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A review by komet2020
The Siege of Washington: The Untold Story of the Twelve Days That Shook the Union by John Lockwood, Charles Lockwood
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
THE SIEGE OF WASHINGTON: The Untold Story of the Twelve Days that Shook the Union is a very cleverly constructed book (chock full of photos) centered on the 12 days in the early phase of the Civil War in which, the nation's capital, Washington DC, was open to a possible seizure by the Confederacy.
Between the surrender of Fort Sumter in South Carolina to Confederate forces under the command of General Pierre G.T. Beauregard on April 13, 1861 and April 25, 1861, the fate of Washington DC hung on a very slender thread. On the former date, the city was lightly defended by a small force numbering less than a thousand men, of soldiers and a local militia whose loyalty was highly questionable. For Washington DC, sandwiched as it was between Maryland and Virginia (both slave states with pro-secessionists), was very much a Southern city. President Lincoln would issue a call to the states for 75,000 troops for 90 days' service to help defend the Union. Virginia would soon cast its lot with the Confederacy while Maryland's hold to the Union became shaky. Lincoln knew he had to keep Maryland in the Union if Washington was to kept secure. Maryland was also necessary because if Washington's military force were to be reinforced, troops from the North would have to pass through Baltimore in order to reach the city. (Baltimore was a vital link on the railway connecting Washington DC with the North and West.)
This was a thoroughly delightful book to read from which I learned so much about an aspect of the Civil War that has been seldom told. So it was that "[b]y April 26, the siege was lifted , and defenders were flooding into Washington. 'The whole North is on the move,' was how Lucius Chittenden described the scene. The threat of Southern attack had ebbed, and would subside further as each new regiment disembarked at Annapolis, rode the repaired feeder line to Annapolis Junction, and caught the train from there to the capital. The Eighth Massachusetts arrived by that route that day, and the off-duty Seventh New Yorkers 'rushed out and cheered them' as their train pull into the B&O [Baltimore & Ohio] Depot.' "
Between the surrender of Fort Sumter in South Carolina to Confederate forces under the command of General Pierre G.T. Beauregard on April 13, 1861 and April 25, 1861, the fate of Washington DC hung on a very slender thread. On the former date, the city was lightly defended by a small force numbering less than a thousand men, of soldiers and a local militia whose loyalty was highly questionable. For Washington DC, sandwiched as it was between Maryland and Virginia (both slave states with pro-secessionists), was very much a Southern city. President Lincoln would issue a call to the states for 75,000 troops for 90 days' service to help defend the Union. Virginia would soon cast its lot with the Confederacy while Maryland's hold to the Union became shaky. Lincoln knew he had to keep Maryland in the Union if Washington was to kept secure. Maryland was also necessary because if Washington's military force were to be reinforced, troops from the North would have to pass through Baltimore in order to reach the city. (Baltimore was a vital link on the railway connecting Washington DC with the North and West.)
This was a thoroughly delightful book to read from which I learned so much about an aspect of the Civil War that has been seldom told. So it was that "[b]y April 26, the siege was lifted , and defenders were flooding into Washington. 'The whole North is on the move,' was how Lucius Chittenden described the scene. The threat of Southern attack had ebbed, and would subside further as each new regiment disembarked at Annapolis, rode the repaired feeder line to Annapolis Junction, and caught the train from there to the capital. The Eighth Massachusetts arrived by that route that day, and the off-duty Seventh New Yorkers 'rushed out and cheered them' as their train pull into the B&O [Baltimore & Ohio] Depot.' "