Blair's Mansion
Metro Stop: Silver Spring
- Red Line
Ruins of mansion after it was burnt by Confederates under Gen. Jubal Early. (Source: Library of Congress)
The fourth and final stop (or first if you’re coming from the east) relevant to the Battle of Fort Stevens. In 1842, Francis Preston Blair, an original founder of Silver Spring and organizer the modern Republican Party, built a 20-room mansion which he called “Falkland.” During the Civil War, Lincoln loved to visit the mansion as a place to take his mind off the fighting. Unfortunately, in 1864 the fighting came to Falkland when Confederate forces occupied and razed it right before, you guessed it, the Battle of Fort Stevens.