Fredericksburg.com - BATTLE INSIGHTS WELCOME 'LABORING ON THE HOME FRONT': Saturday, Aug. 9, 1 p.m., Tredegar Iron Works, 470 Tredegar St., Richmond. Weekly series of downtown Richmond talks, tours and tales highlighting the capital's Civil War history. Today's event features a talk on women's roles in the Civil War and a ranger-guided walking tour of the Iron Works. Free; parking available for $3 an hour. 804/226-1981.

MANY BATTLES throughout the course of history have been labeled as "history changers." Waterloo, Gettysburg and D-Day are three that jump to the minds of many history buffs. The July 1864 Battles of Monocacy and Fort Stevens are not usually included in the category of "history changers." Yet these two battles were important during the American Civil War and are presented in a new book by Marc Leepson, "Desperate Engagement: How a Little-Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and Changed American History."

Leepson is not new to the writing community, and his work has previously been published in many newspapers and magazines. As a teacher of U.S. history at Lord Fairfax Community College, he is not far from the battlefields of Monocacy and Fort Stevens, both National Park Service sites.

As summer approached in 1864, the world was darkening for the Confederate cause. William T. Sherman was moving his Union army through Georgia, and Ulysses S. Grant had Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia pinned down in a prolonged siege at Petersburg.

In an attempt to loosen Grant's grip, Lee boldly sent his 2nd Corps of approximately 14,000 men under Maj. Gen. Jubal Anderson Early into the Shenandoah Valley and north toward Washington. Early, who had the colorful nickname "Lee's Bad Old Man," was to threaten Washington in hopes of drawing Union soldiers away from Petersburg and enabling Lee to break out from the siege. Great hopes were heaped upon this "Army of the Valley."

Leepson follows Early's movements through the valley well, aided by many illustrations and a few well-placed maps. He brings the story to life using diary accounts, correspondents and postwar memoirs of the campaign.

As Early's column entered Maryland, its first target was Frederick, a small city 50 miles west of Washington. Frederick played host to Confederate and Union armies time and time again throughout the war.

Frederick is nestled two miles above the Monocacy River. Along the banks of the Monocacy a ragtag Union force decided to make a stand.

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DESPERATE ENGAGEMENT: How a Little-Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and Changed American History

By Marc Leepson

(Thomas Dunne Books, 303 pages, $25.95)

Date published: 8/2/2008

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