Fort Totten Park
It was built up during the fall of 1861, as part of the defense of Washington, D.C., during the Civil War, also known as the Fort Circle.[1][2] Fort Totten was one of seven temporary earthwork forts built in the Northeast quadrant of the city by the Union Army to protect the city from the Confederate Army.It was located atop a ridge along the main road from Washington to Silver Spring, Maryland, about three miles (5 km) north of the Capitol, and a half-mile from the Military Asylum or Soldiers' Home, where President Abraham Lincoln spent his summers while president.Outside the walls (or "ramparts") was a large ditch or dry moat over seven feet deep and twelve feet wide, and outside that was a broad cleared area surrounding a barrier of tree branches, brambles and general debris (or abatis).Today, it is maintained by the National Park Service but is in poor state.