Civil War Era: 1861-1865

           

Although Washington D.C. was the nation’s capital, there was a surprisingly low amount of citizens who inhabited the District of Columbia in 1860.  According to the Census of District of Columbia, in 1860 there were only 75,080 people living in the area.[1]  George Templeton Strong, American diarist, a few years later described Washington D.C. as “Of all the detestable places Washington is first. Crowd, heat, bad quarters, bad fair, bad smells, mosquitoes, and a plague of flies transcending everything within my experience.”[2]

           

So what happened to cause this quite, small, dirt road, unpaved capital city to become such a disgusting place to live?  The Civil War.  After the Crittenden Compromise of 1860 failed to capture the House of Representatives’ and the Senates’ vote on the idea of creating a compromise on slavery below the 36° 30′ parallel, the south became impatient.[3]  It looked like Civil War was brewing, and in attempts to avoid such a war, the Peace Conference was held February 8-27, 1861 in Washington D.C.  Again, there was a failure to compromise and the Civil War commenced shortly thereafter.[4]

           

The Confederate Army’s goal was to take over the Capitol and claim it as their own.  President Lincoln knew that he would need to organize military and police forces to defend the District of Columbia.  On April 18th, 1861 Union Troops marched to Washington to defend the Capitol.  Since there was not already made barracks, the U.S. Capitol building was used as a military barrack, hospital, and bakery for Union soldiers (Fig. 1).  Like Strong, architect of the Capitol Building, Thomas U. Walter, could no longer stand having his office in the building due to the horrible stench of the soldier’s quarters.[5]























































(Figure 1)



After Union troops began to defend Washington D.C., the population began to explode “fueled by an influx of military personnel, war contractors, government workers, and office seekers.”  The Potomac River was also a natural border between the Union and Confederacy fortifications.  The rising concern and fear for the safety of the Capitol city resulted in Congress establishing the Metropolitan Police Department on August 6th, 1861.[6] 

Washington D.C. is now teeming with metro police, Union Soldiers, politicians, and the new war time businesses that have relocated to the Capitol, along with their families.   With this huge influx in population the city expanded.  This expansion demanded the maneuverability of individuals in and out of Capitol steps to the residential areas.  “ It was not until May 17, 1862, when Congress by its act of that date incorporated ‘The Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company,’  that the city of Washington fell into line with other leading communities in the matter of public passenger traffic” (Fig. 2).[7]









































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(Figure 2)



The Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company “was incorporated by an Act of Congress, approved May 17, 1862.”  The Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company was the first street car company to be incorporated in Washington D.C., soon to be followed my many more after the war.[8]  The second was the Metropolitan Railroad Company which “was chartered by the Act of Congress approved July 1, 1864” and had two lines, the most notable line was the one running from the War Department to the Capitol building, while the Washington and Georgetown Rail ran from the Capitol to the State Department.[9]

        

Not only were more people now traveling in and out of the city due to the newly established rail lines, but there were lots of newly freed slaves moving to Washington D.C.  On April 16th, 1862 Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, in which emancipated all slaves within Washington D.C. and compensated all slave owners who had been “loyal to the Union” effort. [10]  This act created another population explosion.  It was now the place where newly freed slaves and their families moved, before the Emancipation Proclamation was announced eight months later.

         

Now with established roads, rails, and a rising freedman population in Washington D.C., another issue needed to be addressed.  Since Georgetown was founded primarily as a port for tobacco in 1751, there were many Southern sympathizers in the Georgetown area, whereas there were more Union sympathizers within Washington D.C.  Since the areas were so close, tensions were high during the war.  Creating the Metropolitan Police wasn’t going to be enough to keep the peace and other acts of treason.[11]  That’s why in July of “1862, Congress adopted the ‘Ironclad Test Oath.’  Civil servants and military officers had to swear loyalty to the Union and affirm no previous disloyalty – a clause aimed at Confederate sympathizers.”[12] Since a man’s word was considered a large deterrent in dishonesty, many Senators decided to show their loyalty by also taking the oath, even though they were not bound to.

