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The Smithsonian Institution was not yet 15 years old when the Civil War began in April 1861. Its physical structure consisted of a single Norman-style red sandstone building, built in 1855 and designed like a castle by James Renwick, Jr. The building and grounds occupied an expanse of grassy meadow. To the east lay the unfinished Capitol, and to the west rose a stub of stone masonry that, when completed, would be the 555-foot Washington Monument. The castle's towers overlooked the Patent Office building to the north and the Potomac River to the south. On the opposite bank lay Virginia. Just up the river on a high majestic hill, the columned front of Arlington, the home of Robert E. Lee, overlooked the city. Looking downriver, the rooftops of Alexandria, the hometown of Washington and Lee, could be seen with a pair of binoculars. Compared to the architecturally staid White House a mile away, the Smithsonian Castle, with its jutting turrets and spires, resembled a medieval fortress.
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North America
