History Press New Release: Silver Spring and the Civil War

The History Press is pleased to announce the publication of Silver Spring and the Civil War by Robert E. Oshel, PhD.

On July 11, 1864, some residents cheered and others watched in horror as Confederate troops spread across the fields and orchards of Silver Spring, Maryland. Many fled to the capital while General Jubal Early’s troops ransacked their property. The estate of Lincoln’s postmaster general, Montgomery Blair, was burned, and his father’s home was used by Early as headquarters from which to launch an attack on Washington’s defenses. Yet the first Civil War casualty in Silver Spring came well before Early’s raid, when Union soldiers killed a prominent local farmer in 1862. This was life in the shadow of the Federal City. Drawing on contemporary accounts and memoirs, Dr. Robert E. Oshel tells the story of Silver Spring over the tumultuous course of the Civil War.

Oshel is the vice-president and past president of the Woodside Park Civic Association. He is the author of the association’s "Home Sites of Distinction: The History of Woodside Park." He is a member and past-chair of the Silver Spring Library Advisory Committee, and a member of the Friends of the Silver Spring Library. Dr. Oshel was also a founding member of the Silver Spring Historical Society. He writes a monthly history column for the Woodside Park Voice, and already has several local events lined up this spring.

--

Meet the author

Saturday, May 3 at 1:30 p.m. @ Silver Spring Library (8901 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD)

Thursday, May 15, at 7:30 p.m. @ Long Branch Library, with Sligo-Branview Civic Association (8800 Garland Ave, Silver Spring, MD)

Saturday, June 7 from 2-4 p.m. @ Costco (Westfield Wheaton Shopping Mall, 11160 Veirs Mill Rd,Wheaton, MD)