Commemorative program and unveiling ceremony honoring Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, who owned part of the land where the federal government built Fort Stevens as part of the "Circle of Forts" protecting the nation's capitol during the Civil War, and President Abraham Lincoln who visited the fort and Mrs. Thomas, and came under fire from Confederate sharp shooters. The city will officially rename the portion of Quackenbos Street, NW between Georgia Avenue and 13th Street, "Elizabeth Thomas Way". Festivities will include the unveiling of the offiical signage, a wreath laying ceremony, city officials including Mayor Vincent Gray and Councilmember Muriel Bowser, Living History Presentations, and informal presentations by FREED. 

Lincoln-Thomas Day, initiated by the National Federation of Colored Women's Clubs of America, was first observed on September 22, 1924, in various cities across the nation as a day honoring President Abraham Lincoln and Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, a Brightwood resident known as the owner of Fort Stevens until her death on October 13, 1917. Although not the sole property owner of land on which the Fort was built, Mrs. Thomas' picture appears on the Brightwood Heritage Trail signs and at the entry to Fort Stevens. It was on September 22, 1862, that President Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation ordering the emancipation of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. Thus the date of September 22nd was forever etched in American history.