Existing comment:
Civil War Era:
The decades before the Civil War saw important developments in far southeast Washington. In addition to the new suburban development of Uniontown, the mid-1800s saw the establishment of the Government Hospital for the Insane, a federally funded institution for the mentally ill. Partly as a result of activist Dorothea Dix's lobbying for improved treatment of mental patients, Congress provided funds for the purchase of 320 acres of the original St. Elizabeth tract in 1852. Dr. Charles Henry Nichols supervised the construction, staffing, and oversight of the facility. During the Civil War, the hospital expanded to care for soldiers injured in battle. In the last half of the century, the hospital added many new structures and developed the campus further. St. Elizabeths, as the hospital came to be called, quickly became one of the area's biggest employers and one of its most important cultural assets thanks to its commanding vistas of the city and the beautiful landscaping of the expansive grounds.
The Civil War also brought significant changes to the area as soldiers, ex-slaves, and others involved in the war effort migrated to Washington in the wake of the Union Army. The military constructed forts along the Eastern Branch to protect the Navy Yard and the approaches to the city. Three of them -- Fort Carroll, Fort Greble, and Fort Stanton -- guarded Far Southeast, along with another major military establishment, the Giesborough Cavalry Depot. After 1865, the area became a popular location for middle class summer cottages and large family homes for working class whites. The new residential community of Barry Farm was developed specifically for African Americans, many of them ex-slaves or ex-soldiers.
Many slaves born in Far Southeast had been allowed to lease their own time and live in the central part of the city. But there were still many slaves working on the small farms and large plantations near the Eastern Branch. Some of these ex-slaves were the first African Americans to buy land in the area after war's end. |