The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot: The Fort Stevens Story

In July 1864, President Lincoln visited a besieged fort on the edge of the nation’s capital and, according to Cooling (coauthor of Mr. Lincoln’s Forts), put his life—and along with it, the emancipatory goal of the war—at risk. It’s old news that Lincoln walked away without a scratch (though he was dead nine months later), but this is nevertheless a fresh history. Cooling sets the stage by explaining Washington, D.C.’s importance in the war, as well as the Union’s struggles with a surging Rebel offensive and Lincoln’s surprising level of engagement with his army. Confederate leaders saw an attack on Fort Stevens as a critical step toward capturing the capital, and they recruited tough troops for the task. But Lincoln shored up the resistance, and toured the fort on two days, despite the fact that his towering frame made an easy target for sharpshooters. While Cooling makes much of what might have happened to the war effort had Lincoln been wounded or killed, he spends most of his time speculating as to why he was there in the first place, and what his presence says about his role as president and commander-in-chief. This is a detailed and skilled account of a faded chapter in the annals of Civil War history that should not be ignored. (July)