On July 12, 1864, with 14,000 Confederates under Gen. Jubal Early bearing down on Washington DC from the north, President Abraham Lincoln left his summer residence cottage (near what is now the Old Soldiers’ Home), and traveled just two miles by carriage to the front lines of the battle, at Fort Stevens. He was there to observe the Confederate attack and arrived just as Union troops were marching to reinforce the fort.

In due course, he ascended to the parapet of Fort Stevens and stuck his head above the protection of the fort, where he was urgently requested to get down! It was a stunning and unique moment in American history: a sitting president coming under fire. Why did President Lincoln expose himself to enemy fire? What was he thinking?!

Historians have many possible explanations:

 Irrepressible curiosity;

 Assessing the defensive capabilities of the city’s forts and the vulnerability of the

capital;

 Wanting to see “his” army in action for the first time;

 Public relations: wishing to be seen as a man of action and a true commander in

chief during the war;

 Recognizing that soldiers were going to be a potent voting bloc in the upcoming 1864

election (absentee soldier voting would be permitted for the first time), and

wanting them to see his support for them;

 Grief over the death of his son Willie and other domestic tribulations;