18. Abraham Lincoln was the only American President to come under fire in battle while in office
In the summer of 1864, Robert E. Lee attempted to relieve the relentless pressure imposed by the Army of the Potomac on his forces with a diversionary campaign. Lee dispatched the 2nd Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, under General Jubal Early, to the Shenandoah Valley. Early’s mission was to cross into Maryland, impose as much chaos on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as possible, and threaten Washington from the Northwest. Lee believed such a campaign would force Grant to detach troops from his army and send them to the defense of Washington. It worked. As Early’s raiding in Maryland grew more ominous to the capital, Grant detached units from his army and sent them north via river steamers. Yet his own pressure on Lee continued unabated. Meanwhile, Early’s forces approached Washington, arriving on July 11 during a major heatwave.
Early’s troops approached Fort Stevens, located in what is now Northwest Washington. Among the luminaries who arrived at Fort Stevens to view the fighting was Abraham Lincoln. Accompanied by his wife, Lincoln was briefly under fire, though most of the stories surrounding the event are likely myths. Nor did it make Lincoln the only American President to come under enemy fire while in office. He wasn’t even the first. That distinction belongs to James Madison, who as President came under fire as the British crushed the American defense at Bladensburg, Maryland, in 1814. The British victory allowed them to enter, and eventually burn much of, the American capital. Early was less successful. Repulsed by the defense at Fort Stevens, he was eventually defeated in the Shenandoah Valley in 1865. After his defeat, Lee removed him from command.