Fort O'Rourke

Last updated
Fort O'Rourke
Part of the Civil War defenses of Washington, D.C.
Fairfax County, Virginia, USA
TypeEarthwork fort
Site information
Controlled by Union Army
ConditionStabilized
Site history
Built1862-3
In use1862–1865
MaterialsEarth, timber
Demolished1865
Battles/wars American Civil War

Fort O'Rourke is a former Union Army installation now located in the Belle Haven area of Fairfax County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It was the southernmost fort built to defend Washington, D.C. in the American Civil War.

Contents

Occupation of Northern Virginia

Following the surrender of Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 14, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln declared that "an insurrection existed," and called for 75,000 troops to be called up to quash the rebellion. [1] The move sparked resentment in many other southern states, which promptly moved to convene discussions of secession. The Virginia State Convention passed an ordinance of secession and ordered a May 23 referendum to decide whether or not the state should secede from the Union. The U.S. Army responded by creating the Department of Washington, which united all Union troops in the District of Columbia and Maryland under one command. [2]

Brigadier General J.F.K. Mansfield, commander of the Department of Washington, argued that Northern Virginia should be occupied as soon as possible in order to prevent the possibility of the Confederate Army mounting artillery on the hills of Arlington and shelling government buildings in Washington. He also urged the erection of fortifications on the Virginia side of the Potomac River to protect the southern terminuses of the Chain Bridge, Long Bridge, and Aqueduct Bridge. His superiors approved these recommendations, but decided to wait until after Virginia voted for or against secession. [3]

On May 23, 1861, Virginia voted by a margin of 3 to 1 in favor of leaving the Union. That night, U.S. Army troops began crossing the bridges linking Washington, D.C. to Virginia.

Taking the High Ground

Washington D.C. Fortifications map 1865 Washington.jpg
Washington D.C. Fortifications map

Over the seven weeks that followed the occupation of northern Virginia, forts were constructed along the banks of the Potomac River and at the approaches to each of the three major bridges (Chain Bridge, Long Bridge, and Aqueduct Bridge) connecting Virginia to Washington and Georgetown. [4]

While the Potomac River forts were being built, planning and surveying was ordered for an enormous new ring of forts to protect the city. Unlike the fortifications under construction, the new forts would defend the city in all directions, not just the most direct route through Arlington. In mid-July, this work was interrupted by the First Battle of Bull Run. As the Army of Northeastern Virginia marched south to Manassas, the soldiers previously assigned to construction duties marched instead to battle. In the days that followed the Union defeat at Bull Run, panicked efforts were made to defend Washington from what was perceived as an imminent Confederate attack. [5] The makeshift trenches and earthworks that resulted were largely confined to Arlington and the direct approaches to Washington.

On July 26, 1861, five days after the battle, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan was named commander of the military district of Washington and the subsequently renamed Army of the Potomac. Upon arriving in Washington, McClellan was appalled by the condition of the city's defenses.

In no quarter were the dispositions for defense such as to offer a vigorous resistance to a respectable body of the enemy, either in the position and numbers of the troops or the number and character of the defensive works... not a single defensive work had been commenced on the Maryland side. There was nothing to prevent the enemy shelling the city from heights within easy range, which could be occupied by a hostile column almost without resistance. [6]

To remedy the situation, one of McClellan's first orders upon taking command was to greatly expand the defenses of Washington. At all points of the compass, forts and entrenchments would be constructed in sufficient strength to defeat any attack. [7] Alexandria, which contained the southern terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and one of the largest ports in the Chesapeake Bay, was an object of "anxious study." [8]

Planning and construction

Fort O'Rourke was named for Colonel Patrick O'Rourke, killed at Gettysburg. It was constructed during the latter part of 1862 and early 1863 as a Redoubt to Fort Lyon. [9] It had a perimeter of 160 yards, with space for 16 guns. [10]

Remains

Site of the fort in 2018 Community center on the former site of Fort O'Rourke.jpg
Site of the fort in 2018

The site of the fort is today located at the southeast corner of Fort Drive and Park Place; the grounds are currently occupied by the small neighborhood community center of Fair Haven. No visible remains of the fort can be found. [11]

Related Research Articles

Fort Marcy Park

Fort Marcy Park is a public park located in unincorporated McLean, Virginia, in Fairfax County. It is administered by the National Park Service as part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

Fort Ethan Allen (Arlington, Virginia) United States historic place

Fort Ethan Allen was an earthwork fortification that the Union Army built in 1861 on the property of Gilbert Vanderwerken in Alexandria County, Virginia, as part of the Civil War defenses of Washington. The remains of the fort are now within Arlington County's Fort Ethan Allen Park.

