So far I have read up until the end of the Democratic primary in the book. There were quite a few things that caught my eye
The Department of the Interior ‘s role is to conserve and manage the natural resources and cultural sites in the United States for the enjoyment of Americans and other visitors. The department was founded on March 3 rd, 1849 by President James Polk’s Treasury Secretary Robert J Walker.
My mom Heidi Appel is a member of Moms demand action which advocates for gun safety and restrictions on certain forms of gun ownership such as red flag laws and background checks. She is also a children’s doctor at Georgetown Hospital in Washington D.C. where she has worked for over twenty years.
In congress and around the country there are a lot of policies and issues that go through the political arena whether through the federal or state government. The include social issues such as abortion and the death penalty and economic issues such as stimulus checks due to COVID-19 and the tuition of college.
Background: In 2016, Businessman Donald Trump surprised the entire world when he pulled off an upset victory over former secretary of state Hilary Clinton in the presidential race. Despite Trumps victory, Hilary Clinton still received over 2.9 million more votes due to her strength in states such as California and New York.
Ever since the eighteen forties, campaign songs have been used by presidential candidates. The functions of the campaign songs that are selected have changed since then. At first, campaign songs were used to directly give examples of each candidate’s platform when they were running for president.
General Sheridan soon began to explore some creative uses for his “scouts.” It appears the general helped developed a secret plan to target partisan chief Hanse McNeil during this period. McNeil had become a significant thorn in Sheridan’s side, conducting major raids against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. McNeil had been allowed to remain active with his partisan rangers, along with John Mosby, when the Confederate Congress had ordered some of the other partisan ranger units disbanded.
According to Henry, when Belle caught her breath, she told him to inform Jackson that “the Yankee force is very small – one regiment of Maryland Infantry, several pieces of artillery, and several companies of cavalry. Tell him I know, for I went through the camps and got it out of an officer. Tell him to charge right down and he will catch them all.” Douglas claimed he delivered the message “speedily” to Jackson. The intelligence provided to Jackson was, unfortunately, information he, for the most part, already knew. It was the reason he had asked, earlier that morning, for the 1 st Maryland CSA to lead the attack.
During the 3 rd Battle of Winchester Charles fought in General William Averell’s Division and was part of the largest Cavalry charge of the Civil War . During the burning of the Valley, he helped destroy farms in Page Valley from Port Republic to Front Royal. He was also present for the last major battle in the Shenandoah Valley at Cedar Creek.
We captured about 70 prisoners—5 of them were too nearly dead to move or parole, and 2 others were left on the roadside, being broken down and unable to travel—53 horses, and a large number of arms.”
In early February 1863, a young Maryland native named George Pforr, journeyed from Baltimore, Maryland to his sister’s home in Staunton, Virginia. Professing Confederate sympathies, he feels drawn to support the Confederate war effort. It was here in Staunton that he encounters a newly formed artillery battery which has been christened McClanahan’s Mounted Artillery. Pforr joins the unit, which is assigned to support the 62 nd Regiment of Mounted Rifles, and General John Imboden’s independent cavalry command.
With a probable combat situation looming on the heights above them, Jackson selected his unarmed mapmaker, Jed Hotchkiss, to lead a team of skirmishers to the top of Shenandoah Mountain to determine if Union forces were holding Fort Johnson. Hotchkiss recalled: “The General ordered me to go up the spur of the mountain on our right, preceded by a line of skirmishers, and ascertain whether the enemy had left the top of the mountain, Col. Williamson doing the same thing on the left. We had a hard scramble up the steep slope of the spur but finally reached the top only to find the enemy all gone but seeing their rear guard on the top of Shaw’s Ridge, the next one beyond us. We returned to Wm Roger’s at the Toll Gate, where Hd. Qtrs. were established for the night.”
The young man was in a state of great excitement. He shouted: “Oh, Miss Belle, I t’inks de revels am a-coming; for the yanks are a-makin orful fuss in de street.”
Following the victory at the Second Battle of Manassas, General Lee elected not to attack the Union army behind its fortifications around Washington D.C., but to instead take his army into Loudoun County to obtain forage and reorganize for his planned invasion of Maryland. Fighting broke out in the county in advance of the army's arrival as Confederate cavalry cleared the area of Federal resistance. The army stopped over briefly in Leesburg from September 4–6 where it underwent its reorganization, before crossing over the Potomac to Maryland at Cheeks Ford and Conrad's Ferry. On the 9th, General John G. Walker was dispatched back to the county with order to take Loudoun Heights as part of the plan to capture Harpers Ferry. Walker occupied the Heights from September 13–15, before crossing the river into Harpers Ferry following its capture.
