Lincoln's Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac

by Stephen W. Sears Narrated by Reader tbd 1

Overview

From the best-selling author of*Gettysburg,*a multilayered group biography of the commanders who led the Army of the Potomac

“A masterful synthesis . . . A narrative about amazing courage and astonishing gutlessness . . . It explains why Union movements worked and, more often, didn't work in clear-eyed explanatory prose that's vivid and direct.” - Chicago Tribune

The high command of the Army of the Potomac was a changeable, often dysfunctional band of brothers, going through the fires of war under seven commanding generals*in three years, until Grant came east in 1864. The men in charge all too frequently appeared to be fighting against the administration in Washington instead of for it, increasingly cast as political pawns facing down a vindictive congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War.
President Lincoln oversaw, argued with, and finally tamed his unruly team of lieutenants as the eastern army was stabilized by an unsung supporting cast of corps, division, and brigade generals. With characteristic style and insight, Stephen*Sears*brings these courageous, determined officers, who rose through the ranks and led from the front, to life and legend.*
*
“[A] massive, elegant study . . . A staggering work of research by a masterly historian.” - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A masterful synthesis...a narrative about amazing courage and astonishing gutlessness…It explains why Union movements worked and, more often, didn't work in clear-eyed explanatory prose that's vivid and direct.” —Chicago Tribune   “A monumental group biography…reminds us that the outcome of the war was not a foregone conclusion.” —The Wall Street Journal “Massive, elegant study...a staggering work of research by a masterly historian.” —Kirkus, STARRED —

Library Journal

03/01/2017
Recommended for Civil War buffs, especially those interested in the personalities that led the army and how they shaped the direction of the war.--Chad E. Statler, Lakeland Comm. Coll., Kirtland, OH

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2017-02-21
From "Old Fuss and Feathers" Winfield Scott to Ulysses S. Grant, the succession of Northern generals during the Civil War receives a thorough scouring in this massive, elegant study.Eminent Civil War historian Sears (Gettysburg, 2004, etc.) sifts through the archives to track how the Army of President Abraham Lincoln took some years and numerous setbacks finally to get its act together until final victory. The initial period before and after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter was marked by indecision and unpreparedness on the part of the new administration as well as that of the Union Army, led by the aging Mexican-American War hero Scott. His initial alarming memorandum to appease the secessionists by giving up Sumter and Fort Pickens did not bode well for smooth relations with the new president. As Scott was too obese and infirm to lead battle, Irvin McDowell led the attack at Bull Run, which ended in a Union rout and caused Scott to be replaced by the "stubbornly uncooperative" George McClellan. The Union Army gained its new name, Army of the Potomac, and the officers were reorganized. However, McClellan's rocky stint lasted only until November 1862, after the dilatory, stagnant move toward Richmond and the bloody Battle of Antietam, which prompted Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, derided arrogantly by McClellan. Exasperated by McClellan's "over-cautiousness," Lincoln subsequently endured the "darkling doldrums" of generals John Pope, Ambrose Burnside, and Joseph Hooker before finding a fighting match in George Meade and U.S. Grant. Indeed, writes Sears, "the high command that closed the war in April 1865 was a world apart from the high command that opened the war." The author wades through dense research not only chronicling the military maneuvers of the war, but also the intensive political intrigues surrounding the high command. Sears lists 20 generals who were "dead and gone serving the Army of the Potomac" by the time of the surrender at Appomattox. A staggering work of research by a masterly historian.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940191399614
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/11/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged