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Author: Noah Andre Trudeau

A detailed account of 40 days of battle during the American Civil War from the Wilderness to Spotsylvania, from North Anna to Cold Harbor. It draws upon diaries, letters, reminiscences, memoirs and regimental histories, and covers the experiences of soldiers, civilians and politicians.

Ulysses Grant's relentless hammering tactics prevented Robert E. Lee from regaining the strategic initiative in 1864, although the Southern general's defensive operations during May-June of that year are regarded by many as his greatest military accomplishment. It was during this campaign that Grant came to be called "The Butcher" because of the horrendous casualties he was willing to accept as he ordered assault after assault. He did not retreat after suffering tactical defeats in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse and Cold Harbor, but continued to push his troops ever closer to the rebel capital of Richmond. Not a formal campaign study, this is a dramatic account told through the eyes of soldiers, civilians and government leaders. One of the elements historian Trudeau dramatizes is the shifting emotional reaction of President Lincoln as he worried whether Grant would prove as faint-hearted as other generals who had faced Lee in the field. When word was brought from Grant that "There is no turning back," the president literally kissed the messenger, for this was probably the most important of several historic turning-points in the four-year Civil War.

Author: Noah Andre Trudeau

In this concluding volume of a trilogy, Trudeau ( Bloody Roads South ; The Last Citadel ) relies on firsthand accounts to tell the compelling story of the Confederacy's death throes. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, marked only the beginning of the end: the Civil War had gone on too long to end in a single stroke. Confederate government was still intact, and large Confederate forces remained in the field. While Union cavalry ravaged northern Alabama, Union infantry stormed the fortress of Mobile. Men continued to die in obscure skirmishes from Texas to South Carolina. Trudeau's richly textured presentation never loses focus in depicting the complex course of events from the final days of the Army of Northern Virginia, through the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, to the growing recognition in the South and the North that the great national tragedy was finally over.

Author: Noah Andre Trudeau

Perhaps no other battle or campaign of the American Civil War equalled the siege of Petersburg, Virginia. For 292 days, the war's final drama was played out over the fate of this once gracious Southern town, the last bulwark of the Confederacy. The book covers the 11-month siege of Petersburg.

This book follows the fighting in Virginia to early April 1865, shortly before Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The nine-month Petersburg campaign was, in the author's view, the South's Gethsemane ("the place where its moral character and its belief in its own righteous cause faced their ultimate testing"). In masterly fashion Trudeau tracks the tactical struggle as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant seeks weak spots in Gen. Robert E. Lee's lines while Lee, forced to spread his smaller army ever more thinly, contests Grant's flanking movements in a series of hard-fought battles. Trudeau also provides vivid glimpses of civilian life inside besieged Petersburg and describes President Lincoln's visits to Grant's headquarters during the siege. The campaign reached its climax with Gen. Philip Sheridan's victory at Five Forks, followed by an assault on the Confederate lines which broke Lee's resistance. This oft-ignored major campaign of the Civil War receives expert examination here.

Author: Daniel Beattie
Illustrator: Adam Hook
Osprey (Campaign)

The road to Gettysburg began at Brandy Station on June 9, 1863 during the American Civil War (1861-1865). However, the cavalry clash in Culpeper County, Virginia, counts for more than just the opening round of Lee's second invasion of the North. The battle showed both sides that the Federal cavalry had now come of age, that Blue and Gray horsemen were now equal in ability. Early in the morning on June 9, Pleasanton launched his men, split into two divisions, across the Rappahannock at Beverley's Ford to the north of Brandy Station and Kelly's Ford to the south. Stuart was caught completely unaware by these maneuvers and his lines and headquarters were nearly overrun until reinforcements helped to stabilize the situation. Following 12 hours of bitter fighting the Union forces withdrew back across the river, having matched the Confederate cavalry in skill and determination for the first time in the War between the States in what was the largest and most hotly contested clash of sabers in this long and bloody war.

This book describes the battle with a step-by-step analysis of the proceedings, illustrated with detailed maps, birds-eye-views and full color battlescene artwork.

Author: Angus Konstam
Illustrator: Stephen Walsh
Osprey (Campaign)

Osprey's examination of the short yet crucial campaign of the American Civil War (1861-1865). When General Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the Confederacy was in crisis. Lee changed all that in a brilliant, week-long campaign. On 26 June the Confederates struck, fighting two hard-fought battles in two days at Mechanicsville and Gaine's Mill. The ferocity of the Confederate assaults convinced McClellan that he was outnumbered. Unable to keep the Confederates at bay, the Union army was recalled to Washington. Despite losing a quarter of his men, Lee had saved Richmond, and inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Army of the Potomac.

