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Profs & Pints: Confederates at the Gates

Profs and Pints presents: Confederates at the Gates, a look at the Civil War battles that saved Washington, with Marc Leepson, journalist, historian, author, and adjunct history instructor.

In looking back on the Civil War, people sometimes forget just how vulnerable Washington, D.C., was to the Confederate Army. Come learn about the fight to defend the city from Marc Leepson, author of Desperate Engagement: How a Little-Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and Changed the Course of U.S. History.

Leepson will offer a thrilling account of the 1864 Battle of Monocacy, Maryland, and the subsequent skirmishing just outside Washington's Fort Stevens. He'll also offer fascinating details on the key players involved, including Jubal Early, the cantankerous Confederate general who led the assaults, and the colorful Union General Lew Wallace, who held Early up at Monocacy and after the war went on to write the second-bestselling novel of the 19th century, Ben Hur.

Prior to the local fighting, Union General Ulysses Grant had planned to keep a stranglehold around Robert E. Lees forces in Richmond and Petersburg, a strategy intended to force the undersupplied Lee to yield, perhaps as early as the summer of 1864. Earlys move into Maryland and march on Washington forced Grant to send large numbers of additional troops north to protect the nation's capital. The Union Army's success here in July 1864 paved the way for the Confederate surrender at Appomattox eight months later.

Leepson fascinated a Profs and Pints audience last November with a talk about the history of the American Jewish family that ended up saving Jefferson's Monticello from ruin. His talk about the fighting at Monocacy (just outside Frederick, Md.) and Fort Stevens will bring local history to life and leave Washington residents and visitors aware of how much ground around them had been contested.