           

Although Congress and the President hoped the Ironclad Test Oath would be a deterrent to intercity disputes, they knew it would not protect them from outside Confederate forces who had their sites on taking over Washington D.C. and claiming it as their own.  With Virginia, a seceded state, just across the Potomac, and Maryland harboring many Confederate sympathizers, there was a huge need for defensive construction and development in Washington D.C.  Since the Confederate troops had already ripped up railroads and bridges leading into Washington D.C. to prevent other Union troops from entering to help defend, immediate action was needed.

           

Major General George McClellan appointed Major John Barnard of the Corps of Engineers to build a new system of forts within the city.  The only existing fort within the city was the Fort Washington, which was last built in the War of 1812.  Barnard had his engineers find “high points that overlooked major turnpikes, railroads, and shipping lanes” and many “more forts and batteries” along the Potomac, since Confederate troops could cross during low tide.  At the end of the war, Washington D.C.’s “defense system totaled 68 forts and 93 batteries with 807 cannons and 98 mortars” with “twenty miles of riffle trenches” in conjunction with “more than 30 miles of military roads over which companies of soldiers and guns” moved their reinforcements.  This  made Washington D.C. “the most heavily fortified city in the world.”[13]

           

It is interesting to note that even though there was a war going on, the continual construction to our Nations Capitol building didn’t stop.  On December 2nd, 1863 the cast iron nineteen foot Freedom Statue was placed atop the Capitol.[14]

Post War Era

           

At the beginning of the Civil War, the population of Washington DC was 75,080, and in less than ten years the population exploded to 131,700, nearly doubling.[15]  This population growth was due to Union Soldiers and their families who had moved into the area, pro Union politicians who moved their families to the area to show support, business’, newly freed slaves and the newly constructed bridges, rails, and roads created during the war.  With such a large population expansion there was growing health and sanitary concerns within the Capital.

           

After the Civil War, there were many Midwesterners who urged Congress to abandon the Capital city, a “shabby, helter-skelter sprawl of undistinguished buildings and depressingly empty vistas – and to move it closer to the center of the growing country, for example to St. Louis” was the message of Union General John Logan and his supporters.  He suggested to “leave George Washington’s ashes behind on the Potomac and follow those of Abraham Lincoln westward”, but President Ulysses S. Grant, would have nothing to do with this notion.[16]

           

Instead of relocating the Capital city, Congress took action and passed the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871, which dissolved the charters of Georgetown and Washington as individual cities, and merged them into a new governmental territory which would be lead by a Governor appointed by the President of the United States.  It also created the Board of Public Works which was now charged with cleaning up and developing the new area of Washington D.C.[17]  On August 18th, 1871 the First Legislative Assembly Session 1 No. 6 approved A Resolution transferring the authority of the Water Board to Board of Public Works, which states;



Be it resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the District of Columbia, That whereas Congress, in its act approved February, twenty-one, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, entitled ‘An act to provide a government for the District of Columbia,’ enacts that the Board of Public Works shall have entire control of, and make all regulations which they deem necessary for keeping in repair the streets, avenues, alleys, and sewers of the city; and whereas, for the proper and contemporaneous improvement of said streets, and so forth, it is important that the authorities to lay water-mains, and the additional authority exercised by the Water Board of the city of Washington, shall be vested in the Board of Public Works; therefore, be it
Resolved, That all the authorities now exercised by and conveyed to the Water Board of Washington city by the acts of the corporation of said city be, and same are hereby, transferred to the Board of Public Works, and the office of said Water Board is hereby abolished.[18]

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This small resolution, had huge implications.  It gave almost full control of the rebuilding of Washington D.C. to the Board of Public Works.  The power to transform the Capital continued in Section 37 OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS general clause 69 which stated;



The Board of Public Works shall have entire control of, and make all regulations which they shall deem necessary for keeping in repair, the streets, avenues, alleys, and sewers of the city, and all other works which may be in-trusted to their charge by the Legislative Assembly or Congress.
….They shall make all necessary regulations respecting the construction of private building in the District of Columbia, subject to the supervision of the Legislative Assembly.



Now enter Alexander Robey “Boss” Shepherd.  Shepherd made his fortune in real estate in the rapidly growing Capital city.  With his fortune and connections he went to work getting himself elected to the Board of Public Works.

