Publishers Weekly
This fast-paced popular history of the frantic days between the attack on Fort Sumter and the Battle of Bull Run completes Detzer's "trilogy on the first hundred days of the Civil War." The earlier titles-Allegiance and Donnybrook-were critical and commercial successes, and the latest volume should also score with critics and readers. Detzer, professor emeritus of history at Connecticut State University, combines yeoman research-in official histories of the war, contemporary newspapers, journals, diaries and personal correspondence-and gritty prose. In the early days of the conflict, the nation's capital, geographically wedged between two states (Virginia and Maryland) considering secession, was ground zero for the aspirations and fears of a divided nation. If Washington had fallen to the Confederates in those turbulent days of "incredible noise"-hence the title-Detzer suggests that the war would have been lost. At the center of the cauldron, President Lincoln struggled to get his bearings: cautious, anxious and uncertain in the beginning, but gaining confidence with time. Despite a tendency to hype potential dangers, Detzer has written an engaging and comprehensive account of the early days of the Civil War that should have wide appeal. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Publishers Weekly
"Fast-paced popular history. Detzer has written an engaging and comprehensive account of the early days of the Civil War."
Kirkus Reviews
A detailed history of the Civil War's opening weeks, before the clash of armies began. Third in a trilogy on the war's first 100 days, this volume by Detzer (Emeritus, History/Conn. State Univ.) covers the period between Allegiance (2001) and Donnybrook (2004): "a critical time," the author writes, "when America's two sections stumbled noisily into war." The primary focus is on Washington and its vicinity, although the author discusses events in Philadelphia, New York and other areas as they relate to the main story. A pressing issue after the firing on Fort Sumter was whether Maryland, a slave state, would remain in the Union or cast its lot with the Confederacy. Virginia's decision to secede confronted Lincoln and Winfield Scott, the senior U.S. general, with the prospect of an enemy close enough to bombard the White House from its own territory. If secessionists prevailed in Maryland, the nation's capital would find itself surrounded by hostile territory. When Federal troops from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania were attacked by rioters while changing trains in Baltimore, Washington's link to the rest of the Union appeared fragile. Detzer details the political forces at work on both sides, the logistical problems of raising armies in a nation with a tiny military establishment and Virginia's early successes at the Harper's Ferry arsenal and at Gosport, the key naval installation at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. He critically analyzes the persistent legend that Lee, then a mere colonel, was offered command of the Union forces before casting his lot with his native state. He examines the Confederate campaign to win recognition from England and France, on which the would-be nation pinned itshopes as much as on military action. He also draws effectively on contemporary documents, including personal diaries, to show the reaction of ordinary people to the previously unthinkable prospect of civil war. A solid account for the non-specialist audience.
