What Ever Happened to Fort Scaggs?

At the outbreak of the Civil War the Confederates threatened Washington, D.C.  The Union Army designed a ring of forts around Washington to defend the city from Confederate attacks initiated from Virginia or Maryland.  Selby Scaggs, a descendant of Richard Scaggs and Sarah Selby, owned land in northeast D.C. that the government used to build a circular earthwork called Fort Scaggs.
From 1861 to 1865 Fort Scaggs was used for the defense of Washington, even though it was never completed and never fully armed.  It was also known as Fort Craven and was abandoned in 1865 when the war ended.  The land reverted back to Selby Scaggs and he allowed religious revivals to be conducted on it after the war.  The current street address of the site of Fort Scaggs is 3950 Ames Street N.E. in Washington.

1 comment:

  1. Hello, I'm a historian writing a book on the DC forts and the relations between the soldiers and civilians who lived nearby. If anyone here has any information on Selby and his family I would greatly appreciate it and care for it!

    Blake Lindsey

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