           

As Clause 69 states, the Board must be supervised by the Legislative Assembly, but to Shepherd this process seemed to democratic and sluggish.  Shepherd quickly earned his nickname “Boss” because of his bullish and dictatorial way of conducting change in Washington D.C.   Boss thought Board meetings were a waste of time, so instead of getting their approval to remove the railroad tracks that cluttered the mall he just hired and sent “200 men down to the Mall after dark to do the job.”[19]  Bullying his way through, the Boss paved 157 miles of roads and sidewalks, gas mains expanding a total of 39 miles, sewers reaching 123 miles in total length, and water mails totaling 30 miles.  Boss filled in the “stagnant Washington Canal” and planted over 60,000 trees, while simultaneously bolstering the trolley systems and installing street lights in the Capital city.

           

To help him build all this, Boss hired German born Adolf Cluss, architect, to help aid him in his many building plans.  Cluss was the head of the Bureau of Building of the City of Washington in 1970, so when Boss entered the Board in 1971, he brought Cluss on as City Engineer and member of the Board of Public Works.  Cluss “designed many public schools for the District of Columbia, federal buildings the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior and for the Army and Navy, a city hall in Alexandria, [and] Virginia.”[20]  Cluss’ buildings stand out for their classical red brick construction, such as the Smithsonian’s National Museum building.  Since Boss demanded many buildings to be made in a short period of time, Cluss turned to brick because it “was locally manufactured and plentiful.”  Brick also fit the new fire codes of the day, while satisfying “the Romantic period’s taste for rich color effects in architecture as Liszt’s lush compositions did for music.”[21]
           

Boss Shepherd was soon elected as second Governor of Washington D.C. in 1873, but was soon met with congressional action.  Boss had quoted six million dollars to improve the city, which he overreached to the tune of eighteen million, without congressional approval.  There were many debts there were due to contractors.  “Anything seemed permissible to Mr. Shepherd’s Board of Public Works except to forego the prosecution of the projects in hand.  The District of Columbia was temporarily bankrupted.”  Many of the citizens of Washington D.C. became irritated with such dictatorial spending and no accountability, so Congress stepped in and conducted a formal investigation.[22]  The Governorship and government of the District of Columbia was abandoned and replaced “the function of the local legislature was assumed by Congress, and the control of the local administration was transferred to a board of three commissioners appointed by the President” by the Organic Act of 1878.[23]

           

Now the task of beautification and development of Washington D.C. resting on the Congress, they hired Fredrick Law Olmsted to “design the enlarged grounds of the U.S. Capitol.  After careful study…he presented a plan for a sophisticated landscape that highlighted the building it surrounded.”  Olmstead’s plan was to create symmetry by incorporating “park-like edging, low walls, lamps, careful placement of trees and simple shrubs, and a series of curved walkways.”[24]  The historic plan included a marble terrace surrounding the entire building, which created a strong foundation for the building and also created new space for committee rooms.  The terrace was completed around the time the next big plan to develop Washington D.C. came to vote.

The Senate Park Commission Plan for Washington D.C. (McMillan Plan)

           

Since the Organic Act of 1878 left Congress in charge of Washington D.C., on March 8th, 1901 the Senate Park Commission was made by the Senate, after many articles, meetings, and public demand for the development of Washington D.C. and the National Mall.  Since Senator James McMillan was a staunch advocate to create the Senate Park Commission, it was nicknamed the McMillan Commission.  The McMillan Commission was made up of architect Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr, and Charles McKim.[25]

           

In their consideration of rebuilding the Capital and the National Mall they consulted history, the L’Enfant plan and the landscaping of Andrew Jackson Downing.  Downing’s plans back in the 1850s were mainly concerned with just the Mall, and not Washington D.C. at large, while the L’Enfant Plan “designated the layout and width of streets, squares, circles, diagonal avenues and canals for the City of Washington and the location, with topographical consideration, of major government buildings and the Mall, the plan did not consider such details as building design and the respective responsibilities to be assumed by the Federal and local governments in the further planning and development of the city.”[26]

           

