This bill designates the Civil War Defenses of Washington National Historical Park, bringing together Civil War sites across Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland under a unified national park system. The park will include 19 existing federal military forts and fortifications managed by the National Park Service, such as Fort Stevens where President Abraham Lincoln came under fire during the 1864 Battle of Fort Stevens, along with affiliated sites like Fort Washington and Battleground National Cemetery. The bill also allows the park to partner with locally owned sites through voluntary cooperative agreements, including four Civil War forts in Northern Virginia and one in Montgomery County, Maryland, while prohibiting the use of eminent domain to acquire private property. Within one year of enactment, the Secretary of the Interior must submit a report to Congress recommending creative and cost-effective ways to present Civil War history from both Northern and Southern perspectives, particularly focusing on the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign and the role of Washington's defenses in the war's outcome. The legislation emphasizes historical preservation, public education, and interpretation of these sites for future generations without specifying dedicated funding amounts or timelines beyond the one-year study requirement.
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