Preview: Lockwood & Lockwood, “The Siege of Washington”

OK, from the title most of you probably assume that The Siege of Washington: The Untold Story of the Twelve Days that Shook the Union is yet another book about Jubal Early’s 1864 raid. Well, guess what?

It’s not.

It’s “the heart-pounding account of the twelve days from April 14, 1861, when an isolated Washington was threatened with a Southern assault – a time which, according to Abraham Lincoln, the ‘capital was put into the condition of a siege’ as the fate of the Union hung in the balance.”

Inside, Winfield Scott, Charles Stone, The Pennsylvania “First Defenders”, the 6th & 8th Massachusetts Infantry, the 7th New York Militia, the Treasury Guards and Jim Lane’s Frontier Guard get their due for defending the nation’s capital in the days following Ft. Sumter. It’s written from the perspective of soldiers, civilians and government officials, and draws on – well, there’s no bibliography (What the…?), but the notes reference a number of familiar published sources as well as newspapers and unpublished manuscript collections.