Author: Andy Nunez
Illustrator: Peter Dennis
Osprey (Campaign)

Grant and Lee fought near Chancellorsville, VA in a confusing series of battles amidst brush thickets and wildfires. Unlike previous campaigns, Grant simply kept flanking Lee, trying frontal assaults at Spotslvania's 'mule-shoe' and Cold Harbor along the way to laying seige to Richmond and Petersburg.

In May 1864 the Union Army of the Potomac under General George Meade had been in a leisurely pursuit of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia for nearly a year after the defeat of the Rebels at Gettysburg. Confederate commander General Robert E. Lee still retained his awe-inspiring reputation for wrecking Union armies that got too close to Richmond and Meade was still cautious. His tactics at Gettysburg were defensive and he was unsure that he was able to take the offensive against Lee. However, things changed when President Abraham Lincoln appointed General Ulysses S. Grant to command all Union armies. Grant came east and laid out a comprehensive strategy for the rest of the war.

In the deep South, General William T. Sherman would march out of Tennessee to cut the Confederacy in half by taking Atlanta. Grant would lead the Army of the Potomac across the Rapidan River and march on Richmond. He had the manpower and equipment to accomplish his objective, easily outnumbering Lee. Lee, on the other hand, was far from beaten and saw Grant as just another Union general to be sent packing, much as he had sent McClellan, Burnside, Pope and Hooker away two years before. As Grant's army slowly entered the tangle of woods beyond Fredericksburg known as the Wilderness, Lee planned to pin him there and destroy him as he struggled to emerge. The stage was set for the campaign that would forever dictate the terms of the Civil War in the East.

Author: Ron Field
Illustrator: Peter Dennis
Osprey (Campaign)

In 1864, Petersburg, Virginia became the setting for one of the last great campaigns of the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the longest siege in American History. After his failure to capture Richmond in the Spring, 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. But around these battles were long days of living in trenches, enduring poor diet and winter weather, and suffering constant artillery bombardment. In April of 1865, Grant ordered a sweeping offensive against the beleaguered Confederates, which broke Lee's right flank and forced him to retreat to Appomattox Court House, where he surrendered a week later.

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.

Author: Clayton Donnell and James Donnell
Illustrator: Adam Hook
Osprey (Campaign)

On the morning of June 9 1862, victorious Confederate troops under the command of Major General "Stonewall" Jackson began a general advance in pursuit of the withdrawing Union forces following the battle of Port Republic. This was the sixth major battle fought between Union and Confederate troops during a three-month period in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the spring of 1862. It was also, effectively, the final battle of what became known as Jackson's Valley Campaign. The campaign, which had begun with a Confederate defeat at the First Battle of Kernstown on March 23, became a showcase for the maneuverability and mobility of Jackson's forces as, heavily outnumbered, they kept the larger Union forces pinned and down and off balance.
"Stonewall" Jackson had performed his task of keeping General McDowell's Union forces away from the Peninsula Campaign better than anyone could have expected, and following his final victory at Port Republic he was able to force march his men to join up with Lee at Richmond in time to take part in the Seven Days Battles that saved Richmond for the Confederacy.
Jackson became a legend for his actions in the Valley Campaign. His army marched over 600 miles in 48 days to win five major battles. His forces, at no time numbering more than 17,000 men, overwhelmed a combined Union force of 50,000, demonstrating in every case his ability to maneuver his troops into a tactical advantage of at least four to three.

Author: David Smith
Illustrator: Richard Hook
Osprey (Campaign)

The March to the Sea was the culmination of Union General William T. Sherman's 1864 campaign during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and was a devastating example of "total war." Confederate hopes in 1864 hinged on frustrating Union forces in the field and forcing Abraham Lincoln out of office in the November elections. However, this optimism was dampened by Sherman's success in the battle of Atlanta that same year.

Riding on the wave of this victory, Sherman hoped to push his forces into Confederate territory, but his plan was hindered by a Confederate threat to the army's supply lines.
After much delay, he boldly chose to abandon these, forcing the army to live off the land for the entirety of the 285-mile march to Savannah, destroying all war-making capabilities of the enemy en route, and inflicting suffering not only on Confederate troops, but also on the civilian population. Despite the vilification that this brutal tactic earned him, the march was a success.

Supported by contemporary photographs, detailed maps, bird's eye views, and battlescene artwork, this title explores the key personalities, strategies, and significant engagements of the march, including the battles of Franklin and Nashville, and the ultimate fall of Savannah to the Union, to provide a detailed analysis of the campaign that marked the "beginning of the end" of the American Civil War.

