Command Conflicts in Grant's Overland Campaign: Ambition and Animosity in the Army of the Potomac

by Diane Monroe Smith

Overview

This book follows the men of the 5th Corps and the Army of the Potomac through the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor, with the army condemned to moving blindly through enemy territory without the benefit of cavalry scouting or screening. It considers the lost opportunities of June 1864, when Grant's masterly movement of the Army of the Potomac across the James to confront the enemy at Petersburg should have ended in victory and the fall of Richmond.

Bungling and complacency doomed the attacks on Petersburg's fortifications, and instead of victory, the battered Federals faced a drawn-out siege, and another 10 months of war. Finally, the author considers what happened to a number of the prominent Federal participants in the Overland Campaign during the last year of the war and after. Many of those who lied and cheated their way to the top became government leaders and the authors of policy for years to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786468171
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	12/13/2012
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Diane Monroe Smith is the author of several books about the Civil War. She lives in Holden, Maine. Visit her website at http://www.dianemonroesmith.com.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi

Preface 1

1 Grant's Rise to Power 5

2 Grant the Hero: Forts Henry and Donelson - and Then There Was Shiloh 19

3 It Takes Buell and Bragg to Make Grant Look Good 54

4 The Army of the Potomac Carries Old Baggage into the Wilderness 90

5 The Wilderness 103

6 On to Spotsylvania 117

7 Spotsylvania: Laurel Hill, Again and Again 128

8 The 5th Corps at the North Anna and the Totopotomoy 154

9 Cold Harbor-Another Tragic Muddle 167

10 Petersburg 192

Appendix: Federal Overland Campaign Commanders After the War 211

Chapter Notes 225

Bibliography 241

Index 245

Editorial Reviews

Fascinating...recommended”—Civil War News.

From the Publisher

Fascinating...recommended

Civil War News