In the popular literature of the Civil War, the days immediately after the surrender at Fort Sumter are overshadowed by the battles and changes in American life.

Tony Silber's account starts on April 14, 1861, with President Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand militia troops. Washington, a Southern slaveholding city, was the focal point. The capital was barely defended, by about two thousand local militia troops of dubious training and loyalty. In Charleston, the Confederates had an organized army that was larger and ready to fight.

Maryland's eastern sections were reeling in insurrection, and within days Virginia would secede. For half of the twelve days after Fort Sumter, Washington was severed from the North. The United States had a tiny standing army. The federal government's only defense would be state militias.

A Confederate success in capturing Washington would have changed the course of the Civil War. Instead, Lincoln emerged as the master of his cabinet, a communications genius, and a strategic giant. Twelve Days alternates between the four main scenes: Washington, insurrectionist Maryland, the advance of Northern troops, and the Confederate planning and military movements.

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