Now on Exhibit at Fort Ward Museum
May 25, 2024 to May 31, 2025

A new exhibit, “Lewis Cass White: Preserving the Legacy of Fort Stevens,” is now open at Fort Ward Museum. The exhibit, which explores the efforts of a Civil War veteran to preserve and recognize the site of Fort Stevens in the Defenses of Washington, is being held in 2024 in recognition of the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Stevens.

Lewis Cass White was a veteran of the 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry who participated in the Battle of Fort Stevens on July 11-12, 1864. Also known as “The Battle that Saved Washington,” the conflict was the only time that Confederate forces tested the Federal capital’s defense system and is notable for President Abraham Lincoln coming under fire as he viewed the battle from the fort’s ramparts. After the war, White made it his mission to collect eyewitness accounts of the battle from his fellow comrades, and worked with other veterans to preserve the remains of Fort Stevens and memorialize the events that took place there in 1864. White was instrumental in having a monument installed that marked the spot where Lincoln stood during the battle and helped bring recognition to the nearby Battleground National Cemetery, where Union casualties of the conflict were buried. 

The exhibit features personal accounts, documents, and memorabilia from Fort Ward Museum’s Lewis Cass White Collection, as well as photographs and other items on loan from family descendants. A related theme of the exhibit is the Grand Army of the Republic, the largest and most effective Union veterans’ organization, which was a huge part of White’s postwar life. 

The Lewis Cass White Collection consists of almost 200 documents, objects, photographs, and ephemera related to Lewis Cass White’s Civil War service, as well as his post-war mission to preserve the Defenses of Washington and Fort Stevens in particular. The collection was generously donated to Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site in 2014 by Joseph and Sharon Scopin. 

View the Collection
 

Lewis Cass White enlisted in the Union army on August 20, 1861 at 18 years old. Born in the hamlet of Whitestown, Pennsylvania in Butler County, White was a schoolteacher at the onset of the war. He, along with twelve other men from his town, joined Company H of the 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

White spent much of his military career training to be a soldier in camps near Rock Creek Park just north of Washington, D.C. A prolific diarist, White often wrote of his drill practices, and described his duty as easy until the 102nd were called to board a steamer on March 25, 1862, bound for Fortress Monroe. White fought in 24 battles including Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, and Cedar Creek.

Though considered minor by many, the conflict which most affected Lewis Cass White, and would come to dominate his life after the Civil War, was the Battle of Fort Stevens. Described by White as a small event with large consequences, the battle took place on July 11 and 12, 1864 when Confederate forces under General Jubal Early launched an assault on the northern line of the Defenses of Washington. Fort Stevens, which guarded the Seventh Street Road (present-day Georgia Avenue) was the center-point of the attack, supported by Forts Slocum and DeRussy.

The defenders consisted of men of the Veteran Reserve Corps, dismounted cavalry, quartermaster personnel, and even civilian clerks from Washington’s government offices who were issued rifles to help protect the capital. These men held the line until reinforcements from General Grant’s VI Corps were able to reach the field. General Early’s forces were eventually repelled but not before the battle’s most storied moment, when President Abraham Lincoln became the only sitting president to come under enemy fire.

It was not uncommon for citizens at the time of the Civil War to go and watch skirmishes and battles as a form of entertainment. When news reached President Lincoln that Fort Stevens was under attack, both he and Mrs. Lincoln went to see for themselves. While standing on the parapet with soldiers of the fort, Lincoln came under fire from Confederate sharpshooters. Witnesses gave conflicting stories of what took place. It was even said that none other than future Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, shouted to the President, “Get down you d—n fool!” One of the soldiers standing on the parapet with Lincoln, surgeon Cornelius Crawford, later gave Lewis Cass White his account of what happened, as well as a diagram of where everyone was standing during the incident. A transcript of the letter can be found here. Crawford ended up taking a bullet in the leg during the event, and his eyewitness account adds to our knowledge of those fateful days.

After the Civil War, having been discharged due to the partial amputation of his right hand from the Battle of Cedar Creek, Lewis Cass White became a lifelong government employee in the U.S Pension Bureau. His true passion, however, was the fight to memorialize the Battle of Fort Stevens and the Lincoln under fire incident. White gave speeches, wrote articles, petitioned Congress, and helped found activist groups such as the Fort Stevens-Lincoln Memorial Association to commemorate the service of the 102nd Regiment and the Battle of Fort Stevens.

Lewis Cass White became somewhat of a local expert, going so far as to live near the old Toll Gate near Battleground National Cemetery and Fort Stevens. He was always eager to show off the site and talk about his experience during the battle. This enthusiasm meant White was heavily involved in the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) and other veteran’s groups and would attend reunions like the annual Memorial Day encampment. White’s support and speeches at these gatherings allowed him to meet other soldiers and collect their experiences of the Battle of Fort Stevens, and ultimately gave him a network with which to fundraise for the memorialization of the site.

By his death on August 25, 1916, Lewis Cass White had petitioned Congress to establish Fort Stevens as a national military park, had a memorial stone placed on the site of the Lincoln incident, and raised awareness for the preservation of the Defenses of Washington.

Joseph and Sharon Scopin were cleaning out an elderly relative’s basement when they discovered a bag marked for a paper dumpster. Salvaged from the moldy and damp debris was the basis of what would become the Lewis Cass White Collection. The trove of letters, newspaper clippings, speeches, diaries, photos, badges, ribbons, and other ephemera were preserved and eventually donated to the Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site. Joseph Scopin, in conjunction with military historian and Defenses of Washington specialist Benjamin Franklin Cooling, used the collection as a basis for their book As I Remember on Lewis Cass White and his experiences and reflections on the Civil War.

The Lewis Cass White Collection is available to researchers by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, please call Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site at 703.746.4848. For a more in-depth view of the collection, visit Historic Alexandria Collections Online.