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The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the ReBirth of America

Best History

in History of the US Confederacy

Book Blurb:

From the author of The Ground Breaking, longlisted for the National Book Award, comes a riveting saga of the last year of the Civil War—and a revealing new account of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Told with a page-turning pace, New York Times bestselling author and historian Scott Ellsworth has written the most compelling new book about the Civil War in years. Focusing on the last, desperate months of the war, when the outcome was far from certain, Midnight on the Potomac is a story of titanic battles, political upheaval, and the long-forgotten Confederate terror war against the loyal citizens of the North. Taking us behind the scenes in the White House, along the battlefronts in Virginia, and into the conspiracies of spies and secret agents, Lincoln walks these pages, as do Grant and Sherman. But so do common soldiers, runaway slaves, and an unknown but intrepid female war correspondent named Lois Adams. Rarely, if ever, has a book about the Civil War featured such a rich and diverse cast of characters.

Midnight on the Potomac will also shatter some long-held myths. For more than a century and a half, the Lincoln assassination has been portrayed as the sole brainchild of a disgruntled, pro-South actor. But based on both obscure contemporary accounts and decades of long-ignored scholarship, Ellsworth reveals that for nearly one year before the tragic events at Ford’s Theatre, John Wilkes Booth had been working closely with agents of the Confederate Secret Service. And the real Booth is far from the one we’ve long been presented with.

Deeply researched yet captivatingly written, Midnight on the Potomac is a new kind of book about the Civil War. In it you will read about the Confederate attempt to burn down New York City, how Lincoln almost lost the presidency, about the Rebel general who nearly captured Washington, and how thousands of enslaved African Americans freed themselves—and helped secure their nation’s survival. In an age of deep political division such as our own, Scott Ellsworth’s book is an eloquent and gripping testament to the courage, grit, and greatness of the American people.

My Review:

Well, okay, we have a book here that does its best to deliver many new stories delivered to the reader, maybe in a recliner and smoke-filled room with a small tumbler of brandy nearby. Enjoy.

Ah, the good ole boys and their stories.

So much to digest here, so many scenes and scenarios, historical figures, as well as a timeline under that bridge. Stories I’d not heard before, theories not considered (Booth’s considerable success as an actor and then his connections and clandestine meetings with Confederate sympathizers.

There is an awful lot of territory covered here, but less on a few of the larger focal points and more information on little known men and women heavily contributing to the time and effort, particularly women—and African Americans.

It is the first I’ve read on the more human details of Lincoln, his children, the battle scenes, the political scene in Washington—with the huge influx of free and escaped slaves—to the conflict within his party and the turmoil with his generals, as well as his death.

You can’t deny the evidence of a ton of research here into all the behind-the-scenes activities. Of course, I might still question some of the interpretation. I have, more than once, wondered how in the world were some of these major life-changing outcomes managed when it seemed to be handled in general chaos. There’s a military term for that.

On the whole, it was interesting and kept the pace moving, even at the point of slight confusion when it switched topics. It was well written but in this particular instance, I might have enjoyed it more if I’d read it rather than listened to the audiobook, as the voice came across a bit monotone, giving it more a “text” than story sound.

 Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: US Civil War History, American Civil War Biographies, American Civil War
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B0DNKWBJN1
Listening Length: 9 hrs 51 mins
Narrator: Scott Ellsworth
Publication Date: July 15, 2025
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links:   Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Scott Ellsworth is an American writer and the author of four books.

DEATH IN A PROMISED LAND was the first comprehensive history of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. “This splendid book belongs in any library serving readers in American history,” Library Journal.

“A historian with the soul of a poet” is how Booklist described the author of THE SECRET GAME. Winner of the 2016 PEN/ESPN Book Award for Literary Sportswriting, it is a riveting account of a clandestine, integrated college basketball game that took place in North Carolina in 1944–and of a nation on the verge of historic change.

THE WORLD BENEATH THEIR FEET resurrects the Great Himalayan Race of the 1930s, when mountain climbers from Great Britain, Nazi Germany, and the United States vied to become the first to summit the great peaks of the Himalayas. ‘It works brilliantly,” The Sunday Times.

In THE GROUND BREAKING, Scott returns to the Tulsa massacre and its legacy. Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction. “This eloquent, deeply moving history isn’t to be missed,” Publishers Weekly.

Scott’s next book, MIDNIGHT ON THE POTOMAC: THE LAST YEAR OF THE CIVIL WAR AND THE REBIRTH OF AMERICA, will come out in 2025.

©V Williams