Who? Where? When? and Why? These are the questions to be answered when exploring Washington DC as it was affected by the Civil War during its time and since; and how the city in turn affected the war and the history of Reconstruction. The book is divided into three major sections. The first is the political life of the wartime "Seat of Government." All three branches evolved as a result of the trial by fire. The war, fought in the halls of Congress as well as the battlefield, continued long past Appomattox into Reconstruction. The second aspect was its role on the front-line as the actual "Seat of War." The third is its ongoing pre-eminent role as the national capital of a more united country and as a "Seat of Civil War Memory." Onto the present day, the city both commemorates the war and provides the arena for its ongoing meaning in the political life of the nation. Much more than the standard guidebook, that section can be used as such by the discerning inhabitant or visitor.