The Battle of the Crater

The Battle of the Crater PDF Author: Newt Gingrich
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0312607105
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
A tale inspired by the crushing 1864 Union defeat at the Battle of the Crater follows the investigation of reporter and Lincoln confidante James O'Reilly, who retraces the tragedy and how a promising campaign went wrong.

The Battle of the Crater

The Battle of the Crater PDF Author: Newt Gingrich
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0312607105
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
A tale inspired by the crushing 1864 Union defeat at the Battle of the Crater follows the investigation of reporter and Lincoln confidante James O'Reilly, who retraces the tragedy and how a promising campaign went wrong.

Into the Crater

Into the Crater PDF Author: Earl J. Hess
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1643364367
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
The battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864, was the defining event in the 292-day campaign around Petersburg, Virginia, in the Civil War and one of the most famous engagements in American military history. Although the bloody combat of that "horrid pit" has been recently revisited as the centerpiece of the novel and film versions of Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, the battle has yet to receive a definitive historical study. Distinguished Civil War historian Earl J. Hess fills that gap in the literature of the Civil War with Into the Crater. The Crater was central in Ulysses S. Grant's third offensive at Petersburg and required digging of a five-hundred-foot mine shaft under enemy lines and detonating of four tons of gunpowder to destroy a Confederate battery emplacement. The resulting infantry attack through the breach in Robert E. Lee's line failed terribly, costing Grant nearly four thousand troops, among them many black soldiers fighting in their first battle. The outnumbered defenders of the breach saved Confederate Petersburg and inspired their comrades with renewed hope in the lengthening campaign to possess this important rail center. In this narrative account of the Crater and its aftermath, Hess identifies the most reliable evidence to be found in hundreds of published and unpublished eyewitness accounts, official reports, and historic photographs. Archaeological studies and field research on the ground itself, now preserved within the Petersburg National Battlefield, complement the archival and published sources. Hess re-creates the battle in lively prose saturated with the sights and sounds of combat at the Crater in moment-by-moment descriptions that bring modern readers into the chaos of close range combat. Hess discusses field fortifications as well as the leadership of Union generals Grant, George Meade, and Ambrose Burnside, and of Confederate generals Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard, and A. P. Hill. He also chronicles the atrocities committed against captured black soldiers, both in the heat of battle and afterward, and the efforts of some Confederate officers to halt this vicious conduct

Cold Harbor to the Crater

Cold Harbor to the Crater PDF Author: Gary W. Gallagher
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469625342
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
Between the end of May and the beginning of August 1864, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee oversaw the transition between the Overland campaign—a remarkable saga of maneuvering and brutal combat—and what became a grueling siege of Petersburg that many months later compelled Confederates to abandon Richmond. Although many historians have marked Grant's crossing of the James River on June 12–15 as the close of the Overland campaign, this volume interprets the fighting from Cold Harbor on June 1–3 through the battle of the Crater on July 30 as the last phase of an operation that could have ended without a prolonged siege. The contributors assess the campaign from a variety of perspectives, examining strategy and tactics, the performances of key commanders on each side, the centrality of field fortifications, political repercussions in the United States and the Confederacy, the experiences of civilians caught in the path of the armies, and how the famous battle of the Crater has resonated in historical memory. As a group, the essays highlight the important connections between the home front and the battlefield, showing some of the ways in which military and nonmilitary affairs played off and influenced one another. Contributors include Keith S. Bohannon, Stephen Cushman, M. Keith Harris, Robert E. L. Krick, Kevin M. Levin, Kathryn Shively Meier, Gordon C. Rhea, and Joan Waugh.

The Battle of the Crater

The Battle of the Crater PDF Author: John F. Schmutz
Publisher: McFarland Publishing
ISBN: 9780786439829
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
"This book, detailing the culmination of brutal trench warfare at Petersburg, Virginia, delves into the background of the battle. Beginning by tracing the rival armies through the bitter conflicts of the Overland Campaign and ending with the siege of Petersburg, this book offers a candid look at the perception of the campaign over three years of conflict"--Provided by publisher.

What Though the Field Be Lost

What Though the Field Be Lost PDF Author: Christopher Kempf
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807175102
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 94

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Book Description
Based on two years living and researching in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, What Though the Field Be Lost uses the battlefield there as a way to engage ongoing issues involving race, regional identity, and the ethics of memory. With empathy and humility, Kempf reveals the overlapping planes of historical past and public present, integrating archival material—language from monuments, soldiers' letters, eyewitness accounts of the battle—with reflection on present-day social and political unrest. Here monument protests, police shootings, and heated battle reenactments expose the ambivalences and evasions involved in the consolidation of national (and nationalist) identity. In What Though the Field Be Lost, Kempf shows that, though the Civil War may be over, the field at Gettysburg and all that it stands for remain sharply contested. Shuttling between past and present, the personal and the public, What Though the Field Be Lost examines the many pasts that inhere, now and forever, in the places we occupy.

