Home : Book details : Book description

Description of  Crosshairs on the Capital: Jubal Early s Raid on Washington, D.C., July 1864 - Reasons, Reactions, and Results

A new perspective on Jubal Early's raid on Washington, D.C. in 1864. In an era of battlefield one-upmanship, the raid on the Nations Capital in July 1864 was prompted by an earlier failed Union attempt to destroy Richmond and free the Union prisoners held there. Jubal Earlys mission was in part to let the North have a taste of its own medicine by attacking Washington and freeing the Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout in southern Maryland. He was also to fill the Souths larder from unmolested Union fields, mills and barns. By 1864 such southern food raids had become annual wartime events. And he was to threaten and, if possible, capture Washington. This latter task was unrealistic in an age when the success of rifle fire was judged to be successful not by accuracy, but by the amount of lead that was shot into the air. Initially, the Union defenders of the city were larger former slaves, freemen, mechanic, shopkeepers and government clerks, as well as invalids. They might not have known much about riflery and accuracy, but they were capable of putting ample lead on the long until Regular Union regiments arrived. Jubal Early hesitated in attacking Washington, but he held the City at bay while his troops pillaged the countryside for the food Lees Army needed to survive. This new account focuses on the reasons, reactions and results of Jubal Earlys raid of 1864. History has judged it to have been a serious threat to the capital, but James H. Bruns examines how the nature of the Confederate raid on Washington in 1864 has been greatly misinterpretedJubal Earlys maneuvers were in fact only the latest in a series of annual southern food raids. It also corrects some of the thinking about Earlys raid, including the reason behind his orders from General Lee to cross the Potomac and the thoughts behind the proposed raid on Point Lookout and the role of the Confederate Navy in that failed effort. It presents a new prospective in explaining Jubal Earlys raid on Washington by focusing on why things happened as they did in 1864. It identifies the cause-and-effect connections that are truly the stuff of history, forging some of the critical background links that oftentimes are ignored or overlooked in books dominated by battles and leaders. Preface Introduction Chapter 1 The Confederates Turn the Tables Chapter 2 Into the Valley Chapter 3 The Rebels are Coming Chapter 4 Defending Washington Chapter 5 Across the Potomac Chapter 6 9 July Monocacy Junction Chapter 7 9 and 10 July Taking Shelter Chapter 8 The Way to Washington Chapter 9 The Rebels Take Their Toll Chapter 10 Outside Baltimore Chapter 11 11 July Chapter 12 12 and 13 July Chapter 13 14 July Chapter 14 Back Again Chapter 15 Point Lookout Chapter 16 Fort Stevens Chapter 17 Earlys Exit Conclusions Notes Index Read more