01506 - Soldiers at gate of Fort Slemmer; View of the defenses of Washington, D.C. [LC-DIG-cwpb-01506]
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At the start of the war only Fort Washington in Maryland provided any defense for the capitol. It was completed in 1809, but was destroyed during the war of 1812 and later rebuilt. At the start of the Civil War it remained the sole defense and it was primarily prepared to defend from a sea attack coming up the Potomac.
To defend Washington McClellan initially had only his army providing any buffer with the South. He began to draw up plans for a series of forts that would allow overlapping support and turn the capitol from being almost undefended to being the most heavily defended national capitol in the world. At least 68 forts covering 37 miles and sporting more than 1,500 guns protected the city.
With the exception of one battle these defenses caused the South to avoid any direct attack on Washington for the entire war. Following the war these forts were quickly dismantled and sold or given away. Little remains of the defense system that helped to protect the capitol.
![01506 - Soldiers at gate of Fort Slemmer; View of the defenses of Washington, D.C. [LC-DIG-cwpb-01506]](/img/s/v-10/p1466020720-3.jpg)