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Glory Enough for All: Sheridan's Second Raid and the Battle of Trevilian Station
written by Eric J. Wittenberg
Studio : Bison Books
by Bison Books
Publisher : Bison Books
Released : 2007-07-01
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780803259676
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 7 reviews)
List Price : $24.95
Our Price : $15.65
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Product Description |
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After the ferocious fighting at Cold Harbor, Virginia, in June 1864, Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered his cavalry, commanded by Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, to distract the Confederate forces opposing the Army of the Potomac. Glory Enough for All chronicles the battle that resulted when Confederate cavalry pursued and caught their Federal foes at Trevilian Station, Virginia, perhaps the only truly decisive cavalry battle of the American Civil War. Eric J. Wittenberg tells the stories of the men who fought there, including eight Medal of Honor winners and one Confederate whose death at Trevilian Station made him the third of three brothers to die in the service of Company A of the Fourth Virginia Cavalry. He also addresses the little-known but critical cavalry battle at Samaria (Saint Mary's) Church on June 24, 1864, where Union Brig. Gen. David N. Gregg's division was nearly destroyed. The only modern strategic analysis of the battle, Glory Enough for All challenges prevailing interpretations of General Sheridan and of the Union cavalry. Wittenberg shows that the outcome of Trevilian Station ultimately prolonged Grant's efforts to end the Civil War. |
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Hampton Gets It Done |
After the disastrous battle at Cold Harbor, Grant realized the area around Richmond left little room for maneuver. Now aware that the Confederate works at Cold Harbor were far too strong to be taken, and refusing to surrender the initiative, Grant proceeded to revise his entire strategy. His new plan was to cross the James River and capture Petersburg, 25 miles below Richmond. If he could garner Petersburg and Hunter could capture Lynchburg, Federal troops would control the railroads and could starve Lee into surrender. But to cross the James he needed a diversion, a big one.
Similar to ordering Grierson's raid through the State of Mississippi, which enabled Grant to cross the Mississippi River totally unopposed and subsequently invest Vicksburg, Grant employs the same strategy to cross the James and invest Petersburg. Sheridan was ordered to take Torbert's and Gregg's cavalry divisions north to Charlottesville, destroy the railroad and join Hunter in his attack on Lynchburg and ultimately join Grant south of Petersburg. In so doing Grant anticipated the withdrawal of all Confederate cavalry under Hampton north, away from Grant's intended James River crossing points.
This is the story of that movement. So successful was this strategy that Grant literally stole a march on Lee, who had absolutely no idea where Grant's army had disappeared to. Grant's entire 75,000 man army crosses the James undetected. But in one of the most amazing battles of the war, Wade Hampton engages Phil Sheridan at Trevilian Station and stops him cold. With Hunter defeated in the Shenandoah, while Grant's strategy of crossing the James undetected is a resounding success, his pincer movement against Petersburg is defeated in detail.
Eric Wittenberg tells the amazing story of the Trevilian engagement. It was a hard fought contest producing 8 Medal of Honor winners for the Union. No one will ever know how many similar awards could have been granted to Confederate participants but the Confederate cemetery still bears mute testimony to the numbers who fell there.
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Another great book |
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Great civil war book. Made me change my mind about Sheridan. Worth your money. |
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Outstanding Campaign Study |
Mr. Wittenberg makes a convincing case for the decisiveness of this cavalry battle and campaign, and his evaluations of Sheridan, Hampton, Fitz Lee, and others are fair and incisive. He did not need to prove his stature as an authority on the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, but clearly has done so with this volume and with his subsequent works.
I had the chance to visit the Trevilian battlefield recently, and used this book as a guide. In spite of the paucity of markers (maybe that's a good thing!), it was easy to follow the action using the author's excellent endnotes, maps, and descriptions of terrain.
A local preservation group recently purchased a large portion of the June 11 battlefield, which is a very good sign. Anyone interested in the Civil War's eastern theater should not miss this book. |
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Just Excellent! |
Mr. Wittenberg is the author of several books on cavalry operations in the Eastern Theater, all well documented, informative and very readable. This book is my personal favorite. He hits the "sweet spot", balancing a solid battlefield history with personal experiences of the participants. The history set up an experience, which amplifies and explains the history bridging the story to the next incident. The result is an informative history of Sheridan's cavalry raid in June 1864 with an in the saddle feel rarely found in nonfiction books.
The heart of the book is the battles of Trevilian Station on June 11 & 12, 1864 and Samaria Church on June 24, 1862. Trevilian Station is Sheridan's attempt to cut the vital Virginia Central Railroad and Samaria Church is Hampton's attempt to capture Sheridan's wagon train. The two battles do not stand-alone but exist in Sheridan's cavalry raid, with the raid firmly placed in Grant's Overland Campaign. This means that the reader never forgets the total operation and the war. Very often, battle histories do not include or spend very little time on the larger issues causing us to miss this vital information.
This raid contains a who's who of Eastern cavalry personalities: Philip Sheridan, Wade Hampton, Fitzhugh Lee and George Custer are well known, Thomas Rosser, Matthew Butler, Alfred Torbert, Wesley Merritt and David Gregg much less so. Each man has an interesting word portrait with a detailed account of his role. Mr. Wittenberg draws some interesting conclusions about the battle and the men. As always, his conclusions are well supported and thought provoking, making for a book that is both an introduction with something for the more knowledgeable too.
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Gory Enough for All |
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A useful and vivid study of the largest all-cavalry battle in the Civil War. The author's trenchant criticism of Sheridan is especially interesting as he does most of his work on Michigan cavalry--thus can't be accused of Southern partisanship. It's a long and detailed account, including plenty of quotes for human interest as well as an assessment of the battle's tactical and strategic import. In a larger context, it works well to fill a gap--cavalry actions get less scholarship than I think they should--and to offer a perspective on Sheridan that differs slightly from the norm. |
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