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Overview
In 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History, the reader is plunged into the heart of that crucial year as Lincoln faced enormous challenges. The Civil War was far from being won: as the year began, Lincoln had yet to appoint Ulysses S. Grant as the general-in-chief who would finally implement the bloody strategy and dramatic campaigns that would bring victory.
At the same time, with the North sick of the war, Lincoln was facing a reelection battle in which hundreds of thousands of "Peace Democrats" were ready to start negotiations that could leave the Confederacy as a separate American nation, free to continue the practice of slavery. In his personal life, he had to deal with the erratic behavior of his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and both Lincolns were haunted by the sudden death, two years before, of their beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie.
1864 is the story of Lincoln's struggle with all this -- the war on the battlefields and a political scene in which his own secretary of the treasury, Salmon P. Chase, was working against him in an effort to become the Republican candidate himself. The North was shocked by such events as Grant's attack at Cold Harbor, during which seven thousand Union soldiers were killed in twenty minutes, and the Battle of the Crater, where three thousand Union men died in a bungled attempt to blow up Confederate trenches. The year became so bleak that on August 23, Lincoln wrote in a memorandum, "This morning, as for several days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be reelected." But, with the increasing success of his generals, and a majority of the American public ready to place its faith in him, Lincoln and the nation ended 1864 with the close of the war in sight and slavery on the verge of extinction.
1864 presents the man who not only saved the nation, but also, despite the turmoil of the war and political infighting, set the stage for westward expansion through the Homestead Act, the railroads, and the Act to Encourage Immigration.
As 1864 ends and Lincoln, reelected, is planning to heal the nation, John Wilkes Booth, whose stalking of Lincoln through 1864 is one of this book's suspenseful subplots, is a few weeks away from killing him.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781439156490 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Simon & Schuster |
| Publication date: | 02/03/2009 |
| Sold by: | SIMON & SCHUSTER |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 544 |
| File size: | 815 KB |
About the Author
Charles Bracelen Flood is the author of eleven previous books, including Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Civil War. He is a past president of PEN America Center and has served on the governing bodies of the Authors League and the Authors Guild. Flood and his wife, Katherine, live in Richmond, Kentucky.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Beleaguered Giant 1
Chapter 2 Steering into a Stormy Year 33
Chapter 3 Lincoln Juggles in the "Shop"; Grant Comes East 52
Chapter 4 On the Verge of the Great Collision 65
Chapter 5 Troubled Military and Political Campaigns 98
Chapter 6 Trimming the Political Tree 118
Chapter 7 "I Begin to See It"-The Elusive "It" 145
Chapter 8 A Pretty Place from Which to Drop into a Dark, Dramatic Summer 174
Chapter 9 Trying to Pick Up the Military and Political Pieces 208
Chapter 10 August: The Darkest Month 245
Chapter 11 Six Words from Sherman 279
Chapter 12 Sheridan Goes In; Lincoln Gets Out the Vote 291
Chapter 13 The Final Mile to the Polls: Rocks, Smooth Places, Puzzles 344
Chapter 14 The Forty-eight-Hour Election Day 362
Chapter 15 An Epic Year Begins Its Dramatic Close 379
Chapter 16 Lincoln's Last Christmas 410
Chapter 17 Goodbye, Mr. Lincoln 422
Notes 435
Bibliography 475
Acknowledgments 493
Index 499
What People are Saying About This
"The book is as adept at analyzing Lincoln's choices as at showing what they meant to his ravaged nation." —-The New York Times