Funkstown - The Civil War Happened in Foggy Bottom

By Frank Leone

During the Civil War, Foggy Bottom was home to Camp Fry and the Veterans Reserve (Invalid) Corps troops that helped save Washington from confederate attack. Foggy Bottom also housed Union army supply depots, soldiers’ barracks, military bands, hospitals, camp grounds, a huge horse stable, a port on the Potomac, a stately home requisitioned for the Army (the F Street House), D.C.’s first office building which housed some of the War Department (the Winder Building) and the DACOR Bacon House,  whose Carroll family contributed to the Union war effort. As part of its 200^th Anniversary celebration, the DACOR Bacon House and the Civil War Roundtable of the District of Columbia hosted an October 30^th presentation on “Foggy Bottom and the Civil War.” The new DACOR House Foundation President, Hon. Thomas Shannon, provided an introduction, sharing recollections of his German American Union Army ancestors.

PHOTO:  The DACOR Bacon House Foundation “Foggy Bottom and the Civil War” Program features an 1863 image of Camp Fry at Washington Circle (from the GWU Museum Albert H. Small Washingtonia Collection).

With over 60 people attending and more listening virtually, my presentation started the program a focus on Camp Fry, which was located just south of Washington Circle along 23^rd St. It hosted Veterans Reserve Corp (VRC) regiments – soldiers who had been disabled by injury or disease but could still contribute to the war effort as guards and in other support roles.  In July 1864 Confederate General Jubal Early attacked D.C. from the north at Fort Stevens. The Capital had a perimeter of forts, but they were undermanned, as much of the Union Army was in Virginia. The VRC helped hold the line until General Ulysses S. Grant’s reinforcements arrived and the city was saved. You can read more about How Foggy Bottom Helped Win the Civil War and see my presentation slides.

The F Street House (now the GWU President’s House) – Clerks in front of the Office of Commissary General of Prisoners, 1865 (Library of Congress).

Jessica L. Barnes, Manager of the  F Street House then gave a presentation on the House’s connections to the Civil War. The House (1925 F Street) has been  the home of the George Washington University President since 2007. During the Civil War it was requisitioned by the U.S. military and housed the Office of the Commissary General of Prisoners, which set policies for the treatment and release of Confederate prisoners of war and later adjudicated claims brought by Union prisoners. The house also boasts General Ulysses S. Grant’s original field desk as well as furniture and silverware owned by President Grant and donated to the house by his grandson (U.S. Grant III) who was a GWU Vice President and served on its Board of Trustees.

Kristopher D. White, Director of Education and Events at the American Battlefield Trust (an excellent organization!) discussed the Winder Building, built in 1848 and located at 17^th and F Streets. The building was technologically advanced, a “skyscraper” at four stories tall, the first in the city to use central heating (which didn’t work well) and cast-iron beams, providing fireproof support. It was first rented, then sold to the federal government, becoming an early federal office building. It housed Army and Navy offices during the Civil War, including the vitally important Quartermasters’ Office. Notably, although a plaque indicates that President Lincoln reviewed telegrams from the war at the Winder building, he never did so – he actually reviewed the telegrams at the War Department Building on the other side of 17^th Street. Saved from demolition in the 1970s, the Winder Building has housed the Office of the US Trade Representative since 1981.

 Presenters Kristopher D. White of the American Battlefield Trust, Terry Walz of DACOR Bacon House, Jessica Barnes of the F Street House, and Frank Leone of the FBA History Project (D. Vogt Oct. 2025).

Finally Terry Walz, Historian of the DACOR Bacon House,  talked about the experiences of the house’s residents, William T. and Sally Sprigg Carroll, during the Civil War.  Unlike other upper-class Washingtonians, the Carrolls remained loyal to the Union during the war. Their son Samual Sprigg Carroll became a Union Army General, distinguishing himself at Gettysburg and suffering wounds during the war. Younger brother Charles served in the U.S. Cavalry. Two of their four daughters married union Generals and daughter Sally nursed wounded soldiers (including her brother). The Carrolls were close to the Lincolns and the Carroll family mausoleum at Oak Hill Cemetery housed president Lincoln’s son Willie Lincoln’s body in 1862 until it accompanied President Lincoln’s body back to Illinois in April 1865.

Last year, I presented at DACOR Bacon House on  “F Street – The President’s Neighborhood in Foggy Bottom”(November 2024) on behalf of the FBA History Project. We will keep you posted on future DACOR Bacon House presentations.