Craig L. Symonds

Reveals how Abraham Lincoln managed the men who ran the naval side of the Civil War and transformed himself into one of the greatest naval strategists of his age, in an account of the commander-in-chief during the Civil War.

"From thunderous broadsides traded between wooden sailing ships on Lake Erie, to the carrier battles of World War II, to the devastating high-tech action in the Persian Gulf, here is a gripping history of five key battles that defined the evolution of naval warfare-and the course of the American nation. Acclaimed military historian Craig Symonds offers spellbinding narratives of crucial engagements, showing how each battle reveals the transformation of technology and weaponry from one war to the next; how these in turn transformed naval combat; and how each event marked a milestone in American history. Oliver Hazard Perry's heroic victory at Lake Erie, one of the last great battles of the Age of Sail, which secured the Northwestern frontier for the United States The brutal Civil War duel between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia, which sounded the death knell for wooden-hulled warships and doomed the Confederacy's hope of besting the Union navy Commodore Dewey's stunning triumph at Manila Bay in 1898, where the U.S. displayed its "new navy" of steel-hulled ships firing explosive shells and wrested an empire from a fading European power The hairsbreadth American victory at Midway, where aircraft carriers launched planes against enemies 200 miles away-and where the tide of World War II turned in the space of a few furious minutes Operation Praying Mantis in the Persian Gulf, where computers, ship-fired missiles, and "smart bombs" not only changed the nature of warfare at sea, but also marked a new era, and a new responsibility, for the United States. Symonds records these encounters in detail so vivid that readers can hear the wind in the rigging and feel the pounding of the guns. Yet he places every battle in a wide perspective, revealing their significance to America's development as it grew from a new Republic on the edge of a threatening frontier to a global superpower. Decision at Sea is a powerful and illuminating look at pivotal moments in the history of the Navy and of the United States. It is also a compelling study of the unchanging demands of leadership at sea, where commanders must make rapid decisions in the heat of battle with lives-and the fate of nations-hanging in the balance."

"On July 2, 1863, the second day of fighting at Gettysburg, Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, in an ill-conceived interpretation of his orders, advanced his men beyond the established Union line and exposed his flanks to a potentially devastating Confederate attack. Shortly after being reprimanded by his commander, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, for endangering the entire Union Army. Sickles was hit by a cannonball. He returned to Washington with his leg amputated and his pride badly wounded." "A politician and lawyer prior to the war, Sickles was already notorious for being the first person in U.S. history acquitted of murder by pleading temporary insanity. During his recuperation in the nation's capital, Sickles defended his actions at Gettysburg to anyone who would listen, including President Lincoln, and criticized Meade before Congress's Committee on the Conduct of the War. He continued defending himself for years after the war, while Meade remained mostly silent on the subject." "Now, historian Richard A. Sauers destroys many commonly accepted myths about the controversy by examining the evidence in detail. In this fascinating analysis, he highlights the personality conflicts among military leaders that complicate combat. He also demonstrates that distortions, such as Sickles's version of Gettysburg, are frequently accepted as fact by historians and repeated for generations to come. Sauers shows that Sickles's unjust manipulations harmed Meade's reputation for years after the war."--Jacket.

xvi, 274 p. : 24 cm

To Jefferson Davis, he was the "Stonewall of the West"; to Robert E. Lee he was "a meteor shining from a clouded sky"; and to Braxton Bragg, he was an officer "ever alive to a success." He was Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, one of the greatest of all Confederate field commanders. In Stonewall of the West, Craig Symonds offers the first full-scale critical biography of this compelling figure. He explores all the sources of Cleburne's commitment to the Southern cause, his growth as a combat leader from Shiloh to Chickamauga, and his emergence as one of the Confederacy's most effective field commanders at Missionary Ridge, Ringgold Gap, and Pickett's Mill. In addition, Symonds unravels the "mystery" of Spring Hill and recounts Cleburne's dramatic and untimely death (at the age of 36) at Franklin, Tennessee, where he charged the enemy line on foot after having had two horses shot from under him. Symonds also explores Cleburne's role in the complicated personal politics of the Army of Tennessee, as well as his astonishing proposal that the decimated Confederate ranks be filled by ending a slavery and arming blacks against the Union.

From Fort Sumter to Appomattox, this military history explains the principal campaigns of the Civil War and all the major battles in a lively text, keyed to 49 full-page, two-color mapas. It is a clear, concise and authoritative volume ideal for battlefield tours or classroom study.

"General Joseph E. Johnston was in command of Confederate forces at the South's first victory--Manassas in July 1861--and at its last--Bentonville in April 1865. Many of his contemporaries considered him the greatest Southern field commander of the war; others ranked him second only to Robert E. Lee. To Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, he was the Union's most skilful opponent. But Johnston remains an enigma. His battlefield victories were never decisive. He failed to save Confederate forces under siege by Grant at Vicksburg, and he retreated deep into Georgia in the face of Sherman's march. His intense feud with Jefferson Davis ensured the collapse of the Confederacy's western campaign in 1864, and made Johnston the focus of a political schism within the government. Craig Symonds gives us a rousing narrative of Johnston's Civil War, and the first rounded portrait of the general as a public and private man."--book jacket.

"Craig L. Symonds' World War II at Sea offers a definitive naval history of the Second World War presenting the chronology of the naval war, from The London Conference of 1930 to the surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945, on a global scale for the first time."--Provided by publisher.

A fast-paced narrative traces the emergence of the United States Navy as a global power from its birth during the American Revolution through to its current superpower status. --Publisher's description.

"On June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along 50 miles of French coastline to battle German forces on the beaches of Normandy. D-Day, as it would come to be known, would eventually lead to the liberation of Western Europe, and was a critical step in the road to victory in World War II. Yet the story begins long before the Higgins landing craft opened their doors and men spilled out onto the beaches to face a storm of German bullets. The invasion, and the victories that followed, would not have been possible without the massive naval operation that led up to it: Neptune. From the moment British forces evacuated the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940, Allied planners began to consider how, when, and where they would re-enter the European continent. Once in the war, the Americans, led by George Marshall, wanted to invade in a year's time. The British were convinced this would be a tragic mistake. Allied forces would be decimated by the Wehrmacht. When Operation Overlord -- the name given to the cross-Channel invasion of Northern France -- was finally planned, it was done so only in concert with the seaborne assault that would bring the men and equipment to the Normandy coast. Symonds traces the central thread of this Olympian event -- involving over five thousand ships and nearly half a million personnel -- from the first talks between British and American officials in the winter of 1941 to the storming of the beaches in the late spring of 1944. He considers Neptune's various components, including the strategic unity, industrial productivity, organizational execution, and cross-cultural exchange on which the Allies depended. Portraits of key American and British figures, from Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Eisenhower to Admiral Ernest J. King and his British counterpart, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, combine with an intimate look at men up and down the chain of command. Neptune was the pinnacle of Allied organization and cooperation. From the suppressing of the U-boat menace in the Battle of the Atlantic, to the establishing of camps and training facilities near the English coast, to the gearing up of the American industrial machine to produce the ships, tanks, and tools of war that would make an invasion possible, Symonds' riveting narrative uncovers the means by which Neptune was brought to fruition, and presents the first comprehensive account of the greatest naval operation in history"--