Author: James Arnold
Osprey (Campaign)

Osprey's examination of the battle at Chickamagua, one of the decisive campaigns of the American Civil War (1861-1865). By the Autumn of 1863 the Confederacy was in dire straits. In a colossal gamble, Confederate President Jefferson Davis stripped forces from all the major Confederate armies to reinforce the Army of Tennessee in a last ditch attempt to crush the Union. On 19th September the Confederates attacked the Union army along Chickamauga creek south of Chattanooga. On the second day of bloody fighting the entire Union right collapsed and the army retreated headlong for Chattanooga, all except General George H. Thomas' Corps who fought on doggedly until nightfall delaying the confederate advance, saving the Union and earning his fame as the "Rock of Chickamauga".

Author: James Arnold
Illustrator: Alan Perry
Osprey (Campaign)

Author: Carl Smith
Illustrator: Adam Hook
Osprey (Campaign)

Osprey's study of the Battle of Gettysburg (1863), one of the decisive battles of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The Confederate invasion of the Northern states was General Lee's last great gamble. By taking the war to the Union he hoped to force Lincoln into peace negotiations, or win support from the European powers who were watching events closely from across the Atlantic. Equally, Meade's Army of the Potomac needed to regain it's fighting credibility after the setbacks of Fredericksburg and saw this as an opportunity to redeem its honour. The clash of 150,000 soldiers from both sides would ultimately decide the fate of a nation.

Author: Norman Stevens
Osprey (Campaign)

Osprey's examination of the Battle of Antietam, which was one of the critical battles of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The fortunes of the South were riding high after the resounding victory at Second Manassas. While Bragg and Kirby Smith invaded Kentucky, Lee's invasion of Maryland was intended to maintain the Southern offensive momentum and to win the recognition of the European powers. But his bold plan was compromised—and at the Antietam River the Army of Northern Virginia was fighting for its very life. This title examines the build-up to Hooker's attack, and details the famous clashes at Bloody Lane and Burnside Bridge.

Author: John Langellier
Osprey (Campaign)

Osprey's examination of the culminating battle of the American Civil War (1861-1865). “There never was such a campaign, not even by Napoleon" wrote Confederate General Pender of the Second Manassas campaign in which the gray-bearded Virginian, Robert E Lee, came as close as he ever would to exterminating his Northern enemies. In so doing, Lee established himself as the South's pre-eminent military commander and the Army of Northern Virginia as it's most powerful weapon. The fighting in northern Virginia left Union General John Pope's career in tatters and proved the South was a power to be reckoned with. This book's powerful account demonstrates that during that fateful summer of 1862 Lee's soldiers were fighting for anything but a lost cause.

Author: Alan Hankinson
Osprey (Campaign)

At Bull Run, two inexperienced, ill-trained and poorly led armies clashed in the opening engagement of the American Civil War. Culminating in a stalwart defensive fight by Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson's Virginia Brigade, this is the story of the Confederacy's first victory. The author investigates the personalities of the principal commanders and examines the opposing armies, showing how the widely varying uniforms of different units caused mistakes of identity which affected the battle at crucial points. Weapons, intelligence and the almost universal inexperience of troops on both sides are all discussed, helping to explain the events of the battle itself.

Author: Joseph Glatthaar
Osprey (Essential Histories)

Union military forces suffered momentary defeat followed by sustained success in the Western Theater during the second half of the American Civil War. Following the Union's defeat at Chickamauga, Ulysses S. Grant took command at Chattanooga and orchestrated a striking victory which paved the way for a Union advance against Atlanta, a confederate city second in importance only to Richmond. This book traces the events that surrounded the capture of Atlanta, followed by Sherman's famous campaign of destruction through the southern interior which culminated in April 1865 with the surrender of the last major Confederate field army at Durham Station, North Carolina.

Author: Robert K. Krick
Osprey (Essential Histories)

Great battles and famous commanders dominated the military history of the Civil War in the Eastern Theater during the period 1863-1865. This book includes revealing details of the clash at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the costliest battle ever waged in the Western Hemisphere, but, contrary to common belief, puts forward the theory that it was not a great turning point in the war. This book also examines the events that led to Robert E Lee accepting generous terms of surrender from Ulysses S Grant, bringing the war in Virginia to a close. A fascinating look at this crucial point in the American Civil War.

Author: Gary Gallagher
Osprey (Essential Histories)

[Note: These were originally called "Essential Histories"] The United States saw long-simmering sectional tensions erupt into fighting at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861, beginning what would become the most cataclysmic military struggle in the western world between Waterloo and the First World War. This volume focuses on events in the Virginia theater during the conflict's first two years, highlighting Union and Confederate strengths and weaknesses, leadership and strategy on each side, and the ways in which events on the battlefield influenced politics, diplomacy, and debates about emancipation. Osprey Essential Histories are complete yet concise studies of each major conflict in history.

