Arlington Line

The Arlington Line was a series of fortifications erected in present-day Arlington County, Virginia, to protect the City of Washington during the American Civil War.

Just across the Potomac River from the Union capital, Confederate Virginia was a major Union concern when the war began. In May 1861, federal troops seized much of present-day Arlington County (which borders the Potomac), and immediately began constructing an extensive network of fortifications to protect Washington. That network eventually became known as the Arlington Line. The pace of construction accelerated after the Confederacy defeated the Union at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861.

The Arlington Line was quite strategically effective. It was never attacked, even after the Union's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862.

Major D.P. Woodbury was the Union engineer who designed and constructed the Arlington Line, and one of its forts, Fort Woodbury (which once stood in what is today Arlington's Courthouse neighborhood), was named for him.

References/External links

American Civil War Defenses of Washington, D.C.

Departments	Department of the East Department of Washington, D.C. Department of the Potomac Military District of Washington Department of the Rappahanock Defenses of Washington, D.C. Department of Washington

Union Army Forces	Army of the Potomac XXII Corps

Potomac Approaches	Fort Washington Fort Foote Battery Rodgers

Arlington Line	Fort Willard Fort O'Rourke Fort Weed Fort Farnsworth Fort Lyon Fort Ellsworth Fort Williams Fort Worth Fort Ward Battery Garesche Fort Reynolds Fort Barnard Fort Berry Fort Richardson Fort Albany Fort Scott Fort Runyon Fort Jackson Fort Craig Fort McPherson Fort Tillinghast Fort Cass Fort Whipple Fort Woodbury Fort Morton Fort Corcoran Fort Haggerty Fort Bennett Fort Strong Fort C. F. Smith Fort Munson Fort Ramsey Fort Buffalo Fort Taylor Fort Ethan Allen Fort Marcy

Northwest Quadrant	Battery Kemble Battery Vermont Battery Alexander Fort Sumner (MD) Fort Sumner (VA) Fort Mansfield Fort Gaines Fort Simmons Fort Bayard Fort Reno Fort Kearny Fort DeRussy Fort Stevens

Northeast Quadrant	Fort Slocum Fort Totten Fort Slemmer Fort Bunker Hill Fort Saratoga Fort Thayer Fort Lincoln Fort Mahan

Eastern Branch	Fort Chaplin Fort Meigs Fort Dupont Fort Saratoga Fort Davis Fort Baker Fort Wagner Fort Ricketts Fort Stanton Fort Snyder Fort Carroll Fort Greble

National Park Service (Web) Map of defenses in 1865

Coordinates: 38°53′22.5″N 77°5′1.5″W / 38.889583°N 77.083750°W / 38.889583; -77.083750

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