Preview of our Interview with Dr. Alexander B. Rossino, Author of Six Days in September: A Novel of Lee’s Army in Maryland

A resident of Boonsboro, Maryland, Dr. Alexander B. Rossino earned his PhD in History at Syracuse University. In addition to being a frequent public speaker about Civil War history and regular contributor to Civil War News Magazine, Dr. Rossino is also the author of several books and articles, including Their Maryland: The Army of Northern Virginia from the Potomac Crossing to Sharpsburg in September 1862 and Calamity at Frederick: Robert E. Lee, Special Orders No. 191, and Confederate Misfortune on the Road to Antietam. Dr. Rossino posts articles regularly on his “Campaign Minutes” blog, which can be found here.

Spirit61: How significant was control of the Potomac River perceived to be by Confederate leadership in Richmond and in Virginia itself?

DrRossino: The Confederates felt that the Potomac Line, as they called it, was an extremely important defensive position but leaders such as President Davis, Joe Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard also considered northern Virginia a valuable staging area for potential offensive operations north of the Potomac. These men and others thought of Maryland as a sister state whose northern boundary — the Mason-Dixon Line — was the legitimate border between the North and South. Confederate leaders sought to keep the war as close to the Potomac Line as possible, or to push it into Maryland and beyond the Mason-Dixon Line, if they could only get Maryland to rise up in rebellion.

Many people believed that when Virginia left the Union Maryland would surely follow because the two states had close economic and cultural ties. When Maryland did not or could not secede it created a dilemma for Davis, et al. They pondered how to push the war into Maryland and beyond, but struggled with mustering the means to achieve that objective. The best they could do in that case was hold onto the Potomac Line for as long as possible or until they had generated the force necessary to carry the war north.

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