Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America

Midnight on the Potomac covers the final year of the Civil War, focusing on the last desperate months when the war's outcome remained uncertain. The book examines titanic battles, political upheaval, and Confederate terror operations against Northern civilians. It takes readers behind the scenes in the White House, along Virginia battlefronts, and into the activities of spies and secret agents, featuring figures including Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman alongside common soldiers, runaway slaves, and a female war correspondent named Lois Adams. Ellsworth presents a new account of Lincoln's assassination, revealing that John Wilkes Booth worked with Confederate Secret Service agents for nearly a year before the events at Ford's Theatre—a departure from the long-established portrayal of the assassination as solely Booth's act. The book also covers the Confederate attempt to burn New York City, Lincoln's near loss of the presidency, a Rebel general's near-capture of Washington, and how thousands of enslaved African Americans freed themselves and aided the nation's survival.