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> Subject: CROSS-POSTED REVIEW: H-Net Review Publication: > 'Washington and Richmond: A Tale of Two Cities during the > American Civil War' > > Ernest B. Furgurson. Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil > War. New York Vintage, 2008. 496 pp. $16.00 (paper), ISBN > 978-0-375-70409-3. > > Ernest B. Furgurson. Ashes of Glory: Richmond at War. New > York Vintage, 2008. 464 pp. $16.00 (paper), ISBN > 978-0-679-74660-7. Sounds to be a very worthwhile Review and volumes about America's Civil War. For all those H-War historians and members who are familiar with the Capitol area and its surrounding areas, this selection may remind of the proximity of Southern succession and Southern life. Having spent a short time in this area, should like to point out a couple of features not included by the Reviewer, but possibly in the volumes under discussion ? First, the home of Robert E. Lee and the Lee family was just across the Potomac River, south of Washington DC, on a rise or hilly area from which it is and was possible to look down upon the National Capitol. From both substantive military, social, political and symbolic points of view, his defection to Virginia and the Southern cause had considerable importance and potential, or even actual impact. If the author discusses this geographic feature and the effects it may have had it would be welcome historical information. Second, with Virginia so close to the Capitol, within artillery range, though G. Washington never likely tossed a coin across the River, military control of this immediate threat to the Capitol would be paramount. Today, all know this area as the national cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Beyond this immediate geography and contact point with the DC land area, considerable territory for menacing the Capitol lays beyond, all the way to Richmond, some 100 miles further south. The State remained very much under Southern control and forces for most of the Civil War. A third point, concerns the actual Union operations southward into Virginia up until the time Richmond surrendered. All around Richmond, metal plaques on poles, existed[probably still so] thru the 1960s; all of these give short and brief descriptions of the military lines and positions held by Southern forces at a particular date during the defense of Richmond. Here, the history of the Civil War is encapsulated for all to see and read. Did the author include these plaques in his description ? Probably not, given I've not read the books. But, should someone publish a volume including them and even actual photos of the numerous positions, it would show clearly much of the history to these two Capitols and their roles in the 1860s of American divide. Wyatt Reader Wyatt Reader <hirener@EARTHLINK.NET> ----- For subscription help, go to: http://www.h-net.org/lists/help/ To change your subscription settings, go to http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=h-war -----
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