Fort Stevens, now partially restored and located at 13th and Quackenbos Streets, NW, was built to defend the approaches to Washington from the 7th Street Pike (now Georgia Avenue) which was then the main thoroughfare from the north into Washington. Originally called Fort Massachusetts by the soldiers from that state who constructed the fort, it was later named after Brigadier General Isaac Ingalls Stevens, who was killed at the Battle of Chantilly, Virginia, September 1, 1862.
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On July 12, President Abraham Lincoln went out to Fort Stevens with his wife and other officers and stood on the parapet calmly watching the battle. The Battle of Fort Stevens thus marks the only battle in which a President was present and under enemy fire while in office.