Читать книгу American Civil War For Dummies - Keith D. Dickson - Страница 57

The inevitable made its appearance soon in the form of a detachment of U.S. Marines hastily gathered from the Washington Navy Yard and sent by train to Harpers Ferry. This ad hoc force had an army colonel as its leader. This colonel just happened to be available when the news arrived at the War Department in Washington. His second in command was an army cavalry lieutenant, who just happened to be visiting the colonel and decided to come along. Arriving soon after the Marines at Harpers Ferry, the colonel conducted a reconnaissance, made an assessment of the situation, and gave orders for his force to prepare for a direct assault on the building where Brown and his group were holding their hostages. As you can always expect when Marines are given such orders, the battle was both fierce and over in a few minutes. John Brown was wounded and captured. The calm and decisive colonel was Robert E. Lee, one of the U.S. Army’s most capable officers. His lieutenant friend was a cadet at West Point when Lee was superintendent and a frequent guest at his quarters. His name was James E. B. (Jeb) Stuart. Both Lee and Stuart play important roles in the upcoming war.