The Rebel Attack on Washington D.C.

The first primary source I examined was a map of the Confederates plan of attack during the Civil War on Washington D.C. July 11^th and July 12^th 1864 led by General Jubal Early. From this map I learned that the Confederates planed to come down from the North through Maryland and attack Washington. The map included a key with colors and symbols. The color purple representing the union while a red/pinkish color represented the Confederates and then various symbols that appeared smudged represented Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery Batteries. Lastly, the map provided estimated troop sizes with the Union consisting of 20,000 and the Confederates comprised of 12,000. Ultimately, this attack resulted in the Battle of Fort Stevens.

The source of this map was the “Library of Congress, which appears to have digitized an original copy of the map. The top of the map was title with “The Rebel Attack on Washington D.C. By General Jubal Early. Confederate Army. While the bottom of the map is then certified by saying, “Plan of Rebel Attack on Washington D.C. July 11^th and July 12^th 1864. Copy of Official Plan made in the Office of Col. Alexander; Engineer of Defenses. While going through the contextualizing process I was able to find other maps offering similar outlines of the attack, however they lacked the credibility. While the map lacked text I attempted to analyze the map through Close- Reading by observing the details of the attack, but through that questions arose to myself thus bringing me into the Corroborating Process. While observing the map I noticed for the most part that the Rebels appeared to be directly north, but imagining that Washington was such a vital part of this war I would have thought there might be some attack from the West to flank the Union and surprise them. While I am happy this did not happen I still would have expected their to be a much more complex attack.

Lincoln Memorial

The second primary source I examined was a newspaper dated May 28, 1922. This paper included an article pertaining to the completion of the Lincoln Memorial twenty years after his assassination. This article provided background information relating to the reason behind the design and location of the memorial. While reading this article I learned it stands “Isolated, Distinguish, and Serene” because it was desired by John Jay who was Lincoln’s biographer and secretary. The location of the memorial we learn is an honor to be on the main axis of the Washington Plan and near the Washington monument. Also, it was said that Lincoln loved the Potomac River, which made it even more suiting to put the memorial there.

The source of this article is “The Washington Times” newspaper on May 28, 1922, the morning edition. When I began the contextualizing process by finding other history behind the Lincoln Memorial I found as much praise as I did in this article. Through close reading I found myself wondering if newspapers further south would regard President Lincoln with as much praise as this one. During the corroborating process I wondered why Lincoln loved the Potomac River so much. Also, I wondered if in some way this article could have been bias being a Washington D.C. newspaper and people in the South feel the same why about Lincoln some fifty-seven years after his assassination.

While working with primary sources I found both sources I examined to have some levels of difficulty to work with. While working with the map I found it difficult to read at first, but this was mostly due to operator error while learning how to zoom in and out on particular parts of the map. While working with the newspaper article I had the same difficulties as I did with the map, but what made this more challenging was reading the print because in some articles it would be very small thus requiring more time for me to zoom in then out then scroll down to the next column.