Giesboro Park Marker

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Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, District of Columbia — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Giesboro Park

By Craig Swain, August 7, 2008

1. Giesboro Park Marker

Inscription. The Gisborough Estate (1680-1890) was a large colonial land grant that included part of what is now Bolling Air Force Base. That name eventually came to be spelled "Giesboro" and from 1863 to 1866 this area was the location of a large cavalry depot for the Union Army, and an adjoining cavalry base, Camp Stoneman. The Giesboro plantation residence was located in the area that now comprises Giesboro Park.

Location. 38° 50.85′ N, 77° 1.087′ W. Marker is in Bolling Air Force Base, District of Columbia, in Washington. Marker is on MacDill Boulevard. Click for map. Located at the entrance to the athletic fields in Giesboro Park. Marker is in this post office area: Washington DC 20032, United States of America.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, as the crow flies. Republic F-105D Thunderchief (approx. 0.4 miles away); Bolling Air Force Base (approx. 0.5 miles away); In Memory of Col. Raynal C. Bolling (approx. 0.6 miles away); "The Gun" (approx. 0.7 miles away); Fort Carroll (approx. 0.9 miles away); T-28 Trojan (approx. 1.2 miles away); Women War Workers 1861 - 1865 (approx. 1.3 miles away); St. Elizabeths Hospital (approx. 1.3 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Bolling Air Force Base.

Giesboro Park Entrance Photo, Click for full size

By Craig Swain, August 7, 2008

2. Giesboro Park Entrance

Giesboro Today Photo, Click for full size

By Craig Swain, August 7, 2008

3. Giesboro Today

No vestiges of Camp Stoneman or the depot exist today. The ridge line paralleling the Potomac River at this point (in the distance beyond the houses) was heavily fortified during the Civil War. The cavalry camp occupied the low ground between the ridge and the river. Since the 1860s land has been reclaimed from the river, new road structures in place, and new buildings erected.

Band at Camp Stoneman Photo, Click for full size

Library of Congress Collection

4. Band at Camp Stoneman

A view of the camp streets when the cavalry camp was in use. Today the United States Air Force Band uses several buildings on the Air Base.
[Libray of Congress: Civil War photographs, 1861-1865 / compiled by Hirst D. Milhollen and Donald H. Mugridge, Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 1977. No. 0782, Call number LC-B817- 7350]

Cavalry Depot Photo, Click for full size

Library of Congress Collection

5. Cavalry Depot

This wartime photo looks from the high ground near where today South Capital Street and Interstate 278 pass. Several distinctive "Sibley" tents are arranged on the low ground. In the distant right center is a rather prominent building, that may be the U.S. Capital dome. If so, then the camera was angled almost due north, looking across the Anacostia River. The photo is dated May 1864.
[Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, Call Number LC-B817- 7015[P&P]]