In early May 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant initiated
a drive through central Virginia to crush Robert E. Lee's
Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. For forty days, the armies
fought a grinding campaign from the Rapidan River to the James
River that helped decide the course of the Civil War. Several of
the war's bloodiest engagements occurred in this brief period: the
Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, the North Anna River,
Totopotomoy Creek, Bethesda Church, and Cold Harbor. Pitting Grant
and Lee against one another for the first time in the war, the
Overland Campaign, as this series of battles and maneuvers came to
be called, represents military history at its most intense. In the
Footsteps of Grant and Lee, a unique blend of narrative and
photographic journalism from Gordon C. Rhea, the foremost authority
on the Overland Campaign, and Chris E. Heisey, a leading
photographer of Civil War battlefields, provides a stunning,
stirring account of this deadly game of wits and will between the
Civil War's foremost military commanders.
Here Grant fought and maneuvered to flank Lee out of his heavily
fortified earthworks. And here Lee demonstrated his genius as a
defensive commander, countering Grant's every move. Adding to the
melee were cavalry brawls among the likes of Philip H. Sheridan,
George A. Custer, James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, and Wade Hampton.
Forty days of combat produced horrific casualties, some 55,000 on
the Union side and 35,000 on the Confederate. By the time Grant
crossed the James and began the Siege of Petersburg, marking an end
to this maneuver, both armies had sustained significant losses that
dramatically reduced their numbers.
Rhea provides a rich, fast-paced narrative, movingly illustrated
by more than sixty powerful color images from Heisey, who captures
the many moods of these hallowed battlegrounds as they appear
today. Heisey made scores of visits to the areas where Grant and
Lee clashed, giving special attention to lesser-known sites on
byways and private property. He captures some of central Virginia's
most stunning landscapes, reminding us that though battlefields
conjure visions of violence, death, and sorrow, they can also be
places of beauty and contemplation. Accompanying the modern
pictures are more than twenty contemporary photographs taken during
the campaign or shortly afterwards, some of them never before
published.
At once an engaging military history and a vivid pictorial
journey, In the Footsteps of Grant and Lee offers a fresh vision of
some of the country's most significant historic sites.
General
Imprint: |
Louisiana State University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
September 2007 |
First published: |
September 2007 |
Authors: |
Gordon C. Rhea
• Chris E. Heisey
|
Dimensions: |
254 x 292 x 20mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards / With dust jacket
|
Pages: |
144 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8071-3269-2 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8071-3269-1 |
Barcode: |
9780807132692 |
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