The fertile Loudoun Valley, with its wealth of produce and livestock, was of vital importance to the Confederacy and ideal to provide forage for the Union army.
Following his raid on the B&O railroad, central Maryland and aborted attack on Washington D.C. at the Battle of Fort Stevens, Confederate General Jubal A. Early retreated to Virginia, crossing the Potomac at Conrad's Ferry on July 14, making camp at Big Springs just north of Leesburg. On the 15th a detachment of Federal cavalry from Harpers Ferry led by General George Crook crossed into Loudoun from Berlin and skirmished with Confederates at Lovettsville. Early's Federal pursuers under General Horatio Wright reached Leesburg on the 16th and fought with Early's rearguard at Leesburg in the morning. Crook's cavalry skirmished with Confederate cavalry at Waterford later in the day. Late in the afternoon on the 16th, Federal cavalry under Alfred N. Duffié, also operating from Harpers Ferry, raided Early's wagon trains as they traveled west towards Snickers Gap on the Leesburg and Snickers Gap Turnpike just east of Purcellville at Heatons' Crossroads. That evening at dusk, Duffié's cavalry attacked and routed a detachment of Confederate cavalry in camp at Woodgrove. Early safely withdrew across the Blue Ridge on the 17th and established a line near Berryville in the Shenandoah Valley. The Union infantry under Wright drove off a small force of Confederates holding Snickers Gap in the afternoon of the 17th and were later attacked in camp by elements of Mosby's Rangers. The following day the pitched Battle of Cool Spring, or Snickers Ferry, was fought on its western slope as Union infantry tried unsuccessfully to force a crossing of the Shenandoah River. On the 19th, Mosby's Rangers engaged a detachment of Federal cavalry that was dispatched south to Ashby's Gap to conduct a flanking movement on Early's lines. The brief campaign was locally known as the Snickers Gap War.
Seven candidates ran (most were Unionists or moderates) and, despite the Leesburg platform, all denounced Federal coercion. Loudoun's two most prominent politicians and avowed Unionists, John Janney and John A. Carter (county representatives to the constitutional convention of 1850), won with 1,945 and 1,411 votes respectively. In comparison, John Carter, the only outright secessionist candidate, received just 293 votes. Loudoun also overwhelmingly supported the ballot initiative that provided that an ordinance of secession must be ratified by the people by referendum. Janney, a former Whig, one-time potential vice-presidential candidate and well-respected lawyer among the Virginia Bar, was named president of the convention. The sagacious Janney opened the convention saying,
Four principal road systems, passing through three gaps in the Blue Ridge, traversed Loudoun from east to west, connecting the county and its neighbor to the east, Fairfax, with those of Clarke and Frederick counties, as well as with Jefferson County, which became part of West Virginia during the war. Fighting occurred along all of these routes as both armies tried to defend or contest the use of the strategic gaps.
Beside the main ridge making up the county's western border, two ridges of the Blue Ridge Mountains run through the county. These mountains played a significant role in the settlement of the county and thus the division of its loyalties during the war. Several of the mountains and tall hills in the county were used as signal and spy stations by both sides during the conflict. In addition the ridges helped create an ideal environment for partisan warfare. The easternmost ridge is the south end of Catoctin Mountain, which comes down out of Maryland at Point of Rocks. The low-lying ridge extends through the county just west of Leesburg to Aldie, where it meets with Bull Run Mountain at the Loudoun-Prince William County border. To the west of the ridge lies the fertile Loudoun Valley.
Ties between Loudoun and the American Civil War began with the involvement of the county in the suppression of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, just 1 mile (1.6 km) from its border, in 1859. The county militia was called into service, and two companies were sent to Harpers Ferry and later Charles Town to assist with the capture, trial and execution of Brown. The crisis brought to light the inadequacy and ill preparedness of the county militia. Subsequently, the county increased drilling, appropriated new arms and uniforms and raised new units. As early as November 4 the first new unit, the Volunteer Corps (from Hillsboro, the closest town to Harpers Ferry), was formed, and by early December two additional units, the Loudoun Guard and Leesburg Civic Guard, had been raised. These units, in addition the militia units called up by Governor Henry Wise, remained active patrolling the county's northern borders, especially the mountains and river crossings, until they were absorbed into state service in 1861.