Arlington was key to the defenses of Washington during the Civil War. Bryan Cheeseboro will describe the threats to the Capital City that spurred building the ring of defenses—inside DC and in Virginia. The Civil War Defenses of Washington (CWDW) were composed of 68 forts and 93 batteries. But this was the strength of the defenses by the end of the war. How did the CWDW begin? Where was the first fort built and when was it completed? How many forts were built in the first few months of the war? Was a Confederate attack on the city, like the British had done in the War of 1812, really possible? He’ll explain where the forts were built and the fear and danger to the Capital City after the abysmal US Army defeat at the Battle of First Bull Run.
Bryan Cheeseboro is a historian of the American Civil War and a reenactor with Company B, 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He has been featured on American Battlefield Trust’s Zoom Goes the History series and Antietam Live! programs. He has written for the Emerging Civil War blog. His presentations to the Rock Creek, DC Civil War Round Table include the programs “Outside of Lincoln’s White House: Civil War Men and Women of the DC Metro Area;” “The Grand Reviews of the Civil War;” and the “1st United States Colored Infantry.” He is also a former board member of the Alliance to Preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington. He is currently a Park Ranger with the National Park Service. His site is the Civil War Defenses of Washington.
PREREGISTER FOR ZOOM ACCESS. You can attend this event on Zoom or in-person on the Marymount University Main Campus. If you want to attend this event virtually, please click here to register: https://forms.gle/UGEVTB3hCpfViSc98 You can also cut and paste this link: https://forms.gle/UGEVTB3hCpfViSc98 into your own browser and complete it there. Please register by Wednesday, May 7. Zoom access information will be sent to you on the morning of the event on Thursday, May 8. This presentation immediately follows a brief AHS members’ meeting.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS and FREE PARKING: Attendees planning to attend the event in-person should enter the Marymount University campus at the library gate on N. 26th Street. From Glebe Road going north, take a right onto 26th Street. Pass the intersection with Yorktown Road and then enter the campus through the next gate on your left. The library is to your left as you enter the campus. Free garage parking is just past the library at the bottom of the small incline. (Handicapped parking is immediately to your right as you enter through the gate onto campus.)
- If the university has lowered the garage gates, push the button and let them know you’re here for an Arlington Historical Society event in the library. To leave, push the button and they’ll raise the gate.
This event is one of the monthly series of free public programs sponsored by the Arlington Historical Society. This event is hosted courtesy of the Marymount University politics program’s American Heritage Initiative. For more information, please email: info@arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org.