Author: Stephen Engle
Osprey (Guide To/Essential Histories)

[Note: These were originally called "Essential Histories"] The American Civil War's vast Western Theater witnessed enormously important military campaigning during the period 1861 - 1863. This book, the third in a four-volume series, examines the geographical, logistical and strategic factors that shaped fighting in this theater, as well as assessing officers who played key roles . It covers the story of Ulysses S Grant's important capture of rebel positions before marching south to win the battle of Shiloh, as well as that of Albert Sidney Johnston, the pride of the Confederacy. Finally, it details the dramatic events of the siege of Vicksburg, the Confederates final fortress.

Author: Philip Katcher
Illustrator: Michael Youens
Osprey Men-at-Arms
For General George B. McClellan, the dejected Union troops who poured into Washington fresh from defeat at Bull Run on Monday, July 22, 1861, were to provide the raw material which he would train, equip, organize and ultimately transform from a mere mob into an effective fighting force. In October 1861, the Army of the Potomac officially came into being. This entertaining volume from the same team of author Philip Katcher and artist Michael Youens who produced Men-at-Arms 37, The Army of Northern Virginia, explores how this transition came about, with a particular emphasis on weapons, uniforms and equipment.

Author: Philip Katcher
Illustrator: Michael Youens
Osprey Men-at-Arms
On June 27, 1862, with the American Civil War already a year old, General Robert E. Lee assumed personal command of troops engaged in driving the Federal Army of the Potomac out of Richmond – troops which would henceforth be known as The Army of Northern Virginia. Philip Katcher explores in absorbing detail all aspects of the army, including infantry, cavalry, artillery, technical and medical corps, paying particular attention to equipment, weapons and uniforms. Contemporary and museum photographs, together with the author's expert text, combine to paint a vivid and accurate picture of what life was like for the average confederate soldier.

Author: John Selby
Illustrator: Michael Roffe
Osprey Men-at-Arms
This book examines the uniforms and equipment, history and organization of the Iron Brigade during the American Civil War (1861-1865). The major battles of Fredericksburg (1862), Chancellorsville (1863) and Gettysburg (1863)--are all covered. Uniforms are shown in full color artwork.

Author: Philip Katcher
Illustrator: Steve Walsh
Osprey (Warrior)
When the American Civil War broke out in 1861 both Confederate and Union experts decided that specialized sharpshooter units should be formed. These highly trained marksmen served in a front-line role and, due to the technological developments of the 1850s, were equipped with weapons that could guarantee greater accuracy over increased range than traditional muskets. This title examines the recruitment, training, tactics and deployment of sharpshooters from both sides of the conflict. It also takes a close look at the specialized personal weaponry of the sharpshooter, the rifle and its accoutrements, as well as the sharpshooters' unique insignia and identification patches.

Author: Shelby Foote

Shelby Foote, who cut such a courtly figure in Ken Burns's PBS series The Civil War, is an uncommonly graceful writer as well, and this careful study of the 1863 Gettysburg campaign assumes the contours of a classical tragedy. Foote positions readers on the field of battle itself, among swirling smoke and clattering grapeshot, and invites us to feel for ourselves its hellishness: "men on both sides were hollering as they milled about and fired, some cursing, others praying ... not a commingling of shouts and yells but rather like a vast mournful roar." Foote's fine book is history as literature, and a welcome addition to any Civil War buff's library.

Author: Philip Katcher

Katcher's entry in the field of Civil War publishing will intrigue the legions of Civil War buffs who yearly consume vast quantities of writing. Not a traditional campaign history, this title focuses on the experiences, equipment, uniforms, and tactics of army, navy, and state forces of both sides. Short biographies of major figures and an annotated "Sources" section are provided, and illustrations and quotations or excerpts from first-person accounts abound. The book is organized by broad topic, which could make its use in a reference collection problematic; librarians may prefer to place it in the circulating collection. Middle-aged eyes may have problems with the small type, and a number of minor typographical errors will give the true Civil War aficionado the thrill of discovery while not materially affecting the value of the title. Recommended for libraries collecting widely on the Civil War.

Author: Eric Carren

A collection of articles from newspapers published during the Civil War. If you are into Civil War history, this is the ultimate source! Countless books have been written on the ironies and tradgedies of America's Civil War, but in these collections, the happenings of the day come alive.

Just reading the first newspaper, you will be transported back in time. Into the homes, Churches, courtrooms, schools and meeting houses you will become a part of history. No book written today can do justice to information straight from the source. Within these covers the event is not just a story but a true-to-life experience!

Author: Paddy Griffith

Was the Civil War really the birthplace of modern battlefield tactics? Paddy Griffith argues that despite the use of new weapons and of trench warfare techniques, the Civil War was in reality the last Napoleonic-style war. Rich in description and analysis, this is a book of interest both to military historians and to Civil War buffs.


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