The McMillan Commission was confronted time and time again by the American Institute of Architects (AIA).  The AIA blocked many plans the McMillan Commission had for the mall through lobbying.  On March 8th, 1901 the AIA and McMillan Commission worked together to pass a resolution that would allow for the Commission to go ahead with the Senate Park Commission Plan for Washington D.C., nicknamed the McMillan Plan.  A month later “Senator McMillan, District Committee Staff Director Moore, Burnham, McKim and Olmsted” had the first meeting of the commission and developed an outline and schedule.  They then took their plans to the White House to discuss the plans.  Burnham suggested that the Commission travel to other National Capitals to research, in which McMillan agreed, but before they did, they visited “various sites, estates, and gardens in Virginia known to L’Enfant, Washington, Jefferson, and others involved in the planning of the Capital City.”[27]

           

The commission returned to the states, with an almost finalized plan.  They needed more publicity and support for their grand plan, so they held a public exhibition of their plans at the Corcoran Art Gallery on January 16th, 1902.  The day before, Senator McMillan “presented the report of the Park Commission to the Senate” which the Senate responded that there was a huge “necessity of following a long-range plan for the capital’s development”.   McMillan agreed that the “task was a stupendous one; it is much greater than any one generation can hope to accomplish” and continued “the city which Washington and Jefferson planned with so much care and with such prophetic vision will continue to expand, keeping pace with national advancement; until it becomes the visible expression of the power and taste of the people of the United States.”[28]  And Jefferson and Washington’s visions live on through the continuation of the McMillan plan even today.

           

The most notable and prominent affects of the plan was to the National Mall and the Washington D.C.’s park and parkway systems.  The McMillan plan wanted to make the Mall the heart of the Capital city.  It proposed the commission of the Lincoln Memorial be a part of the north end of the Mall, making the Washington monument the focal or center point, incorporating the White house and Capitol Building in a roughly cruciform pattern.[29]  The landscaping of the mall was influenced by the open vistas and line of trees seen at the Palace of Versailles, which the Commission visited on their trip to Europe.  The McMillan Plan also commissioned the “Beaux Art Bridge” which would connect Arlington National Cemetery with Potomac Park.  Olmsted was commissioned to creating formal gardens around the base of the Washington Monument, with an added reflection pool between the monument and the Lincoln Memorial.[30]  The extension of park and parkway systems can be seen in figure 3 below.[31]

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(Figure 3: Proposed Additions to the Washington D.C. Park System)

           

As we will reveal in the later section of our report, you can see the affects the McMillan Plan still holds on current day Washington D.C.  This dedication to a century old plan, which has roots and pays homage to the founding fathers original desires, is something truly inspiring and incredible.

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Work Cited

[1] Census.gov. U. S. Census Bureau, 13 Sept. 2002. Web. <http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab23.pdf>.

[2] White, Ronald C., Jr. The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 110. Print.
[3] Ford, Paul Leicester, comp. Amendments Proposed in Congress by Senator John J. Crittenden : December 18, 1860. Yale.edu. The Avalon Project, n.d. Web. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/critten.asp>.
[4] Ford, Paul Leicester. "Amendments Proposed by the Peace Conference, February 8-27, 1861." Yale.edu. The Avalon Project, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/peace.asp>.
[5] United States. U.S. Capitol. Capitol Visitor Center. 1861 - 1865: A DEVASTATING CIVIL WAR. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. <http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/Exhibitions/civilwar/html/section2.html>.

[6] United States. National Archives. NARA. To Protect and to Serve: The Records of the D.C. Metropolitan Police, 1861–1930. By John P. Deeben. N.p., Spring 2008. Web. 20 Feb. 2013. <http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/spring/metro-police.html>. Vol. 40, No. 1

