Private Byron T. Plugh spent nearly three years based at several forts that guarded Washington, D.C., serving in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery.

Plugh died at age 88 on March 29, 1932. In the three Wisconsin veterans censuses that are online, Plugh was living in 1885 at Westfield in Marquette County, and at Rhinelander in 1895 and 1905.

He served from Aug. 15, 1862, to June 26, 1865, in Battery A of the 1st Wisconsin Heavy.

When Plugh started, it was part of the command of Brig. Gen. Amiel Whipple, Military District of Washington. In 1863 and for the rest of the war, it was part of the division of Brig. Gen. Gustavus De Russy in the 22nd Army Corps. That corps was created on Feb. 2, 1863, consisting of all troops garrisoned in the nation's capital.

By 1865, a total of 68 forts and 93 batteries armed with more than 800 cannons encircled Washington, which was only about 100 miles from the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.

Plugh's Battery A was based at Forts Cass, Buffalo, Ellsworth, Worth, Rodgers and Willard (several other batteries of the 1st Wisconsin Heavy came to Washington beginning in 1864).

The best-known fort that still exists today is Fort Cass.

Shortly after Union forces were routed at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) in July 1861, the Army constructed a lunette, a small type of earthen fortification in the shape of a half-moon, one of the first fortifications built on the Arlington Line of defenses. The lunette later was renamed as Fort Cass - an earthen fortification that had emplacements for 12 guns.

In 1881, Fort Cass and nearby Fort Whipple became Fort Myer, an Army post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Fort Myer merged in 2005 with the neighboring Marine Corps installation, Henderson Hall, and is today named Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.

Sources:
Civil War Archive: 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery
Nagtional Park Service: Civil War Defenses of Washington
Wikipedia: Civil War Defenses of Washington
Wikipedia: Fort Cass
Wikipedia: Fort Myer

Researched and submitted by Tom Mueller, PCC and Department GRO

Last Updated: 29 Dec 2022