Library of Congress The Civil War transformed our nation’s capital. In 1860, Washington’s population was only 65,000. By the end of 1861, the Lincolns were among a wave of people that moved to the city in a migration that more than tripled the population to 200,000. The city was a metropolis in motion, with dramatic changes evident to residents old and new. Citizens encountered the challenges of limited infrastructure in Washington. Precipitation turned streets into deep mud, as only Pennsylvania Avenue was paved. The Washington City Canal, immediately south of the White House, became a stagnant repository for sewage, trash, and animal carcasses. 
National Archives and Records Administration Across the street from Ford’s Theatre, the Petersen Boarding House was a microcosm of a new trend in housing. The city could not provide enough homes and apartments for the boom in new citizens. Boardinghouses sprouted up throughout Washington to accommodate the burgeoning numbers. A floating population of wounded soldiers, fugitives from enslavement, entrepreneurs, politicians, and Confederate spies created a city in constant flux. Former enslaved people left one of the larger influences on wartime Washington. Even before Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the abolition of slavery in the District in April 1862 changed the nature of the city. The capital became a beacon of hope to these freedmen and women. The "freedom villages" that sprang up in and around the city provided them homes and communities. More than 40,000 former enslaved people migrated to the District of Columbia by the end of the Civil War. Washington also became the largest fortress in the eastern theater of the war. It represented a constant potential target for the Confederate military. To protect the city, a ring of 68 forts and 93 artillery positions were constructed and staffed by soldiers. This defensive barrier saw its main challenge in July 1864. Confederate General Jubal Early and his troops, maneuvering south through Maryland, threatened the city from the north. President Lincoln went to the battlefront to survey the military engagement. At Fort Stevens, Lincoln became the second president to directly face enemy fire, after James Madison during the War of 1812. United States army reinforcements turned back the incursion and saved the capital. 
Library of Congress The war fundamentally altered the way Washington functioned. Every skirmish and battle, regardless of victory or defeat, brought new wounded soldiers into the city. Dozens of hospitals tried to keep pace with the new arrivals seeking medical care. Some of these were new open-air, pavilion-style infirmaries, believed to be more sanitary. The poet Walt Whitman was among those who helped the wounded, offering aid to both northerners and southerners alike. President Lincoln and Mary Lincoln often visited Washington’s hospitals to meet with soldiers. The harsher reality of the war was the lack of cemeteries for those killed in battle. The need to provide final resting spaces for soldiers recast the cityscape in Washington and nearby communities. The cemetery at the Soldiers’ Home, the Lincolns' second home during the summers, became full after 8,000 burials. US Army Quartermaster Montgomery Meigs proposed that the ample grounds at Arlington House, the confiscated property of Robert E. Lee, become a new cemetery for the war dead. The burial of United States soldiers at Arlington continued for a full five years after the Civil War. Today 11,623 Federal war dead are interred at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from the capital. 
Library of Congress When Lincoln first took the oath of office at his inauguration on March 4, 1861, he did so against the backdrop of an incomplete dome above the United States Capitol. With tensions high and the nation on the brink of war, the half-constructed dome served as a metaphor for a nation interrupted. Four years later, on March 4, 1865, Lincoln spoke in front of a now-completed Capitol dome. The president concluded his Second Inaugural Address with hopeful words of inspiration: “With malice towards none, with charity for all . . . let us strive on to finish the work we are in . . . to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” 
Civil War Washington Project, University of Nebraska - Lincoln Want to Learn More?
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Last updated: November 26, 2024