Fort Albany (Arlington, Virginia)

Fort Albany was a bastioned earthwork that the Union Army built in Arlington County in Virginia. The Army constructed the fort during May 1861 as part of its Civil War defenses of Washington.

Fort Scott (Arlington, Virginia)

Fort Scott was a detached lunette constructed in May 1861 to guard the south flank of the defenses of Washington during the American Civil War. It was named for General Winfield Scott, who was then General-in-Chief of the Union Army. An historic marker and a small remnant of the fort are the only evidence of the site of the fort on the grounds of what is now Fort Scott Park in Arlington County, Virginia.

Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War

Washington, D.C., during the American Civil War was the center of the Union war effort, which rapidly turned it from a small city into a major capital with full civic infrastructure and strong defenses.

Fort Ward (Virginia) United States historic place

Fort Ward is a former Union Army installation now located in the city of Alexandria in the U.S. state of Virginia. It was the fifth largest fort built to defend Washington, D.C. in the American Civil War. It is currently well-preserved with 90-95% of its earthen walls intact.

Battery Garesche

Battery Garesche or Battery Garesché was a Union Army artillery battery built as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. in the American Civil War at what is now Abingdon Street at South 30th Road in Fairlington, Arlington County, Virginia.

Fort Reynolds (Virginia)

Fort Reynolds was a Union Army redoubt built as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War.

Arlington Line

The Arlington Line was a series of fortifications that the Union Army erected in Alexandria County, Virginia, to protect the City of Washington during the American Civil War.

Fort Greble was an American Civil War-era Union fortification constructed as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during that war. Named for First Lieutenant John Trout Greble, the first West Point graduate killed in the U.S. Civil War, it protected the junction of the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, and from its position on a bluff in the Congress Heights, precluded any bombardment of the Washington Navy Yard and southeastern portions of the city. It was supported by Fort Carroll to the northeast and Fort Foote to the south. It never fired a shot during the war, and after a brief stint as a U.S. Army Signal Corps training facility, was abandoned and the land returned to its natural state. As of July 2007, the site of the fort is a community park.

Fort Corcoran

Fort Corcoran was a wood-and-earthwork fortification constructed by the Union Army in northern Virginia as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War. Built in 1861, shortly after the occupation of Arlington, Virginia by Union forces, it protected the southern end of the Aqueduct Bridge and overlooked the Potomac River and Theodore Roosevelt Island, known as Mason's Island.

Fort Runyon

Fort Runyon was a timber and earthwork fort constructed by the Union Army following the occupation of northern Virginia in the American Civil War in order to defend the southern approaches to the Long Bridge as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during that war. The Columbia Turnpike and Alexandria and Loudon Railroad ran through the pentagonal structure, which controlled access to Washington via the Long Bridge. With a perimeter of almost 1,500 yards (1,400 m), and due to its unusual shape it was approximately the same size, shape, and in almost the same location as the Pentagon, built 80 years later.

Fort Jackson (Virginia) Historical fort in Virginia

Fort Jackson was an American Civil War-era fortification in Virginia that defended the southern end of the Long Bridge, near Washington, D.C. Long Bridge connected Washington, D.C. to Northern Virginia and served as a vital transportation artery for the Union Army during the war. Fort Jackson was named for Jackson City, a seedy suburb of Washington that had been established on the south side of the Long Bridge in 1835. It was built in the days immediately following the Union Army's occupation of Northern Virginia in May 1861. The fort was initially armed with four cannon used to protect the bridge, but these were removed after the completion of the Arlington Line, a line of defenses built to the south. After 1862, the fort lacked weapons except for small arms and consisted of a wooden palisade backed by earthworks. Two cannon were restored to the fort in 1864 following the Battle of Fort Stevens. The garrison consisted of a single company of Union soldiers who inspected traffic crossing the bridge and guarded it from potential saboteurs.

