Fortifications

At the end of a clearly marked path leading into the woods along Fort Totten Dr near Riggs Rd NW are the well-preserved but unrestored and overgrown earthworks and outer trench line of Fort Totten, named for Brigadier General Joseph Totten, the U.S. Army’s chief of engineers.

Built on high ground commanding the road between Washington City and Silver Spring, the medium sized, seven-sided, fort boasted 20 guns and mortars, including a 100-pound Parrott Rifle that provided supporting fire to the battle in front of Fort Stevens. Confederate cavalry returning from an abortive raid to free Southern soldiers imprisoned at Point Lookout, MD skirmished with the fort’s supporting troops on the second day of the battle.

Located less than a mile from the National Military Asylum (later Soldier’s Home and now the National Soldier’s and Airmen’s Home) where President Lincoln and his family went in the summer to escape the worst of the city’s heat and humidity, the president, government officials, and foreign dignitaries frequently visited the fort. It was dismantled in April 1866 and much of the fort’s construction timber was given to George Thomas on whose farm the work had been constructed.