"The Siege of Washington" by John and Charles Lockwood (2011)

The most fascinating thing about this book is the mystery of why the Confederacy did not immediately take possession of Washington, D.C., which would have ended the war; or at least put the South in the driver’s seat concerning a negotiated truce. Indeed, the Southern populace expected no less. They marched off to war, thinking that they would return within months, rather than years. What was the reasoning behind this ill-fated decision on the part of the Confederacy? Why was Washington so lightly defended at a time when it was crawling with rebel sympathizers, and surrounded by the slave holding states; Maryland, to the north; and Virginia, to the south?

In this book by authors John and Charles Lockwood, history comes alive as they explore these crucial questions, as well as the relationship his 2 key aides played during the 12 days between April 15^th and April 25^th, 1861; a mere 6 weeks after Lincoln had assumed the Presidency in March. These 2 remarkable men; John Nicolay; aged 29, from Springfield, where he had worked as Lincoln’s assistant; and John Hays, aged 22, who was hired as Nicolay’s assistant in Washington; were instrumental throughout Lincoln’s Presidency. But they were never more effective than they were in the crucial first days of the War Between the States, as the new President struggled to come to grips with the enormity of the task before him.

Calling upon General Winfield Scott, the General in Chief of the nation’s Army, plans were immediately put into effect to secure the roads and railways entering the city. Washington was; at that time, and on into my own youth; a decidedly “southern” town. Segregation existed there openly up until the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The threat of hostilities breaking out within the city itself was a real and constant danger that had to be dealt with. To that end, the President called upon 75,000 Union volunteers, each of whom would serve for 3 months. Just as the South expected to crush the North in a short while, the North fully expected the same of themselves.

Also at stake were the territories out west. California talked openly of leaving the Union, and rather than join forces with the far distant Southern states, form a Republic of her own with Oregon and the Pacific Northwest territory which would later become the state of Washington.

Back in New York the same idea was forming. With New York City alone generating 2/3 of the nation’s import taxes on all goods which passed through its port, it was a “no-brainer” to figure out who would be paying the bulk of the cost of a war with the South. Also at stake for the merchants in New York was the 40 cents per dollar which they received from the export of cotton to England. Should the South be successful in establishing her own nation, the middle man in New York would be left with no percentage at all. Added to that was the threat of the “free negro”; 4 million to be exact; who would eventually move to the Northern cities, competing with white immigrant workers for the same jobs. That feeling alone led to the Draft Riots of July 1863, just as the Battle of Gettysburg was raging; causing valuable troops to be diverted to New York to fight in what was almost a “rear guard” action, rather than a mere riot.

Also threatening Washington was the City of Baltimore, with its own peculiar mixture of feelings concerning slavery. The city was also home to the Union Trust Bank, which held considerable reserves for the North. This made it imperative to hold onto Maryland, and after the events of April 18^th, during which mobs in the city attacked the Union soldiers as they marched along Pratt Street, the city was under occupation for the remainder of the war. The troops had been marching from the old train station; which stood on President Street, at the Eastern end of today’s Harborplace; to the Camden Street Station, the site of today’s Camden Yards, home to the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. At the intersection of Charles and Pratt Streets the mob had grown to over 2,000 strong, and, armed with clubs and paving stones, attacked the troops.

In this wide ranging account, the author gives new thought to the importance of these 12 most perilous days of the war. Until now, the most engaging story of Lincoln’s assumption of the Presidency has always been the attempted assassination which occurred before he even took office. And, although the story of the Baltimore riot; and the later New York Draft Riot; have been told many times, this is the first book which I have read that puts all of these pieces together. The author has successfully re-created the excitement; and fear; of a time when our nation was at war, and the seat of government surrounded by her enemies.

Surrender at Appomattox - The Beginning of the End.

I cannot think back to a time when I was unaware of the Civil War. The fact that the wounds of the war were still raw in half of our country was surely a contributing factor to this. I was about 7 when all the Centennial Observances began in full swing. To make matters even more confusing, in school we were taught only part of the story concerning the end of the Civil War.

Today marks the 145th Anniversary of General Robert E. Lee's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. It was there that Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia, which effectively ended the South's ability to wage war. But there never was a formal surrender by the Confederate Government. Neither treaty nor truce was ever called.

WhenI first moved down South I was very confused at the attitude that the War Between the States had never ended. So, I did as I usually do, headed to the library. I was very surprised at all that I did not know.

General Grant, writing his memoirs with the aid of Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens, recalled the following conversation just prior to the signing of Lee's surrender;

"Lee soon mounted his horse, seeing who it was, and met me. We had there between the lines, sitting on horseback, a very pleasant conversation of over half an hour, in the course of which Lee said to me that the South was a big country and that we might have to march over it three or four times before the war entirely ended, but that we would now be able to do it as they could no longer resist us. He expressed it as his earnest hope, however, that we would not be called upon to cause more loss and sacrifice of life; but he could not foretell the result. I then suggested to General Lee that there was not a man in the Confederacy whose influence with the soldiery and the whole people was as great as his, and that if he would now advise the surrender of all armies I had no doubt his advice would be followed with alacrity. But Lee said, that he could not do that without consulting the President first. I knew there was no use to urge him to do anything against his ideas of what was right."

President Jefferson Davis refused to surrender the Confederacy, instead seeking to consolidate his forces West of the Mississippi. He was of the hope that they could establish the Confederacy in Texas. This was a misguided hope at best. Davis was captured in May enroute to Texas. He was then imprisoned under unduly harsh conditions and emerged a physically broken man. But he never signed the Loyalty Oath and never formally surrendered his government.

As a matter of fact, the last action of the Civil War took place up around the Artic Circle on November 6th, 1865. The C.S.S. Shenandoah, under the Command of James Waddell and out of communication with land, continued conducting raids and seized 4 Yankee merchant vessels before being informed that the War was over. In June of 1865 the Shenandoah had captured two Yankee ships, and while aboard the Susan Abigail, Commander Waddell saw a San Francisco newspaper that stated the war was over. But it was not until they heard the news from a British ship that they gave up the cause.

At that point the Captain of the U.S.S. Donegal took the formal parole of the Shenandoah, and Commander Waddell elected to sail to England rather than the U.S. to avoid his crew being tried as raiders instead of being released as former soldiers. Some other Confederate ships had surrendered only after their crews were reclassified as "artillerymen", thus avoiding criminal trials for the crime of piracy.

The last ship of the Confederacy was then sailed over 9,000 miles to Liverpool, by Commander Waddell and presented to a Joint House of Parliment in 1866. He then simply walked away.

When the "Carpetbaggers" arrived to plunder the ruined Southern States, in direct opposition to Lincoln's plan of a gentle reunion, the stage was set for the violence and opposition to what the South called "the Army of Occupation." When that "Army" finally left in the 1870's, a backlash of "Jim Crow" laws became the norm and the Southern States entered upon a century of violence and segregation.

The fact that the War Between the States was never properly adjudicated, and the subsequent lack of any formal Instrument of Surrender being tendered, has left a hollowness in the "peace" that is often cited as an end to hostilities. The Union did, however, have the last word. In May of 1866, President Andrew Johnson simply proclaimed the War to be at an end.

Sadly, vestiges of that war remain unresolved to this very day. And the chief culprit of this "hollowness" in our national unity is, in my opinion, directly attributable to the lack of a formal ending of the hostilities.