This bronze plaque memorializes Lincoln's presence here during the battle. Lincoln came out to see the battle, climbing up on the parapet to watch while the rebels fired on the fort. His military escort said Confederate Minie balls "were sending little spurts and puffs of dust from the embankment on which he stood." Lt. Col. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., later to become a Supreme Court Justice, saw a civilian standing on the parapet exposed to enemy fire. "Get down, you damn fool, before you get shot!" Holmes didn't realize until after the words left his lips that he was shouting at the President. The Battle of Fort Stevens is the only time a sitting President has come under fire in war. As Confederate General Early retreated he said to one of his officers, "Major, we haven't taken Washington, but we've scared Abe Lincoln like hell!"