The Potomac (The Rivers of America Series)

436 pp. 8vo. Illustrated by Mitchell Jamieson, two panel map precedes text. "The Potomac was a traders' river even before the white man arrived on its shores. It became the threa holding together two conflicting cultures: the aristocratic culture of the great Tidewater plantations based at first on tobacco, and the hard-headed life of the small farmer along both banks of the upper river. On its banks the seat of government was established, growing dramatically out of what was originally a useless swamp. The Potomac opens with President Adams entering his new capital in 1800. It then goes back to the beginnings and sweeps through to the present in a succession of fine historical sequences never before developed from this angle. Frederick Gutheim reconstructs the Indian days. He tells the dramatic story of the battle for western trade won eventually by New York because the Erie Canal was built before the Potomac could be made navigable. George Washington is seen in new perspective; the incredible John Brown emerges full-size from the almost operatic tragedy of Harper's Ferry. John Wilkes Booth's flight after the assassination of Lincoln is given new significance. The involved but fascinating story of the Baltimore and Ohio, battles such as Gettysburg and Antietam, the intermingling of populations as different as the Indian and the Pennsylvania Dutch, the astounding tale of Washington's growth, hundreds of pieces large and small combine in an historical mosaic which makes the 40th volume of the Rivers of America series unique among its fellows."