Dissonance Pa

For two weeks in 1861, Washington, D.C., was locked in a state of panic. Would the newly formed Confederate States of America launch its first attack on the Union by capturing the nation’s capital? Would Lincoln’s Union fall before it had a chance to fight?

Wedged between Virginia and Maryland―two states bordering on secession―Washington was isolated; its communications lines were cut, its rail lines blocked. Newly recruited volunteers were too few and were unable to enter the city. A recently inaugurated Lincoln struggled to form a plan―defense or attack?



In this final chapter of his trilogy on the Civil War, David Detzer pulls the drama from this pivotal moment in American history straight from the pages of diaries, letters, and newspapers. With an eye for detail and an ear for the voices of average citizens, he beautifully captures the tense, miasmic atmosphere of these first chaotic days of war.

• Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston, And The Beginning Of The Civil War
• Days of Defiance: Sumter, Secession, and the Coming of the Civil War
• The Early Morning of War: Bull Run, 1861 (Campaigns and Commanders Series)
• Donnybrook Pa
• Corinth 1862: Siege, Battle, Occupation (Modern War Studies)
• Balls Bluff: A Small Battle and Its Long Shadow
• The First Battle of Manassas: An End to Innocence, July 18-21, 1861
• On to Petersburg: Grant and Lee, June 4-15, 1864
• Meade and Lee After Gettysburg: The Forgotten Final Stage of the Gettysburg Campaign, from Falling Waters to Culpeper Court House, July 14-31, 1863
• The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 7--12, 1864