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With so much written about the American Civil War, it is difficult to write something fresh. Although it offers no new insights into the political or military history of the war, Kenneth Winkle's new book, "Lincoln's Citadel: the Civil War in Washington, D.C." (2013) succeeds in adding to the understanding of the conflict. It focuses on Washington, D.C. and its response to the great events of 1860 -- 1865. Other histories cover this material but, to my knowledge, lack the detail Winkle provides. Winkle, professor of history at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, has written other books developing little known aspects of the Civil War, including "The Young Eagle", his biography of Lincoln in young adulthood.
Winkle's book moves between a history of the capital city and biographical details of Lincoln's life during his time in Washington. The emphasis, however is on the place rather than on the president. For the most part, Winkle tells his story by subject matter rather than by chronology. The presentation sometimes moves back and forth with a degree of repetition.
The book begins in late 1847 with Lincoln's arrival in Washington, D.C. to serve as a member of the 30th Congress. This is the most biographical part of the book as Lincoln's activities as a Congressman received detailed discussion. But Winkle's focus remains on pre-bellum Washington, D.C. as he describes the southern slave-holding character of what was then a small, undeveloped city. Winkle develops the turbulence of Washington, D.C. life, with its inadequate police force, poor sanitation, lack of hospitals, and frequent fighting over slavery and abolition. Lincoln's life in Washington D.C. particularly his married life with Mary receive substantial treatment as the book progresses. In general, Mary Lincoln receives a more sympathetic portrayal from Winkle than is the case in other studies.
The history shifts from 1848-- 1850 to the election of Lincoln to the presidency in 1860. Students of the Civil War will be familiar with the broad story, but Winkle offers a fleshed-out account. He describes Lincoln's inaugural journey and shows persuasively that Lincoln and his staff had reason to fear for new president's life. Lincoln's inauguration brought to the capital a heavy and necessarily intrusive security apparatus that would last for the duration of the war.
Throughout the war, Washington, D.C. was in a state of tension between its southern background and its status as the capital of the Union. In Winkle's account, the city gradually moved from southern to northern in character. Most Civil War histories discuss Lincoln's efforts to hold the border states and to delay emancipation. With this background, Winkle describes the changing character of the African American community in Washington, D.C. He discusses conflicts that arose over the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. But most interestingly, he gives a full discussion of the emancipation process for the slaves held in Washington D.C. beginning in 1862. This critical part of the War's story generally receives only cursory treatment in standard histories.
As Winkle shows, with a southern invasion feared eminent, the Union constructed extensive fortifications in the capital city early in the war, for which General George McClellan deserves substantial credit. Winkle describes how Washington, D.C. expanded to meet the large influx of troops and of civilians. He discusses the building of hospitals and the expansion of arsenals, including several accidents and disasters attendant to the conduct of the war. During the war, a fresh water supply became critical resulting in the construction of an aqueduct still in use. The city remained a breeding-ground for malaria and typhus throughout the war, resulting in, among much else, the death of Lincoln's beloved son, Willie.
Winkle devotes a great deal of attention to the influx of Freedpeople to Washington, D.C., particularly after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. He discusses the conditions at the many camps created to hold and to prepare the Freedpeople for freedom. There were large camps in the city itself as well as in Virginia, on Robert E. Lee's former estate.Winkle discusses the formation of African American regiments with Washington D.C. troops, and he discusses Dr. Alexander Augusta, an early African American physician who became one of the few African American commissioned officers in the conflict. Winkle offers a good discussion of the early movement for civil rights in Civil War Washington, leading to a pioneering desegregation of the city's public transportation system.
Winkle has written a solid, informative history which enhanced my understanding of both Washington, D.C. and of the Civil War. The book has thorough documentation in the endnotes, but a bibliography would have been a welcome addition.