Rebels at the Gates: The Confederacy's Final Gamble and the Battle to Save Washington

by Robert P. Watson

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.

Genres: Nonfiction

351 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2025

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert P Watson writes the same way he lectures for Smithsonian Associates. He's quite conversational in his lecture style. Rebels at the Gates: The Confederacy's Final Gamble and the Battle to Save Washington is very accessible even though it is a lot of names, places, and troop movements. I don't think I realized how badly the Confederacy wanted to take Washington, DC and, hopefully, capture or kill Lincoln. It was a series of mistakes that kept that from happening.

[Ron Baumer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding novel on a little-known series of battles near the end of the Civil War. To read on how close the rebel forces came to achieving their attempt was fascinating. The author does a great job of presenting both sides of the story and did not fail to point out the errors and blunders that both sides made in the conflict. The story is an excellent one for all Civil War and historical fans.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Martha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was anxious to buy and read this book after watching an interview with the author on Public TV.
I found the topic very interesting and apparently very well researched by Robert Watson.

However......
I was TOTALLY turned off by the author's ranting about other "Rebels" at the gates of the nation's capital!
i.e. Jan 6 "rebels'" and Donald Trump. Mr. Watson went on and on in the preface with his very biased political views, so I quit reading and threw the book out!