Summary
"Nothing ahead but earthworks," the farmer said. The tall, stooped soldier in the saddle grunted and spurred his horse down the dusty road for a look.
Blocking the Seventh Street Pike (today's Georgia Avenue), however, was a modern fort protected with abatis and ditches, its parapet pierced by a score of heavy guns that began to fire at the approaching horsemen. For Lt. Gen. Jubal Early, midday on July 11, 1864, was the moment of decision.See the full content of this document
Extract
Rebel Siege On Washington Fort Fails
Two days earlier, he had whipped a Union force just outside Frederick, Md., and now his tatterdemalion army, straggling badly in the more than 90-degree heat, was at the outskirts of the Federal capital.
Early rode back through his rapidly thinning columns, urging his troops to make one last push on Washington, but barely a third of his exhausted men remained in the ranks. Had the Confederate general but known it, Fort Stevens was being held just then by a company of 78 green, 100-days men from the Ohio National Guard, 52 convalescents, and a 79-man battery of Michigan arti...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
