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Desperate Engagement

Desperate Engagement: How a Little-Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and Changed American History

By: Marc Leepson

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: 2008

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Author Interview

A Conversation with Marc Leepson

Desperate Engagement: How a Little-Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and Changed American History

One of the best parts of my job here at The Book Studio is how much I learn while reading my guests' books. But sometimes I wind up learning more while interviewing my guests! As you'll see in this interview with historian Marc Leepson, the timeline of battles in his book "Desperate Engagement: How A Little-Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C and Changed American History" gave me fits. Fortunately, Leepson was patient and gentlemanly in reminding me which battle took place on which day. 

I'm being hard on myself (not unfairly so!) because it is important to understand what happens in the Civil War events Leepson is depicting. If Confederate General Jubal Early had succeeded in his plan, our nation's capital might have been captured by forces of the South -- and our nation might not have the same history it does today.

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Comments on this post:

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Kindle or eBook reader?

Marc,

I your book available for the Kindle?

 
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Sorry, not in Kindle or e

Sorry, not in Kindle or e reader. But the book is in print in good old hardcover and paperback!

 
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Yes he was, by one day!

Yes he was, by one day!

 
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York, PA

Didn’t Jubal Early occupy York, Pennsylvania for a period? Wouldn’t that be farther north?

 
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Early did not get any farther

Early did not get any farther north than Frederick, Maryland. After Monocacy, he went to the gates of Washington, D.C., then when back to Virginia for the rest of the war. He did fight at Gettysburg in 1863.

 
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Curious...

Mr. Leepson,

You classify the Battle of Monocacy as a Union triumph, but how can that be if—by all acounts—Confederate Gen. Jubal Early won the battle?

 
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Not a Union Triumph

In fact, the July 9, 1864, Battle of Monocacy was the northernmost Confederate victory of the war. The only "triumph" involved on the Union side was the fact that Lew Wallace held Jubal Early up for an entire day, long enough for Grant to bring troops up from Richmond to prevent Early from invading Washington, D.C. That's why Monocacy is known as "the battle that saved Washington."

 

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