hoping to put this fair weather to good use by seeing as many historical sites as I can before the inevitable chill falls on us. 

Historical marker, courtesy of the Fairfax Country History Commission.

I'm afraid I may wind up using Accotink photos as blog filler during my work days ... not because it's the nicest park in North Virginia, but because I visit the Park so frequently. The weekends are my only time to explore new sites and cook up new content.

Speaking of which ... the National Park Service is hosting a batch of events this weekend at several Defenses of Washington sites, including a hiking tour to Fort DeRussy and a "living history" event at Fort Marcy. I hope to catch at least one of these events (although the DeRussy hike looks dubious at the moment). Hopefully I'll have something fresh to write about by Sunday.

Fort Foote: Columbiads on the Potomac

Last Sunday (New Year’s Day), after a bit of breakfast, we drove out to Maryland and spent an hour or so exploring another fort in the Washington Defenses, Fort Foote.

Unlike Fort Ward, Fort Foote is one of the official “Fort Circle Parks”
maintained by the National Park Service.

In the first year of the war, the War Department was primarily afraid of possible overland assaults, particularly from Virginia, so the early forts were built to command the high hills in the region (such as Fort Ward) and to control access to the bridges into Washington (such as Fort Marcy, guarding the Chain Bridge).

But in early 1862, after the ironclad CSS Virginia sank two Union gunships on March 8, Washington suddenly looked very vulnerable to naval assault from the Potomac. Even after seizing Gosport Naval Yard (which ended the ability of the South to build more ironclads), the possibility of intervention by Great Britain (and her formidable navy) in the Confederacy’s favor was considered a real and serious threat.

To protect Washington from such an attack, the War Department built a large artillery battery on Rosiers Bluff, a 100-foot-high cliff on the Maryland side of the Potomac River, about 6 miles downriver from Washington. This fort would serve as the chief defense of the Potomac River, supported by Battery Rodgers, a smaller battery situated on the Virginia side of the river at Jones Point in Alexandria.

Drawing of Fort Foote. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

The Maryland fort was completed in August 1863 and named after the late Admiral Andrew H. Foote, former commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Foote had commanded the armored riverboats that pounded Fort Donelson from the Cumberland River in February 1862, but he was badly wounded in that battle and died of complications on June 26, 1863.

Fort Foote was equipped with twelve heavy guns, including six 30-pounder Parrott Rifles, four 200-pounder Parrott Rifles, and (most notably) two Model 1861 U.S. 15-inch Columbiads, commonly called "Rodman guns." This model was the largest cannon used in the Civil War, named after Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Rodman, whose manufacturing innovations (the "wet chill process") made it possible to produce guns of this size.  

Model 1861 U.S. 15-inch Columbiad
(The Rodman Gun)

Today, Fort Foote Park still has the two Rodman guns, which continue to loom over the Potomac River as they did 150 years ago.

A well trained team of 12 men could charge, load, aim, and fire
the Rodman gun once every four minutes.

The original fort was built with a mix of earth and timber. The wall that faced the Potomac was 500 feet long and 20 feet thick. Today, much of the original earthworks are still intact (and covered with woods).

Earthworks, Fort Foote

The two Columbiads at Fort Foote (along with a third Columbiad at Battery Rodgers) were the largest guns defending Washington, far larger than any guns in the inland forts, because of the potential need to repel an assault by ironclad vessels. The smoothbore cannons were not terribly accurate, but they had a range of three miles and could be loaded and fired once every four minutes.    

These smoothbore cannons weighed 25 tons and required 40 pounds of powder
to send a 440-pound round-shot over 5000 yards.

The guns were large enough to be considered a novelty by the Washington community. Large crowds of civilian and military observers gathered to watch the guns fire on February 27 and April 1, 1864. And even though they haven't been fired in over a century, the Columbiads continue to impress the locals.  

Our photographer is impressed by the Columbiads.

Cold Day on the Accotink

Just a quick post today.

As luck would have it, my office is very close to Lake Accotink Park in Springfield, Virginia, and I often spend my lunch breaks there. Earlier today, as I was leaving the park, we had a sudden snow flurry. It all vanished within 30 minutes, but I was able to enjoy a few peaceful minutes on the trail before returning to my office.

Lake Accotink is a minor Civil War site (complete with Civil War Trails interpretive signage). The park area includes the trestle where the Orange & Alexandria Railroad crossed the Accotink Creek. The longest continuous stretch of the old Orange & Alexandria line runs through Lake Accotink Park.

This foot trail was built on the original rail bed
of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad.

After Union troops occupied Fairfax Station, the O&A line became a popular target for Confederate sabotage. Most notably, JEB Stuart dispatched twelve men under the command of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee (nephew of Marse Robert) to burn the bridge over Accotink Creek during his raid on nearby Burke Station (December 28, 1862).

Aside from it's historical significance, Lake Accotink is a lovely park, and I frequently sneak out there with a quick lunch and a history book.

The Occupation Begins: A Visit to Fort Ward

Yesterday I described the occupation of Alexandria by federal troops because that is my primary theme for this blog; the history of Alexandria and North Virginia during the Civil War. But I also did it to provide some back story for our recent trip to Fort Ward.

The reconstructed front gate of Fort Ward,
based on the original design by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Fort Ward was one of the 68 forts built to protect Washington from invasion by Confederate forces during the Civil War. It was the fifth largest fort in the defenses of Washington, and is considered the best preserved of the surviving forts, with about 90% of its earthworks intact. Of the four forts built within Alexandria, Fort Ward is the only one that still exists. The fort is now part of the Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site, maintained by the City of Alexandria, which also includes a museum that offers rotating exhibits on Civil War subjects.

