Union armies, composed of volunteers and draftees from across the North, moved continually through the city, up to 140,000 at a time. During the war, the city filled with people and at times swelled to 200,000. Between 18, Washington doubled in size, experiencing the greatest growth in its entire history. Within this fortified ring sat a city of 63,000 people, America's twelfth largest in 1860.

During the summer of 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early led a raid on the city that tested its defenses and rallied its residents, including President Lincoln, who rushed to Fort Stevens to witness the repulse of the enemy army. By the end of the war, Washington was the most heavily defended city on earth.

Ninety-three artillery positions boasted 800 cannons. The defensive system eventually included sixty-eight forts connected by twenty miles of trenches. During the winter of 1861-62, after the First Bull Run scare, Congress began constructing a 37-mile ring of fortifications around Washington. As a result, Lincoln was insistent on maintaining an army of 15,000 to 50,000 men around the capital, which denied needed manpower to the Union offensives. At Lee's behest, Stonewall Jackson's army could emerge from the Shenandoah Valley and advance on Washington whenever the Army of the Potomac neared Richmond. Lee's strategy of 'taking the war to the enemy.' Lee's summer offensives of 18, which culminated in the turning points of Antietam and Gettysburg, were primarily designed to threaten Washington, encourage southern sympathizers in the North, and challenge the Lincoln Administration's authority to govern.

Strategically, Washington was the greatest military target and potential prize for Confederate armies, just as capturing Richmond remained the Union's primary military goal throughout the war.įrom the First Battle of Bull Run onward, Confederate armies continually threatened Washington as part of General Robert E. Situated in the midst of the Eastern Theatre of war and sandwiched between two slave states, Washington, DC, held tremendous strategic, political, and moral significance for both the Union and the Confederacy.

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