Decisions at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House - (Command Decisions in America's Civil War) by Dave Townsend (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- The successive battles of The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House opened Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign.
- About the Author: DAVE TOWNSEND is a retired engineer.
- 382 Pages
- History, United States
- Series Name: Command Decisions in America's Civil War
Description
About the Book
"The Battles of The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House were the first two battles of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants's Overland Campaign. Intended for a general readership, this book endeavors to bring readers face-to-face with the critical impasses and subsequent decisions made by Union and Confederate commanders to determine the outcomes of the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Townsend provides a guided tour of the battlefields as well."Book Synopsis
The successive battles of The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House opened Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign. As the first confrontation between Union and Confederate leaders Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee, these two bloody battles signaled the new reality of war. The fighting at the Battle of The Wilderness, immediately followed by the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, was costly for both sides, and while the Union army could replace its losses, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia could not. It would be exactly one year from Grant's orders to Gen. George G. Meade stating that Lee's army would be his objective until the surrender at Appomattox.
Decisions at The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House introduces readers to critical decisions made by Confederate and Union commanders throughout the two costly meetings. Dave Townsend examines the decisions that prefigured the action and shaped the course of each battle as it unfolded. Rather than a linear history of the battles, Townsend's discussion of the critical decisions presents readers with a vivid blueprint of the battles' developments. Exploring the critical decisions in this way allows the reader to progress from a sense of what happened in these battles to why they happened as they did.
Complete with maps and a guided tour, Decisions at The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House is an indispensable primer, and readers looking for concise introductions to the battles can tour this sacred ground--or read about it at their leisure--with key insights into the battles and a deeper understanding of the Civil War itself.
Decisions at The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House is the seventh in a series of books that will explore the critical decisions of major campaigns and battles of the Civil War.
About the Author
DAVE TOWNSEND is a retired engineer.
