(A view of the Civil War-era Chain Bridge across the Potomac at Georgetown).

Gentle Readers,

We have arrived at the mighty brown waters of the Potomac River. There is a lot to talk about as we drive over the Chain Bridge and head for the Delcarlia Reservoir, and the Northwest Stones that still form the boundary of the District of Columbia and the Free State of Maryland.

Rest assured this is not going to be an easy journey, and it is not complete to this day.

It is a story that will include Union General Montgomery Meigs,, the greatest Engineer in the US Army’s history, the last desperate assault of Confederate General Jubal Early, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and a cast of thousands, including six Nazi saboteurs, and their unmarked graves revealed near the legendary DC impound lot.

There will be action and adventure, and this part of the quest will have none of the placid and uneventful touring of the Stones that remain on the Virginia side of the great River.

Regrettably, events of the week have disrupted the production schedule of the book, and for that I apologize. Travel today will render this snippet a placeholder for the start of the trip across the River.

Vic