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The Siege Of Washington: The Untold Story Of The Twelve Days That Shook The Union (2011)

by John P. Lockwood(Favorite Author)

3.67 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0199759898 (ISBN13: 9780199759897)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

review 1: Fascinating and pretty well-written. Tells the story of the first 12 days of the Civil War while DC was waiting to be overrun. Not having grown up in this part of the country, my knowledge of the Civil War is pretty slight and this was quite informative. Sadly, the editing/printing is of lower quality than I'd expect for Oxford Uni Press--multiple glaring grammar and textual errors, missing sentences, etc. Content-wise, the only downside (for me) is that the context of the war was glossed over as was what happened next...I really wanted to it to keep going so I could know what happened to the Mass 8th, Penn 1st, and NY 7th. Plus, It's be helpful to know why the Penn 1st was the first regiment of volunteers while the NY 7th was the first regiment but was called the sev... moreenth...
review 2: At Ft. Sumpter, the confederacy began in April 1861. In a few days, the South captured weapons at Harper's Ferry and could have attacked Washington's Norwood Naval Yard. Lincoln called up 50000 volunteer troops but the nation really had no standing army. Each state would call up their military militias or create them. Often a wealthy man would offer to be become a officer and people would. volunteer for that regiment. The militias were long in coming from the North to Washington. Pro-slavery groups were every where and delayed travel and fought them. New York City which had considerable business with the South actually considered seceeding with it. With the attack on Ft. Sumpter, the anger of Northerners became more intense and drown out many pro-slavery protests. Militias moved on towards Washington and officers in the military chose their sides. General Scott chose the union, on April 20th, when Virginia seceeded, General Lee chose his country, Virginia. Maryland had sentiment to chose the South and Union troops met with fighting In Baltimore. They felt that the South would sweep in to save the day. In the meantime, the suffered food and goods shortages as the North refused to sell to them. Washington was very alone but many residents refused to leave including the President and his family. Both Free Blacks and slaves in Washington were trapped. The Compromise of 1850 had made selling slaves there illegal but if slaves moved North, they were still subject to the Fugitive Slave Act and Free Blacks feared being captured and made slaves. After 12 long days, the militias of the North arrived to fortify Washington and prevent Maryland from seceeding. Why did the South not strike faster? Just as the North lacked soldiers, the South did too and a lack of weapons. Each state was to control their own militia and there was reluctance to share. When Lee took control of Virginia militias, he felt it was better to prepare the new regiments for battle and felt that the troops were woefully unable to take control of such an important city and keep Shaw there from being lost to looting ect. A very interesting book about a small yet momental piece of Civil War history. less

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