The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow
Tavern, May 7-12, 1864 continues Gordon C. Rhea's peerless
treatment of the Civil War's clash of titans: Grant's Army of the
Potomac versus Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Inlaid with detail,
innovative analysis, riveting prose, and an abundance of supporting
primary evidence, it is a worthy sequel to Rhea's first, acclaimed
work, The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864. Here Rhea
examines the maneuvers and battles from May 7, 1864, when Grant
left the Wilderness, through May 12, when his attempt to break
Lee's line by frontal assault reached a chilling climax at what is
now called the Bloody Angle. After suffering severe casualties in
the Wilderness, Lee had no choice but to curb his aggressive
instincts and prepare for a defensive battle at Spotsylvania.
Perfecting the art of fieldworks (which foreshadowed the trenches
in France during World War I), he orchestrated his threadbare
veterans in a defensive performance that ranks as a classic in
military history. Grant, sworn to destroy Lee's army, had to solve
the knotty problem of penetrating his adversary's confounding,
well-appointed earth-works. He mounted a volley of assaults that
proved slaughterous for both armies and led to a turning point in
his strategic thinking. Contributing to the carnage were advances
in weaponry that by 1864 had outstripped the Napoleonic warfare of
the day. The result was massive casualties: on May 12 alone, Lee
lost eight thousand men; Grant, nine thousand. Rhea draws
exhaustively upon previously untapped materials, most notably
contemporary newspaper accounts and diaries and letters only
recently made available, to construct the definitive account of
Grant and Lee at Spotsylvania. Here for the first time is a
detailed description of the cavalry's role in the campaign, from
the grim fighting at Todd's Tavern through Philip Sheridan's
Richmond raid and Jeb Stuart's mortal wounding at Yellow Tavern.
Here, too, are fresh and challenging interpretations that often
contradict conventional wisdom. When May 13 dawned to an eerie
silence, there was no clear victor of the previous days' battles.
As Rhea states in his epilogue, the end was not yet in sight. The
wily Lee and bulldog Grant would soon meet again.
General
Imprint: |
Louisiana State University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
April 1997 |
First published: |
April 1997 |
Authors: |
Gordon C. Rhea
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 38mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
504 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8071-2136-8 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8071-2136-3 |
Barcode: |
9780807121368 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!