Military campaigns of the Civil War

"It is well this is so terrible! We should grow too fond of it," said General Robert E. Lee as he watched his troops repulse the Union attack at Fredericksburg on 13 December 1863. This collection of seven original essays by leading Civil War historians reinterprets the bloody Fredericksburg campaign and places it within a broader social and political context. By analyzing the battle's antecedents as well as its aftermath, the contributors challenge some long-held assumptions about the engagement and clarify our picture of the war as a whole. The book begins with revisionist assessments of the leadership of Ambrose Burnside and Robert E. Lee and features a portrait of the conduct and attitudes of one group of northern troops who participated in the failed assaults at Marye's Heights. Other essays examine how both armies reacted to the battle and how the northern and southern homefronts responded to news of the carnage at Fredericksburg. A final chapter explores the impact of the battle on the residents of the Fredericksburg area and assesses changing Union attitudes about the treatment of Confederate civilians.

This book is a collection of eight essays which examine the different aspects of this battle which lead to Lee's surrender and the end of the Civil War. In the spring of 1864, in the vast scrub forest that spread south from Virginia's Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee met in battle for the first time. The Wilderness campaign of May 5-6 initiated an epic confrontation between these two commanders -- one that would finally end, eleven months later, with Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The contributors to this volume bring modern scholarship and fresh insight to bear on the issues and leaders of the Wilderness campaign. Their essays explore the campaign's background, for example, by training an often-revisionist lens on expectations among civilians in the North and South, morale among officers and soldiers in both armies, and the strategic plans of Lee and Grant. Other essays assess the shaky performances of Union cavalry leaders Philip H. Sheridan and James Harrison Wilson, the controversial actions of Confederate corp commanders Richard S. Ewell and A.P. Hill, and the often overlooked service of Lewis A. Grant and his Vermont Brigade. Finally, two of the most famous elements of the fighting in the Wilderness -- the "Lee to the Rear" episode and James Longstreet's flank attack -- are reconstructed in impressive detail. - Jacket flap.

"This book offers nine essays that explore questions regarding high command, strategy and tactics, the effects of the fighting upon politics and society both North and South, and the ways in which emancipation figured in the campaign. The authors, all well-known Civil War historians, have consulted previously untapped manuscript sources and reinterpreted more familiar evidence, sometimes focusing closely on the fighting around Richmond and sometimes looking more broadly at the background and consequences of the campaign.". "The book includes an analysis of the Richmond campaign's place in the broader sweep of the war in 1862, assessments of George B. McClellan's generalship and Stonewall Jackson's flawed performance, and an examination of the campaign's impact on white and black civilians in the region. It also covers the role of engineers in the Union effort, the conduct of W. H. C. Whiting's Confederate division in the battle of Gaines's Mill, the role of artillery in the battle of Malvern Hill, and the efforts of Radical Republicans in the North to use the Richmond campaign to rally support for emancipation."--BOOK JACKET.

The Third Day at Gettysburg and Beyond brings current research and interpretation to bear on a range of pivotal issues surrounding the final day of the battle, July 3, 1863. This revisionist approach begins by expanding our knowledge of the engagement itself: individual essays address Confederate general James Longstreet's role in Pickett's Charge and Union general George Meade's failure to pursue Lee after the fighting. Other essays widen the scope of investigation to look at contemporary reactions to the Confederate defeat across the South, the construction of narratives by the participants themselves -- from Confederate survivors of Pickett's assault to Union sergeant Ben Hirst -- and the reverberations of Pickett's final momentous charge. Combining fresh evidence with the reinterpretation of standard sources, these essays refocus our view of the third day at Gettysburg to take in its diverse stories of combat and memory. - Jacket flap.

The Maryland campaign of September 1862 ranks among the most important military operations of the American Civil War. Crucial political, diplomatic, and military issues were at stake as Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan maneuvered and fought in the western part of the state. The climactic clash came on September 17 at the battle of Antietam, where more than 23,000 men fell in the single bloodiest day of the war. The essays in this volume address a range of topics related to Lee's and McClellan's operations. Approaching their subjects from a variety of perspectives, contributors explore questions regarding military leadership, strategy, and tactics, the impact of the fighting on officers and soldiers in both armies, and the ways in which participants and people behind the lines reacted to, interpreted, and remembered the campaign. The contributors are William A. Blair, Keith S. Bohannon, Peter S. Carmichael, Gary W. Gallagher, Lesley J. Gordon, D. Scott Hartwig, Robert E. L. Krick, Robert K. Krick, Carol Reardon, and Brooks D. Simpson.

Approaching topics related to Spotsylvania from a variety of perspectives, the contributors to this volume explore questions regarding high command, tactics and strategy, the impact of fighting on officers and soldiers in both armies, and the ways in which some participants chose to remember and interpret the campaign. The authors draw on previously untapped manuscript sources and reinterpret more familiar ones, sometimes focusing closely on Spotsylvania and sometimes using it as a point of departure from which to consider broader issues. Readers will find insights into the decisions and behavior of Robert E. Lee and of Federal army leaders, the fullest descriptions to date of the horrific fighting at the "Bloody Angle" on May 12 and of "Jeb" Stuart's response to Philip H. Sheridan's cavalry raid toward Richmond, a careful analysis of how constant campaigning punctuated by brutal combat affected the military efficiency of the two armies, an examination of the ways in which one New Jersey regiment's postwar recollections of Spotsylvania differed from wartime reality, and a revealing look at how Grant used his memoirs to offset Lost Cause interpretations of his actions at Spotsylvania and elsewhere in the Overland Campaign.