Fort Lyon (Virginia) Historic fort in Virginia, USA

Fort Lyon was a timber and earthwork fortification constructed south of Alexandria, Virginia as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War. Built in the weeks following the Union defeat at Bull Run, Fort Lyon was situated on Ballenger's Hill south of Hunting Creek, and Cameron Run, near Mount Eagle. From its position on one of the highest points south of Alexandria, the fort overlooked Telegraph Road, the Columbia Turnpike, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, the Little River Turnpike, and the southern approaches to the city of Alexandria, the largest settlement in Union-occupied Northern Virginia.

Fort Worth was a timber and earthwork fortification constructed west of Alexandria, Virginia as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War.

Fort Ellsworth

Fort Ellsworth was a timber and earthwork fortification constructed west of Alexandria, Virginia, as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War. Built in the weeks following the Union defeat at Bull Run, Fort Ellsworth was situated on a hill north of Hunting Creek, and Cameron Run,. From its position on one of the highest points west of Alexandria, the fort overlooked the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, the Little River Turnpike, and the southern approaches to the city of Alexandria, the largest settlement in Union-occupied Northern Virginia.

Fort Willard

Fort Willard is a former Union Army installation now located in the Belle Haven area of Fairfax County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is currently undergoing preservation treatment to protect its earthen walls and trenches.

Fort Craig (Virginia) Civil War-era fort in Arlington County, Virginia

Fort Craig was a small lunette that the Union Army constructed in September 1861 in Arlington County in Virginia during the American Civil War. The lunette was part of the Civil War defenses of Washington.

Fort Tillinghast

Fort Tillinghast was a small lunette that the Union Army constructed in Alexandria County, Virginia, as part of the Civil War defenses of Washington. Fort Tillinghast stood about 0.6 miles away from Arlington House, the Union-occupied estate of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Fort Farnsworth

Fort Farnsworth is a former Union Army installation now located in the Huntington area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It was a timber and earthwork fortification constructed south of Alexandria, Virginia as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War. Nothing survives of the fort's structure as the Huntington Station of the Washington Metro occupies Fort Farnsworth's former hilltop site.

References

  1. ↑ Long, E.B.; Long, Barbara (1971). The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc. pp. 47–50.
  2. ↑ Long & Long 1971, p. 67.
  3. ↑ Cooling, Benjamin Franklin, III, Symbol, Sword, and Shield: Defending Washington During the Civil War Second Edition Revised (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Company, 1991), pp. 32-26, 41.
  4. ↑ J.G. Barnard and W.F. Barry, "Report of the Engineer and Artillery Operations of the Army of the Potomac from Its Organization to the Close of the Peninsular Campaign," (New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1863), pp. 9-10.
  5. ↑ Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1941), pp. 101-110.
  6. ↑ U.S., War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 Volumes (Washington, DC: The Government Printing Office, 1880-1901) I, Volume 5, p. 11.
  7. ↑ Official Records, Series I, Volume 5, Chapter 14, p. 679.
  8. ↑ Official Records, Series I, Volume 5, Chapter 14, p. 680.
  9. ↑ Cooling, Benjamin Franklin, III, and Walton H. Owen, II 1988 Mr. Lincoln’s Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington.
  10. ↑ Cooling III, Benjamin Franklin; Owen II, Walton H. (6 October 2009). Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington. Scarecrow Press. p. 52. ISBN   978-0-8108-6307-1.
  11. ↑ Benjamin Franklin Cooling III; Walton H. Owen II (6 October 2009). Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington. Scarecrow Press. pp. 63–. ISBN   978-0-8108-6307-1.

Coordinates: 38°47′13.3″N77°4′23.3″W / 38.787028°N 77.073139°W / 38.787028; -77.073139

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.