Jubal's Raid: General Early's Famous Attack on Washington in 1864

by Frank E. Vandiver

During the summer of 1864 General Grant was hammering at the gates of Richmond and the Confederacy seemed doomed. In a bold and desperate stroke, General Lee countered by sending Jubal A. Early and a force of only twelve thousand men toward Washington, D.C. After some victories along the way, they crossed the Potomac and caused plenty of confusion and consternation in the capital before retreating. Early reportedly said: "We haven't taken Washington, but we've scared Abe Lincoln like hell!" In fact, Lincoln kept cool, but a lot of others on the Union side did not. The story of that daring diversion, its losses and gains, is memorably told in Jubal's Raid.

Genres: Civil War, Civil War Eastern Theater, American Civil War, History

202 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1992

About the author

Frank Everson Vandiver was an American Civil War historian and former president of Texas A&M University and the University of North Texas, as well as acting president of Rice University. Vandiver wrote, co-wrote, or edited 24 books, and wrote an additional 100 scholarly articles or reviews.

Reviews

[Snakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting side note in history during the Civil War. But sections of the book were clunky and seemed to lack the more salient details.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank Vandiver (1925-2005), a Texan and a college president, was one of those scholars of earlier years who could write books non-scholars cared to read. Jubal’s Raid is a brief but thorough account of Jubal Early’s raid of distraction in the summer of 1864, one that rattled official Washington and, with a little luck, might changed the course of the war.

Vandiver was a better-than-competent writer, sometimes turning a nice phrase. For example, “Stanton and Halleck, of course, worked at normal cross-purposes. Each a man of ego, each ran his domain without benefit of the other’s counsel. Possibly that was a good thing; ignorance can hardly improve incompetence.” (141) However, when you compare Shelby Foote’s use of Vandiver’s material in his Civil War: A Narrative (1974), it seems clear that Foote was the superior wordsmith.

Jubal’s Raid was first published in 1960, so I don’t want to be too hard on it. But the maps are few and poorly drawn, inferior to ones published in Civil War histories several decades earlier.

[Scott Dover · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great "moment in time" history concerning Early's attack on Washington D.C.. A must read for all of those that believe The Gettysburg Campaign was the Last invasion of the North.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

nonfiction books don't have to be textbooky

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would probably give this book three and a half stars if I could. On the one hand, the author does a very good job covering the Confederate side of the campaign, discussing their top commanders, the overview of Early's handling of the raid, etc. However, the treatment of the Union side of the campaign pushed the book's rating towards three stars, minimal discussions of the various commanders and their decisions. Also, there is no order of battle and only a few maps.

[Tom Darrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A relatively short study of Early's 1864 actions in the Shenandoah Valley and invasion into Maryland. This book is fast paced and gets the story covered in just the right amount of pages.