Charles Lockwood Bücher

Since the late 1890s visitors to Palm Beach have wanted to stay "down by the breakers" - where the waves wash against the palm-lined shore and the Atlantic provides refreshing breezes. A century after it first opened in 1896 as the Palm Beach Inn. The Breakers still beckons guests with its incomparable oceanfront setting and exceptional architecture. But The Breakers is more than just a hotel. The story of its first hundred years is the history of Florida's development as one of the world's premier tourist destinations. Palm Beach was an isolated community before Henry Flagler arrived in 1893, fresh from successes in St. Augustine. There he built two exotic hotels to entice visitors and brought a railroad to them. Beautiful photographs throughout the book illustrate the story of The Breakers.

On April 14, 1861, after the surrender of Fort Sumter, Washington was declared "in the condition of a siege" by Abraham Lincoln. Situated just sixty miles south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the capital was vulnerable, surrounded by the slave states of Maryland and Virginia, with no fortifications and only a few trained soldiers. The Confederacy targeted Washington, and cries of "On to Washington!" echoed in the South. Jefferson Davis's wife even sent out invitations for a White House reception on May 1. In response, Lincoln issued an emergency proclamation on April 15, calling for 75,000 troops to suppress the rebellion and protect the capital. A critical question loomed: which forces would reach Washington first—the Northern defenders or the Southern attackers? For 12 days, the city's fate was uncertain. Isolated from the North, Washington lacked trains, telegraph, and mail. Sandbags were piled around key landmarks, and the unfinished Capitol became a barracks for volunteer troops. Meanwhile, Maryland secessionists hindered Union reinforcements, while a rumored Confederate force of 20,000 waited across the Potomac River. Drawing on firsthand accounts, this narrative captures the precarious early days of the Civil War from the perspectives of officials, residents, Confederates, and Union troops racing to save the city.