INTRODUCTION OF THE CIVIL WAR DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK ACT; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 116
(Extensions of Remarks - July 11, 2019)
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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E899-E900]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INTRODUCTION OF THE CIVIL WAR DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON NATIONAL
HISTORICAL PARK ACT
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HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
of the district of columbia
in the house of representatives
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce a bill The Civil War
Defenses of Washington National Historical Park Act to recognize and
preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington located in the District
of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland. The Defenses of Washington,
including forts, unarmed batteries and rifle trenches, created a ring
of protection for the nation's capital during the Civil War. This bill
would redesignate the 22 Civil War Defenses of Washington currently
under National Park Service jurisdiction as a
[[Page E900]]
national historical park, and allow other sites associated with the
Defenses of Washington that are owned by the District or a unit of
state governments to be affiliated with the national historical park
through cooperative agreements. This bill would also require the
Secretary of the Interior to facilitate the storied history of the
Civil War for both the North and the South, including the history of
the Defenses of Washington and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864,
being assembled; arrayed and conveyed for the benefit of the public for
the knowledge, education and inspiration of this and future
generations. Last year, I was able to have a hearing on this bill.
Although the National Park Service testified against this bill, I feel
strongly that the Defenses of Washington need additional recognition
and should be redesignated as a national historical park.
The Defenses of Washington were constructed at the beginning of the
war, in 1861, as a ring of protection for the nation's capital and for
President Abraham Lincoln. By the end of the war, these defenses
included 68 forts, 93 unarmed batteries, 807 mounted cannons, 13 miles
of rifle trenches and 32 miles of military roads. The major test of the
Defenses of Washington came with the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of
1864, when Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early, directed by
General Robert E. Lee, sought to attack the nation's capital from the
north, causing Union forces threatening to attack Richmond, the capital
of the Confederacy, to be withdrawn. General Early was delayed by Union
Major General Lew Wallace at the Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864,
and was stopped at the northern edge of Washington at the Battle of
Fort Stevens on July 11-12, 1864. The Shenandoah Valley Campaign ended
when Union Lieutenant General Philip Sheridan defeated General Early at
the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, on October 19, 1864.
Nearly all the individual forts in the Defenses of Washington--on
both sides of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers--were involved in
stopping General Early's attack, and the Battle of Fort Stevens was the
second and last attempt by the Confederate Army to attack Washington.
Taken together, these battles were pivotal to the outcome of the war
and the freedom and democracy that the war represented for this
country. It is therefore fitting that we recognize these sites by
redesignating them as a national historical park.
I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
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