For a limited time, the Fort Ward Museum & Historic Site is showcasing an exhibit on the Union occupation of Alexandria and Marshall House Incident. So we drove up there last Friday to review the exhibit and take some pictures. A perfect start for a blog about the Civil War history of Alexandria.

In fact, we thought the exhibit was closing at year's end, but it was a false alarm: The Site's Director informed us that, due to its popularity, the exhibit will be held over at least through February 2012. I urge all local Civil War enthusiasts to see it while you can.

The exhibit includes some excellent artifacts relating to the Alexandria Occupation and the Marshall House Incident. The exhibit is fairly small, but they have some genuine gems, including a fragment of the Marshall House Flag stained with Ellsworth's blood, and Col. Ellsworth red kepi.

A fragment of the Marshall House Flag, stained with Ellsworth's blood.

Col. Ellsworth's red kepi, given by his family to Capt. Edwin M. Coates.

As luck would have it, the museum was fairly quiet last Friday, and the Site's Director, Susan Cumbey, was kind enough to share some fascinating stories about how the museum came to possess some of its best items, including the flag fragment and the kepi.

Both of these items were donated to the museum by retired Army colonel Charles Coates, the grandson of Capt. Edwin M. Coates of the 11th New York Zouaves. Capt. Coates was a friend of Ellsworth, and was given the kepi by Ellsworth’s family. According to Ms. Cumbey, Charles Coates claimed the kepi had been framed by his grandfather, pressed flat and hanging over a fireplace for decades. Consequently, the hat required some restorative work before it was fit to present in the museum.

Many thanks to the very knowledgeable Susan Cumbey To see Ms. Cumbey at work, check out this short clip from December 2010, courtesy of C-SPAN 3.

I also want to thank my staff photographer, Grace Malone, for her assistance and boundless enthusiasm.

Grace is a big fan of interpretive signage.

I'm quite fond of the Civil War Defenses of Washington, and in the weeks ahead, I plan to visit more of the "Fort Circle Parks" and discuss them here.

The Occupation Begins: The Marshall House Incident

What better way to launch a blog about Alexandria's Civil War history than with a discussion of the occupation of Alexandria by federal troops in the early days of the war and the famously fatal exchange between Elmer Ellsworth and James Jackson at the Marshall House hotel?

By the time of the Fort Sumter crisis in April 1861, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union, but not Virginia. Her loyalties were still undecided. While very few Virginians supported Lincoln and the Republicans, many considered secession too rash and pressed for a peaceful solution to the crisis. But after Sumter, the debate effectively ended. Just three days after the fort surrendered, on April 17, the Virginia Secession Convention passed its Ordinance of Secession, to widespread public approval.

That same afternoon, one particularly enthusiastic secession advocate, James W. Jackson, attracted a large crowd on the corner of King and Pitt Streets by hoisting a large Confederate flag from the roof of the Marshall House hotel. He had only owned the hotel since January, but his loyalties were well known. The flag was massive, 14-foot-by-24-foot, large enough to be visible from the White House, and Jackson publicly claimed that "whoever should attempt to remove it, would have to pass over his dead body."

To be ratified, the Ordinance of Secession required a statewide popular vote, scheduled for May 23. On the day of the vote, by Lincoln's order, a force of 10,000 federal troops (volunteer regiments from New York, New Jersey and Michigan) assembled in the District and prepared for a military incursion into Virginia. The voters of Virginia passed the Secession Ordinance by a margin of 3 to 1. (In Alexandria, the margin was almost 9 to 1.) That night, at about 1:30 AM on the morning of May 24, federal troops began marching across the Long Bridge from D.C. into Virginia. At the same time, other regiments crossed the Potomac by way of the Aqueduct Bridge (one mile to the north) and by boat.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

One of the regiments crossing by boat was the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry, the "First Fire Zouaves," led by Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth. Just 24 years old, a native of New York, Ellsworth was a friend of President Lincoln, who had personally asked Ellsworth in April to help raise a regiment to defend the Capitol. To fulfill his commission, Ellsworth had recruited men from the New York volunteer fire companies (thus the nickname "Fire Zouaves").

By dawn, most of the Alexandria militias had evacuated the city, federal troops were securing the vital Orange & Alexandria Railroad depot, and Ellsworth was leading his regiment to secure the telegraph station. As they marched through the city, Ellsworth noticed the great Confederate flag flying over the Marshall House, and decided to remove it. Accompanied by four of his troops, he burst through the doors of the three-story hotel, marched to the top floor, and pulled down the huge flag.

As he descended the stairs, flag in hand, James W. Jackson met them at the third floor landing and shot Ellsworth in the chest with an English-made double-barreled shotgun. Ellsworth was killed instantly, and in retaliation, his fellow Zouave Corporal Francis E. Brownell immediately shot Jackson in the face with a .58 caliber percussion rifle.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

So it was that, on the first day of the occupation of Alexandria, Col. Elmer Ellsworth became the first Union officer killed in the Civil War. Both men quickly became celebrated martyrs by their respective sides. Lincoln ordered an honor guard to bring his friend's body back to the White House, where he lay in state in the East Room. Eventually, Ellsworth's body was returned to New York and buried in his hometown of Mechanicville, in the Hudson View Cemetery.

Alexandria would remain an occupied city, under a state of martial law, for the duration of the Civil War, longer than any other community in the Confederacy.

Tomorrow I will discuss our recent visit to the Fort Ward Museum & Historic Site, which is currently hosting an exhibition on the Marshall House Incident, and I will post photos of some of the more interesting artifacts.