Preserving the Legacy of Fort Stevens: The Lewis Cass White Collection

Alexandria, VA – The Specialty Tour: Fort Ward and Lewis Cass White is on September 6 from 10 to 11 a.m. Tickets can be purchase online at https://shop.alexandriava.gov/SelectEvent.aspx?eventid=6000639.

Historic Alexandria invites the public to a specialty tour featuring the Lewis Cass White Collection exhibit at Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site on September 6. The exhibit explores the efforts of a Civil War veteran to preserve and recognize the site of Fort Stevens, the only fort in the Defenses of Washington that experienced combat.

Lewis Cass White served in the 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and saw combat in the Battle of Fort Stevens July 11-12, 1864. President Abraham Lincoln came under fire during the battle, as he watched from the fort’s ramparts, leading historians to dub the fight “The Battle to Save Washington.”

Lincoln’s presence at the battle was common for citizens during the Civil War. Civilians often watched skirmishes and battles as a form of entertainment. Both President and First Lady Lincoln went to observe the battle of Fort Stevens. Legend has it that Lincoln’s height and stovepipe hat attracted the attention of Confederate marksmen. Eyewitness accounts of the day conflict; one account claims that future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes shouted to Lincoln, “Get down you d—n fool!” Another eyewitness, surgeon Cornelius Crawford, gave Lewis Cass White his account of the incident, including a diagram of where people stood in the fort during the incident. That diagram is now preserved at the Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site.

After the Confederate surrender in 1865, White worked feverishly to collect eyewitness accounts of the Battle of Fort Stevens and coordinated with other veterans of the battle to preserve the remains of the fort. Lewis Cass White played an instrumental role in the installation of a monument marking the spot where Lincoln stood during the battle, and brought publicity to the nearby Battleground National Cemetery, where his fallen Union comrades lay. White joined multiple veteran groups, including the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). His support and speeches at meetings of these veteran groups gave him a network of willing witnesses of the Battle of Fort Stevens, and allowed him to raise funds for the memorialization of the battle site.

The Lewis Cass White Collection includes almost 200 documents, objects, photographs, and ephemera related to White’s Civil War experience and his post-war mission to preserve the Defenses of Washington, especially Fort Stevens. In 2014, Joseph and Sharon Scopin generously donated the collection to Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site.

The Scopins discovered a bag marked for a paper dumpster while cleaning out an elderly relative’s basement. The moldy and damp debris that they found in the bag formed the foundation of the Lewis Cass White Collection. The contents of that bag included letters, newspaper clippings, speeches, diaries, photos, badges, ribbons, and other ephemera. Joseph Scopin, together with military historian Benjamin Franklin Cooling, who specializes in the Defenses of Washington, wrote a book on the collection titled As I Remember.

Residents and visitors alike are invited to this special tour to view a selection from this unique collection.