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.