I’m about 5% through Margaret Leech’s book, Reveille in Washington, 1860 – 1865. It covers the evolution of Washington D.C. as it made its way through the Civil War.
I’m a big fan of reading about the life of cities throughout various historical eras, especially the Five Points in New York City and Chicago circa the World’s Fair. I’ve gotta be honest, though… even though I’ve been to D.C. tons of times, I don’t have a good mental map of the city.
I knew coming in that the city was incredibly rustic and backwoods for much of the early 19th century, with the master plan largely unfinished for decades. The initial image of the book paints that this was also the case up until at least 1860.
Wild.
My goal for this book is to grab more color for the Civil War section of the wiki. I want to get the feel of a city that is both Northern and Southern during the era.
One point that immediately stood out: when the city went decidedly to the North, one of the first actions was the speedy elimination of slavery in the District. This tells me that abolition was a primary, rather than secondary goal of the ascendent Republican Party and Union forces. Modern leftist history doesn’t accurately reflect this reality.