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Summary
Summary
In this engrossing and informative companion to her New York Times bestsellers Founding Mothers and Ladies of Liberty, Cokie Roberts marks the sesquicentennial of the Civil War by offering a riveting look at Washington, D.C. and the experiences, influence, and contributions of its women during this momentous period of American history.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, the small, social Southern town of Washington, D.C. found itself caught between warring sides in a four-year battle that would determine the future of the United States.
After the declaration of secession, many fascinating Southern women left the city, leaving their friends--such as Adele Cutts Douglas and Elizabeth Blair Lee--to grapple with questions of safety and sanitation as the capital was transformed into an immense Union army camp and later a hospital. With their husbands, brothers, and fathers marching off to war, either on the battlefield or in the halls of Congress, the women of Washington joined the cause as well. And more women went to the Capital City to enlist as nurses, supply organizers, relief workers, and journalists. Many risked their lives making munitions in a highly flammable arsenal, toiled at the Treasury Department printing greenbacks to finance the war, and plied their needlework skills at The Navy Yard--once the sole province of men--to sew canvas gunpowder bags for the troops.
Cokie Roberts chronicles these women's increasing independence, their political empowerment, their indispensable role in keeping the Union unified through the war, and in helping heal it once the fighting was done. She concludes that the war not only changed Washington, it also forever changed the place of women.
Sifting through newspaper articles, government records, and private letters and diaries--many never before published--Roberts brings the war-torn capital into focus through the lives of its formidable women.
Author Notes
Cokie Roberts was born in 1943 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is a journalist, author and contributing senior news analyst for National Public Radio as well as a regular roundtable analyst for the current This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Roberts also works as a political commentator for ABC News. Roberts, along with her husband, Steven V. Roberts, writes a weekly column syndicated by United Media in newspapers around the United States. She serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations such as the Kaiser Family Foundation and was appointed by President George W. Bush to his Council on Service and Civic Participation.
Cokie Roberts is the youngest daughter of the late ambassador and long-time Democratic Congresswoman from Louisiana Lindy Boggs and of the late Hale Boggs, also a Democratic Congressman from Louisiana who was Majority Leader of the House of Representatives and a member of the Warren Commission.
Roberts graduated from Wellesley College in 1964, where she received a BA in Political Science. Roberts has won numerous awards, such as the Edward R. Murrow Award, the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for coverage of Congress and a 1991 Emmy Award for her contribution to "Who is Ross Perot?"
Cokie's books include We Are Our Mother's Daughters (1998), Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation (2004), Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation (2008), with Steven Roberts, From This Day Forward (2000), also with Steven Roberts, Our Haggadah: Uniting Traditions for Interfaith Families (2011), and children's book Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies (2014).
Robert's title, Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868, is a 2015 New York Times bestseller.
Cokie Roberts (Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs Roberts) passed away on September 17,2019 at the age of 75.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (1)
Library Journal Review
Emmy Award-winning political commentator Roberts (Ladies of Liberty; Founding Mothers) commemorates the sesquicentennial anniversary of the end of the Civil War with an exploration of the experiences and social, cultural, and political influences of women in war-torn Washington, DC. Covering the late 1840s through the late 1860s, this group biography focuses on 14 prominent political spouses and relatives, seven authors and journalists, and six activists and reformers, with first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, and Confederate spy Rose Greenhow among those featured. Roberts uses these women's intertwined stories to chronicle the war's impact on the capital city from their viewpoints while also describing the broader story of the conflict throughout the fractured nation from their perspectives. The author's extensive research relies heavily on government records, newspaper accounts, and personal letters and diaries, which gives this fresh look at Washington, DC during the Civil War era a sense of intimacy, immediacy, and originality. Roberts concludes her well-written, readable study with a lengthy bibliography and a fascinating epilog featuring summaries of the post-Civil War activities of many of the women portrayed. VERDICT History buffs who enjoyed and learned from Roberts's two previous books on the pivotal roles of women in early America will likely find this volume just as informative and accessible.-Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
Introduction | p. 1 |
Chapter 1 Meet the Women of Washington, 1848-1856 | p. 7 |
Chapter 2 Jessie Runs for President but Harriet Takes the White House and Mary Jane Reports, 1856-1858 | p. 23 |
Chapter 3 Varina Leads and Leaves as Abby Drops By, 1859-1861 | p. 51 |
Chapter 4 Rose Goes to Jail, Jessie Goes to the White House, Dorothea Goes to Work, 1861 | p. 93 |
Chapter 5 Rose Is Released, Clara Goes to War, Louisa May Briefly Nurses, 1862 | p. 153 |
Chapter 6 Lizzie Reports on the Action, Janet Goes to Camp, Louisa Takes Charge, 1863 | p. 197 |
Chapter 7 Anna Speaks, Jessie Campaigns (Again), Sojourner Visits, 1864 | p. 241 |
Chapter 8 One Mary Leaves, One Mary Hangs, and Lois Writes About It All, 1865 | p. 283 |
Chapter 9 Virginia and Varina Return, Sara Survives, Mary is Humiliated, Kate Loses, 1866-1868 | p. 341 |
Epilogue | p. 395 |
Author's Note and Acknowledgments | p. 413 |
Cast of Characters | p. 419 |
Notes | p. 423 |
Bibliography | p. 481 |
Illustration Credits | p. 493 |