Fort stephens. The first time in 150 years a canon will be fired in a d. C. Fort. Youve got to come out and share with that. As i mentioned on sunday, well have the Memorial Program at the Battleground National Cemetery where we will pay respect to the 38 soldiers who are buried there and the others who have given their sacrifice for this country. We didnt have a lot of time but i do encourage you all to tell your friends about it. Visit us on our website at www dot nps. Gov. Again, thank you all so very much. [ applause ] i think we have time for just one or two questions. If people would like to come to either of the microphones if folks have questions. We will go ahead and take them in turn. Hi, david, thank you for all three of you for your presentations. Id like to ask a little bit more about the legislation. You alluded to it but i wonder if you could get into it a little bit deeper and maybe focus on how local owned virginia forts will be incorporated into that plan. Thanks is t
You can read faster than i can talk so i wont read the slides. I want you to see beautiful places i love. They are history and parks and recreation and National Resources and frankly the lungs of the city are largely these forts and the parks. So there we start. As frank said the city was unprotected down below. This is Fort Washington. If you havent been there, you should go. Its quite different from the forts that were built during the civil war. After bull run, lincoln knew the city was vulnerable. Thats when he ordered director Major General john g. Barnard to design forts around the city to protect it. Here they are. These are the ones available there. It was quite an amazing feat to build all those. It was just tremendous. Here they are there. Ive circled them here on this old map, the ones that are under government ownership today. The park service owns all the ones in washington, d. C. And one in maryland and one in virginia. The ones in virginia are owned by local governments.
For years nobody believed it. The confederate soldiers themselves claimed to see the dome of the capital. Thats hock um. Theres nowhere to see the dome of the capital. You can see its below where visual would have gotten it out in Silver Spring. Probably saw the lights of georgetown. But mccauslin had gotten up there. Theres claims to ride up in broad daylight. No substantiating that. Old soldiers have vivid memories. One little comment, not a question. I was a surveyor in washington, d. C. For 42 years. In our office we had 1880 i think u. S. Gs topographic maps. First put out by the city and government and fortifications still on there. Cool set of maps. If you havent seen them, library of congress i think has them. Thanks. With that id like to again thank the National Archives for hosting this really wonderful event. Our speakers, please join me one last time in a round of applause for them. Union forces tried to create a gap in the forces but the attack failed. Here is a preview. O