t of whom
were said to have seen military service of one kind or another.
The brigade formed at the Navy Yard about the middle of the afternoon,
and was ordered to march out to Fort Lincoln, a strong earthwork built
on a prominent hill, half a mile southwest of the station now known
as Rives. The Reform School of the District of Columbia now stands
on the site of the fort. The position certainly looked very strong.
On the right the fort was flanked by a deep intrenchment running along
the brow of the hill, and the whole line would include in the sweep
of its fire the region which an army would have to cross in order
to enter the city. The naval brigade occupied the trench, while
the army force, which seemed very small in numbers, manned the front.

I was not assigned to any particular duty, and simply walked round the
place in readiness to act whenever called upon. I supposed the first
thing to be done was to have the men in the trench go through some
sort of drill, in order to assure their directing the most effective
fire on the enemy should he appear. The trench was perhaps six feet
deep; along its bottom ran a little ledge on which the men had to
step in order to deliver their fire, stepping back into the lower
depth to load again. Along the edge was a sort of rail fence, the
bottom rail of which rested on the ground. In order to fire on an
enemy coming up the hill, it would be necessary to rest the weapon
on this bottom rail. It was quite evident to me that a man not
above the usual height, standing on the ledge, would have to stand
on tiptoe in order to get the muzzle of his gun properly directed
down the slope. If he were at all flurried he would be likely to
fire over the head of the enemy. I called attention to this state
of things, but did not seem to make any impression on the officers,
who replied that the men had seen service and knew what to do.

We bivouacked that night, and remained all the next day and the night
following awaiting the attack of the enemy, who was supposed to be
approaching Fort Stevens on the Seventh Street road. At the critical
moment, General H. G. Wright arrived from Fort Monroe with his
army corps. He and General A. McD. McCook both took their stations
at Fort Lincoln, which it was supposed would be the point of attack.
A quarter or half a mile down the hill was the mansion of the Rives
family, which a passenger on the Baltimore and Ohio Railway can
readily see at the