[7] "STREET RAILROADS." Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C.Vol. 21. Washington: Society, 1918. 26. Print.
[8] Gallagher, Bill, and Ray Kukulski. Washington’s Trolley System: The Forces That Shaped It, The Benefits That Were Created And The Elements That Caused It’s Demise.Citizens Association of Georgetown. N.p., 7 Mar. 2009. Web. <http://www.cagtown.org/News/streetcar_opt.pdf>.
[9] "STREET RAILROADS." Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C.Vol. 21. Washington: Society, 1918. 35. Print.
[10] United States. National Archives and Records Administration. The District of Columbia Emancipation Act. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2013. <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/dc_emancipation_act/>.
[11] JOHNSTON, JAMES H. "The Divided Capital." The New York Times. N.p., 31 Aug. 2012. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/the-divided-capital/>.
[12] United States. U.S. Capitol. Capitol Visitor Center. Lawmakers, Loyalty and the "Ironclad Oath," 1864. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/online/1851-to-1877/senate-1851-1877/lawmakers-loyalty-and-the-qironclad-oathq.html>.
[13] United States. U.S. Department of the Interior. National Park Service. Civil War Defenses of Washington. N.p., June 2006. Web. <http://www.nps.gov/cwdw/planyourvisit/upload/Civial%20War%20defenses%20of%20Washington_final.pdf>.
[14] United States. Architect of the Capitol. History of the U.S. Capitol Building. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2013. <http://www.aoc.gov/history/us-capitol-building>.
[15] Census.gov. U. S. Census Bureau, 13 Sept. 2002. Web. <http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab23.pdf>.
[16] Bordewich, Fergus M. Washington: The Making of the American Capital. New York: Amistad, 2008. 272. Print.
[17] United States. A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875. 41st Cong., 3rd sess. Cong 428 Ch.62. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl>.

[18] Laws of the District of Columbia, 1871-1872. Washington, D.C.: Chronicle Pub., 1872. Print. Harvard University

[19] Evers, Donna. "The Boss of D.C." The Rise and Fall of Washington Visionary Alexander “Boss” Shepherd. Washington Life Magazine, 1 May 2007. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://www.washingtonlife.com/2007/05/01/the-boss-of-dc/>.
[20] Schrenk, Prof. Dr. Christhard, comp. Adolf Cluss Project Washington DC. Career and Profession. Stadtarchiv Heilbronn and Adolf Cluss Project Washington DC., 2006. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. <http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington&sub=3.3>.
[21] http Schrenk, Prof. Dr. Christhard, comp. Adolf Cluss Project Washington DC. Adolf Cluss as the dominant architect for the Red Brick City. Stadtarchiv Heilbronn and Adolf Cluss Project Washington DC., 2006. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. <http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington&sub=3.5>.
[22] Wilcox, Delos Franklin. Great Cities in America: Their Problems and Their Government. N.p.: Macmillan, 1913. Great Cities in America: Their Problems and Their Government. University of Wisconsin - Madison, 8 Sept. 2009. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=ha006514998>.

[23] Gilmore, Matthew. "H-DC / DC History." Michigan State University. Humanities & Social Sciences Online, July 2001. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. <http://www.h-net.org/~dclist/engcomm.html>.
[24] United States. Architect of the Capitol. Frederick Law Olmsted. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013. <http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-grounds/frederick-law-olmsted>.
[25] United States. U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. National Park Service. DESIGNING THE NATION'S CAPITAL: The 1901 Plan for Washington, D.C. By Jon A. Peterson. CFA, n.d. Web. <http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/ncr/designing-capital/sec1.html>.
[26] United States. The McMillan Senate Park Commission. U.S. House of Representatives. The McMillan Senate Park Commission: An Historical Overview. By Nelson F. Rimensnyder. Washington, D.C.: U.S. House of Representatives, 1976. Web.Pg. 4

[27] United States. The McMillan Senate Park Commission. U.S. House of Representatives. The McMillan Senate Park Commission: An Historical Overview. By Nelson F. Rimensnyder. Washington, D.C.: U.S. House of Representatives, 1976. Web.Pg. 4
[28] U.S. Congress. Senate, Committee on the District of Columbia.  Report of Senate Comittie on the District of Columbia on the Improvement of the Park System of the District of Columbia.  Senate Report No. 166.  57th Congress, 1st session.  Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Offic 1902, p. 19.
[29] "The 1902 Report of the Senate Park Commission, Also Known as the McMillan Commission." THE NATIONAL MALL - THIRD CENTURY INITIATIVE - ABOUT THE MALL. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2013. <http://www.nationalmall.net/resource/mcmillan.html>.
[30] "The Birth of City Planning in the United States, 1840-1917 / Jon A. Peterson." Miami University Libraries. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. <http://www.lib.muohio.edu/multifacet/record/mu3ugb3020744>. Chapter 5

[31] McMillan Plan. Digital image. National Park Service. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/ncr/designing-capital/images/plate4.jpg>.