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Rebels at the Gate chronicles an intriguing series of events that nearly changed American history. In the last full year of the Civil War, Washington, DC came within hours of being invaded and Lincoln within inches of being shot. During the summer of 1864, General Ulysses Grant was laying siege to Petersburg (near Richmond), deploying every available Union soldier in an effort to end the bloody war once and for all. His counterpart, General Robert E. Lee and his famed Army of Northern Virginia, were trapped inside Richmond, and recognized that the Confederate capital would fall. Lee knew Grant, and understood that he would never stop attacking until he had Richmond. It was then that the southern commander hatched a desperate and bold plan to save the Confederacy and perhaps bring the war to an end. but on the Confederacy's terms.
Historian Robert Watson provides the definitive account of this largely forgotten attack on and defense of Washington-and the fascinating events surrounding the battle.
List of contents
Preface
Images
Prologue: Target Washington
Introduction: An Uncivil War
PART I. CAPITALS
1. The Long "Siege" of Washington
2. A Tale of Two Cities
3. To Washington, to Richmond
4. Capital Defenses
5. Tightening the Noose
6. Lee's Final Gamble
PART II. CAMPAIGN
7. The "Bad Old Man"
8. The Valley Campaign
9. Invasion
10. Chaos and Panic
11. Crossroads of History
12. The Race to Save Washington
PART III. CRUCIBLE
13. Skirmish
14. Attack!
15. The Incident
16. Victory
17. A Bitter End
18. Legacy
Epilogue: The Lost Cause
Appendix A: Timeline of Events
Appendix B: Map of Early's March to Washington
Appendix C: Map of Washington's Defenses
Sources
Notes
About the Author
About the author
Robert P. Watson, Distinguished Professor of History at Lynn University is the author of many books on American politics and history including, most recently, America’s First Plague: The 1793 Epidemic that Crippled a Young Nation (R&L, 2023): Escape! The Story of the Confederacy's Infamous Libby Prison and the Civil War's Largest Jail Break (R&L, 2021),George Washington’s Final Battle: The Epic Struggle to Build a Capital City and Nation (Georgetown University Press, 2021), The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn: An Untold Story of the American Revolution (Da Capo Press, 2017, and The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of a Doomed Ship in World War II (Da Capo Press, 2016), which is currently being made into a motion picture. He resides in Boca Raton, Florida.
