The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 7-12, 1864

by Gordon C. Rhea Esq.

Overview

The second volume in Gordon C. Rhea's peerless five-book series on the Civil War's 1864 Overland Campaign abounds with Rhea's signature detail, innovative analysis, and riveting prose. 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. Drawing exhaustively upon previously untapped materials, Rhea challenges conventional wisdom about this violent clash of titans to construct the ultimate account of Grant and Lee at Spotsylvania.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807158142
Publisher:	Louisiana State University Press
Publication date:	03/01/2005
Series:	Jules and Frances Landry Award
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	504
Sales rank:	619,892
File size:	34 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Gordon C. Rhea is also the author of The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5--6, 1864; To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13--25, 1864, winner of the Fletcher Pratt Literary Award; Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26--June 3, 1864, winner of the Austin Civil War Round Table's Laney Prize, and Carrying the Flag: The Story of Private Charles Whilden, the Confederacy's Most Unlikely Hero. He lives in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

Rhea’s narrative is traditional campaign history at its best. Perceptive in its judgments about leaders and their actions, sensitive to attitudes and reactions from the ranks, and marked by evocative treatments of the famous fight for the Bloody Angle and other episodes in the campaign, it belongs on any short shelf of notable battle studies.

Journal of American History - Gary W. Gallagher

A work fresh in its depth and moving in its contents. . . . A new look at Spotsylvania by one of the best tactical story-tellers in the field.

Richmond Times-Dispatch - James I. Robertson

An impressive sequel to The Battle of the Wilderness. . . . Gordon C. Rhea has produced an outstanding book.

Civil War History

Rhea frames the battle of Spotsylvania Court House in full context. . . . He traces what happened in the generals’ minds as closely as he does the complicated movement of troops. . . . A clearly written, superbly researched model of military history.

Virginia Magazine of History and Biography

Rhea’s literary style is superb and his analysis sharp. . . . Among the top then Civil War books of 1997!

North & South

By far the most thoroughly researched and interesting narrative of this fight. The detail in this book is staggering. Nowhere is there such coverage of the human dimension of war.

Military and Naval History Journal

"The most cogent analysis ever written on this confused and often misunderstood campaign." — Blue and Gray

"No one will ever write about the 1864 Virginia campaign with the same clarity, drama, and perceptiveness of Rhea." — Civil War History

From the Publisher