To Make Men Free

To Make Men Free PDF Author: Newt Gingrich
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466815752
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
With To Make Men Free (originally published as The Battle of the Crater), New York Times bestselling authors Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen take readers to the center of a nearly forgotten Civil War confrontation, a battle that was filled with controversy and misinterpretation even before the attack began. June 1864: the Civil War is now into its fourth year of bloody conflict with no end in sight. James O'Reilly—famed artist, correspondent, and former companion of Lincoln—is summoned discreetly to a meeting with the President. His old friend gives him a difficult assignment: travel to the trenches outside of Richmond to be Lincoln's eyes and ears amongst the men, sending back an honest account of the front. Meanwhile, General Ambrose Burnside, a hard luck commander out of favor with his superiors, has an ingenious plan to break through the closest point on the Confederate line by tunneling forward from the Union position beneath the fort to explode its defenses. The risks are high, and Burnside needs a brave division of the United States Colored Troops for one desperate rush that just might bring victory. As the battleground drama unfolds, this must-read work rewrites our understanding of one of the great battles of the war, providing a sharp, rousing and harshly realistic view of politics and combat during the darkest year of the Civil War. Praise for the works of Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen "Masterful storytelling." --William E. Butterworth IV, New York Times bestselling author of The Saboteurs "Compelling narrative force and meticulous detail." --The Atlanta Journal Constitution Previously published as The Battle of the Crater.

Civil War Siege of Jackson, Mississippi, The

Civil War Siege of Jackson, Mississippi, The PDF Author: Jim Woodrick
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1626197296
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Even after a grueling forty-seven-day siege at Vicksburg, Ulysses S. Grant could not rest on his laurels. Just fifty miles away in Jackson, Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston and the "Army of Relief" still posed a threat to Grant's hard-won victory. General William Tecumseh Sherman countered by marching Union troops to Jackson. After a weeklong siege under a hot Mississippi sun, Johnston's army abandoned the city, leaving the fate of Jackson in the hands of Sherman's troops. Historian Jim Woodrick recounts the Civil War devastation and rebirth of Mississippi's capital.

Grant Comes East

Grant Comes East PDF Author: Newt Gingrich
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429904666
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 673

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Book Description
The New York Times–bestselling authors of Gettysburg continue their “original, dramatic and historically plausible ‘what if?’ story” of the Civil War (Publishers Weekly). Confederate General Robert E. Lee knows that a frontal assault against Washington, D.C., could devastate his army. But it is a price that must be paid for final victory. Lee must also overcome the defiant stand of President Abraham Lincoln, who vows that regardless of the defeat at Gettysburg, his solemn pledge to preserve the Union will be honored. Lincoln will mobilize the garrison of Washington to hold on no matter the cost. Meanwhile, Lincoln has appointed General Ulysses S. Grant as commander of all Union forces. Fresh from his triumph at Vicksburg, Grant races east to confront Lee. What ensues is a titanic struggle as the surviving Union forces inside the fortifications of Washington fight to hang on, while Grant prepares his counterblow. The defeated Army of the Potomac, staggered by the debacle dealt at Gettysburg, is not yet completely out of the fight, and is slowly reorganizing. Its rogue commander, General Dan Sickles, is thirsting for revenge against Lee, the restoration of his army’s honor, and the fulfillment of his own ambitions, which reach all the way to the White House. All these factors will come together in a climatic struggle spanning the ground from Washington, through Baltimore, to the banks of the Susquehanna River.

Petersburg 1864–65

Petersburg 1864–65 PDF Author: Ron Field
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1846038863
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
The Petersburg Campaign was the last great campaign fought in the eastern theater of the US Civil War and the last to see U.S Grant take on Robert E Lee. In 1864 General Ulysses S. Grant decided to strangle the life out of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia by surrounding the city of Petersburg and cutting off General Robert E. Lee's supply lines. The ensuing siege would carry on for nearly ten months, involve 160,000 soldiers, and see a number of pitched battles including the Battle of the Crater, Reams Station, Hatcher's Run, and White Oak Road. After nearly ten months, Grant launched an attack that sent the Confederate army scrambling back to Appomattox Court House where it would soon surrender. Written by an expert on the American Civil War, this book examines the last clash between the armies of U.S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.

No Quarter

No Quarter PDF Author: Richard Slotkin
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1588368483
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
In this richly researched and dramatic work of military history, eminent historian Richard Slotkin recounts one of the Civil War’s most pivotal events: the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864. At first glance, the Union’s plan seemed brilliant: A regiment of miners would burrow beneath a Confederate fort, pack the tunnel with explosives, and blow a hole in the enemy lines. Then a specially trained division of African American infantry would spearhead a powerful assault to exploit the breach created by the explosion. Thus, in one decisive action, the Union would marshal its mastery of technology and resources, as well as demonstrate the superior morale generated by the Army of the Potomac’s embrace of emancipation. At stake was the chance to drive General Robert E. Lee’s Army of North Virginia away from the defense of the Confederate capital of Richmond–and end the war. The result was something far different. The attack was hamstrung by incompetent leadership and political infighting in the Union command. The massive explosion ripped open an immense crater, which became a death trap for troops that tried to pass through it. Thousands of soldiers on both sides lost their lives in savage trench warfare that prefigured the brutal combat of World War I. But the fighting here was intensified by racial hatred, with cries on both sides of “No quarter!” In a final horror, the battle ended with the massacre of wounded or surrendering Black troops by the Rebels–and by some of their White comrades in arms. The great attack ended in bloody failure, and the war would be prolonged for another year. With gripping and unforgettable depictions of battle and detailed character portraits of soldiers and statesmen, No Quarter compellingly re-creates in human scale an event epic in scope and mind-boggling in its cost of life. In using the Battle of the Crater as a lens through which to focus the political and social ramifications of the Civil War–particularly the racial tensions on both sides of the struggle–Richard Slotkin brings to readers a fresh perspective on perhaps the most consequential period in American history.