Fort C.F. Smith Park

HISTORY HIKE: THE 1775 EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
The forecast is looking great for the upcoming Arlington County Parks and Recreation hike where we will explore how the American Revolution reached Arlington, connecting its residents to profound changes in the course of human events.

This 2-mile round trip hike on the Four Mile Run trail will begin and end at the Arlington Mill Community Center and stop at landmarks associated with key figures in this incredible story of resistance and subterfuge.

📅 Saturday, May 30
⏱️2:00-3:30 p.m.
🗺️Arlington Mill Community
https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Departments/Parks-Recreation/Parks-Events/2026/Nature-and-History/History-Hike-The-1775-Emancipation-Proclamation

Tomorrow's Bayonet Exercise program has been rescheduled! The General Commanding looked at the forecast and thought it better to work on our bayonet skills next Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Come join us at the fort to learn how Civil War soldiers used bayonets and try out their moves yourself!

Come build a fort with us today at Arlington HistoryFest! We're at Kenmoor Middle School with reenactors and history groups representing all eras of Arlington and Virginia history.
Arlington Historical Society

A huge HUZZAH for everyone who came out for our annual Living History Day on Saturday! Not even gloomy clouds could deter the community from coming out to learn about their local Civil War history. We look forward to seeing you again next year! Next stop for us will be HistoryFest at Kenmoor on May 9th.

Many thanks to our partners at Arlington Historical Society, DC Civil War Forts, The Arlington House Victorian Dance Society at Fort, and our friends in the 23rd United States Colored Troops, the Blacksmith Guild of the Potomac, and the 2nd U.S. Cavalry for coming out to show their stuff!

We are ON for Saturday! We hope to see you there for a great afternoon of activities themed around Arlington's connections to the Union Army during the Civil War.

April 15th marks the day in 1865 that President Abraham Lincoln died after being shot in Ford's Theatre. Oral histories passed down from the family who owned the Fort C.F. Smith property claimed that one of the doctors who attended to the mortally wounded Lincoln, an army doctor named Charles Sabin Taft, had walked from Fort C.F. Smith to attend the play at Ford's Theatre that night. (btw it's more likely he walked from the signal station directly across the Potomac from Fort C.F. Smith, but we don't keep score). The picture below on the right shows Fort Whipple in Arlington still adorned with black cloth some 3 months later, a testament to how the national mood took a long time to recover from the shocking and unanticipated conclusion to what had been 4 long years. Fort Whipple would later become Fort Myer.

It was a day that shocked the country to its core and left reverberations right up to the present. In the mind of this writer, it is also a day to remember the past but not forget to root ourselves in the present, to care for one another and not lose our common humanity.

Living History Day at Fort C.F. Smith is two weeks away! Come join the community on Sat, April 25th, for an afternoon of FREE fun that explores the real history that happened in your backyard. Reenactors will on hand to show you life from 160 years ago, including...

🐎 the 2nd U.S. Cavlary is returning to conduct demonstrations of real cavalry maneuvers to show you how these speedy troops - and their equine friends - were important to the Union Army in Arlington.

💃🕺 The Fort Washington Victorian Dance Society will sweep you off your feet with demonstrations and lessons about the surprising history of dancing around Arlington's Civil War forts.

🎖️Explore the fate of different Union regiments in Arlington by making a Corps badge and completing the event passport activity to receive your 'bounty.' You WILL need a stinking badge!

👩‍🔬 Stop by the medical tent to get a taste of how Arlingtonians and the Union Army used everyday plants to tackle medical problems from headaches to...well, the more severe maladies.

The event will last from noon to 4 p.m. Registration is not required but appreciated. Link below:
https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Departments/Parks-Recreation/Parks-Events/2026/Nature-and-History/Living-History-at-Fort-CF-Smith-Park

This is a pretty cool analysis of photographs relating to the fort! While there are a bajillion Civil War photographs out there, most of them raise more questions than answers. Here is an example of how historians tackle those questions.

Spring is alive and well at Fort C.F. Smith. What a day.

HUGE shoutout to Arlington's 55+ Program, who joined me on a trip to Manassas National Battlefield Park to explore the First Battle of Bull Run and its lasting legacy on Arlington County and the country. It was a gorgeous day full of great conversation and learning.