Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War

by Ernest B. Furgurson

In this luminous portrait of wartime Washington, Ernest B. Furgurson–author of the widely acclaimed Chancellorsville 1863 , Ashes of Glory , and Not War but Murder --brings to vivid life the personalities and events that animated the Capital during its most tumultuous time. Here among the sharpsters and prostitutes, slaves and statesmen are detective Allan Pinkerton, tracking down Southern sympathizers; poet Walt Whitman, nursing the wounded; and accused Confederate spy Antonia Ford, romancing her captor, Union Major Joseph Willard. Here are generals George McClellan and Ulysses S. Grant, railroad crew boss Andrew Carnegie, and architect Thomas Walter, striving to finish the Capitol dome. And here is Abraham Lincoln, wrangling with officers, pardoning deserters, and inspiring the nation. Freedom Rising is a gripping account of the era that transformed Washington into the world’s most influential city.

Genres: Civil War, American Civil War, History, American History, Nonfiction, Civil War History

496 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2004

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most histories of the Civil War are about either the military events or the major personalities, and for obvious reasons; but sometimes the micro-histories are far more interesting, focusing as they do on the lives that went on under the shadow of the war, the minor players who may have made only a small impact on the grand events but whose lives were irrevocably changed by the sweeping and fluctuating fortunes of the war. These are the kind of people whose lives often survive now only buried in records and archives, rather than memorialised by history and remembered by all, but those lives are no less worth studying.

This book is very much a portrait of Washington at war, and all of Washington from President Lincoln down to the most minor of clerks and soldiers. We meet Thomas Walter, architect of the Capitol, struggling to finish the mighty dome and crown it with the statute of Freedom; Walt Whitman, ministering to wounded soldiers in the many hospitals of the capital; a Union major falling in love with an accused Rebel spy; detective Allan Pinkerton tracking down Confederate sympathisers; Elizabeth Keckley, an ex-slave and Mary Lincoln's close friend and dressmaker; and assassin-in-making John Wilkes Booth. Obviously Lincoln stands head and shoulders (in life as in these pages) above the other characters here, but one could hardly write a book about Civil War Washington without giving due to the President and Commander in Chief.

It was a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable read, but not one for the serious student of Civil War history. It reads very much more as a series of anecdotes and vignettes, darting from personality to personality. There is little focus on the causes and catalysts of the war, little focus on the broad political issues of the time, other than those arising from individual conflicts, clashes and personal ambition, such as George McClellan and Salmon P. Chase. It is also a very white book - other than Elizabeth Keckley and the odd mention of Frederick Douglass, few African-Americans feature in these pages other than as an amorphous mass of 'coloured soldiers' or 'contrabands'.

[Paul Haspel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Freedom Rising is a very powerful history of Washington, D.C., during the Civil War. For many years, virtually the only significant history of Civil War Washington out there was Margaret Leech's Reveille in Washington - a very fine book, to be sure, but one that was written long ago. Ernest Furgurson, a former Baltimore Sun writer whose interest in the Civil War has led him to write books about Civil War battles like Chancellorsville, here does a very able job of telling the story of how, between 1860 and 1865, Washington, D.C., went from sleepy, swampy backwater to confident world capital. The title refers to the manner in which, throughout the war, the designer of the then-unfinished U.S. Capitol struggled mightily to see the iron dome placed upon the meeting house of the national legislature, and to see the statue of Freedom placed on top. When the Freedom statue rose to its rightful place atop the Capitol, it was an apt symbol of freedom rising in a Union that had had a new birth of freedom as a nation forever free of slavery. This well-written and well-researched history serves as a fine companion piece to Furgurson's earlier history of Civil War Richmond. Freedom Rising will please Civil War enthusiasts, and will be informative to anyone with an interest in the history of Washington, D.C.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Ernest B. Furgurson is one of the most readable Civil War historians I've had the pleasure to read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is the story of how Washington D.C. grows and matures from a town with mud-filled streets to a capitol the country could be proud of during the Civil War. The book is filled with quotes and stories from primary sources that give the reader a real feel for the city, with all of its wrinkles, and what life was like for its residents. One example is the on-going story of Thomas Walter, the architect who struggled against bureaucratic game-playing, slow material suppliers, and the war to finish the dome of the Capitol building. I decided, after reading this book, that politics really hasn't changed all that much over the past 150 years, and it made me appreciate all the more the craftiness of Abraham Lincoln in navigating it. One little trivial story that I particularly enjoyed was how, after Grant took over as commander of all Union armies and the tide turned, citizens of Washington learned quickly to open double-hung windows at both top and bottom and to remove pictures from the walls to avoid breakage when the cannons began to fire to celebrate victories. It was stories like these, new bits of information for me, that made this such a good read.

[Kevin Kosar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this authoritative yet very accessible history of Washington, DC during the Civil War... (read more)

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone interested in seeing a streetwise depiction of Washington DC in the 1860s will find this book an enjoyable read. The author, a former journalist, interweaves the story of the capital city into the wider tapestry of the Civil War.

[Craig McGraw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent biography of a city from 1860 to 1865 and the trials it faced as it grew.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book went back and forth for me in ratings. Mainly I wanted very heavy information about the city of Washington, but it is focused on Lincoln's and his cabinet, the construction of the Capitol dome, and the battles surrounding Washington, DC. In some ways, it could be any book focused on Lincoln during the Civil War, but maybe I have read too many micro-histories to find it very focused i.e. just the Capitol construction, Congress during the Civil War, or Lincoln's cabinet. However, there is a good amount of research and would be a dense book with tons of info for anyone who wants to know more about this particular era or region historically.

One thing that has been standing out to me is seeing how much our present times has counterparts to before the Civil War started and reading

As they labored, General Scott mobilized his forces for another critical moment of transition on February 13, when the capital feared a coup attempt. Some Republicans, who did not know the upright Vice President Breckinridge personally, believed rumors that he would betray his duty to preside over counting the electoral votea that confirmed Lincoln's victory. If plotters had such a thing in mind, the traditional ceremony at the Capitol was their opportunity.

Since the election, the vice president had kept the official election certificates from the states in two boxes in his personal custody. On the appointed day...in the Speaker's chair, Breckinridge would open and tally the votes, and announced the result. "The ease with which desperadoes, mingling with the crowd, might fall upon the messenger as he passed...and violently seize the boxes, or from the galleries of the House might break up the proceedings, was apparent," wrote Henry Dawes.

But the old Virginian Winfield Scott had warned that "any man who attempted by force or unparliamentary disorder to obstruct or interfere with the lawful count of the electoral vote...should be lashed to the muzzle of a twelve-pounder and fired out of a window of the Capitol..."

It was surreal to read this account, but also see how they managed to handle everything.

[Robert Sparrenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

An old patient suggested this one to me and it sure was an interesting read. The history of Washington DC during the civil was is heavy on Lincoln and his administration with interesting side stories throughout. Well worth your time.

[John Civardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have ever read on the civil war

[George Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sorry to hit two in a row by the same author but it is again well done.