Fort C. F. Smith was a small fort located in Arlington, Virginia built by the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was named in honor of General Charles Ferguson Smith, who died from a leg infection that was aggravated by dysentery on April 25, 1862. Fort C. F. Smith connected the Potomac River to the Arlington Line. The Arlington Line was a line of forts to protect Washington D.C. and the Aqueduct Bridge of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal from the Confederates. Fort C. F. Smith was built during the civil war in 1863. General Barnard wrote in a report that “Fort C. F. Smith was carefully planned and constructed after our latest models.”HistoryFort C. F. Smith was built on Thomas Jewell’s property, so they had to destroy his little red house to build the fort, so, Fort C. F. Smith was referred to “Fort at Red House” or “Fort McDowell” in the beginning of construction. Since there were labor shortages, General Bernard was forced to employ 1000 hired civilians. It had places for 22 guns. It had a perimeter of 368 yards. To provide clear lines of fire for Fort C.F. Smith and adjacent forts, all of the trees for miles around were cut down. Many of the trees were used in the construction of the forts and support structures. In 1865, the armaments were: one 8-inch Sea Coast Howitzer, three 12-Pounder Howitzers, four 24 pounders on siege guns, two 10-Pound Parrot Rifles, six 4 ½-inch Rodman Guns, three 4-inch Siege Mortars, and six vacant platforms. Some other forts in the Arlington Line were forts Strong, Woodbury, and Murton. The defenses of Washington D. C. and For C. F. Smith saw few to no fighting, and the biggest enemy was malaria, typhoid and handling live ammunition.
