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Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26-June 3, 1864
written by Gordon C. Rhea
Studio : Louisiana State University Press
by Louisiana State University Press
Publisher : Louisiana State University Press
Released : 2007-04
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780807132449
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 16 reviews)
List Price : $24.95
Our Price : $15.78
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Book Description |
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Gordon Rhea's gripping fourth volume on the spring 1864 campaignwhich pitted Ulysses S. Grant against Robert E. Lee for the first time in the Civil Warvividly recreates the battles and maneuvers from the stalemate on the North Anna River through the Cold Harbor offensive. Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26June 3, 1864 showcases Rhea's tenacious research which elicits stunning new facts from the records of a phase oddly ignored or mythologized by historians. In clear and profuse tactical detail, Rhea tracks the remarkable events of those nine days, giving a surprising new interpretation of the famous battle that left seven thousand Union casualties and only fifteen hundred Confederate dead or wounded. Here, Grant is not a callous butcher, and Lee does not wage a perfect fight. Within the pages of Cold Harbor, Rhea separates fact from fiction in a charged, evocative narrative. He leaves readers under a moonless sky, with Grant pondering the eastward course of the James River fifteen miles south of the encamped armies. AUTHOR BIO: Gordon C. Rhea is the author of The Battle of the Wilderness, May 56, 1864; The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 712, 1864; and To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 1325, 1864, winner of the Fletcher Pratt Literary Award, among other books. He lives in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, with his wife and two sons. |
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The culmination of a series of bloody battles |
Gordon Rhea has written a series of four books, providing a chronicle of the bloody fighting in 1864 as Ulysses Grant headed south and Robert E. Lee tried to prevent him from success. From the Wilderness to Spotsylvania Court House to the North Anna River to Cold Harbor. These four books take us through this sanguinary period, day by day. There is no obvious end of one battle and start of the next. It was a continuing slugging match between Confederate and Union forces.
This book begins with Grant pulling away from the trap that Lee had set for him at the North Anna River. The moves in the chess match between Grant and Lee featured both misreading the other. Each missed opportunities to maul the other. Grant cleverly sidestepped Lee from the North Anna line, but did not follow up the march that he had gained on Lee.
Each side moved in response to what they thought the other was doing, and did a slow dance of maneuver toward Cold Harbor. Major cavalry fighting broke out (e.g., Haw's Shop). Both sides saw some problems with generalship at Corps level (Early's hotheadedness led to some foolish attacks on Union positions; Burnside continued his blundering; Warren dithered; Anderson was at the very limit of his competence). The bleeding of Confederate generals slowly reduced the effectiveness of the Army of Northern Virginia, and Lee had to assume more direct control.
Finally, the two armies fought it out at Cold Harbor, with the Union forces being driven back with many casualties.
And here is where Rhea's book is distinctive. He argues that Cold Harbor was not nearly as disastrous to Grant's forces as often thought. Indeed, as a percentage of forces lost to casualties, the Confederate Army was in worse shop after Cold Harbor than Union forces (that is, they had lost more troops percentagewise than Northern forces). Grant could replenish his forces; Lee had a much more difficult time.
At the end of the slugging matches from The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, Grant pondered his next move. And that's how the book ends.
This is well written. Many maps help the reader visualize the movements of the two armies. The order of battle at the end shows the organization of each army, down to brigade and regimental levels. All in all, a worthy addition to the library of students of the Civil War.
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Part 4 of a masterful series |
Cold Harbor Grant and Lee May 26-June 3, 1864
by Gordon C Rhea
Anyone who would understand the complexities and difficulties of the duel between Grant and Lee in 1864 would do well to start with Gordon Rhea's masterful four-volume "Overland Campaign" series.
Cold Harbor is the culminating Volume and the agony of that battle is not diminished by the fact that it is actually a very different battle from the one people have talked about in generalities.
Cold Harbor was the logical culmination of Grant's continuing efforts to get around Lee's right flank. Grant had a sophisticated understanding of the strategic problem he faced. If he simply kept maneuvering Lee backwards he would eventually be in the fortifications of Richmond and Petersburg. The war would be reduced to a grand siege. Grant was confident he would win such a siege (just as he had won the siege at Vicksburg in 1863) but he also knew it would run the risk of exhausting the patience of the North and costing Lincoln the election.
To a degree, modern American military officers often underestimate Grant. He understood that the Civil War was political and that if he could not produce victory within a politically acceptable time table the war would be lost.
Lee understood the exact mirror image of Grant's challenge. If Lee could not find a way to outmaneuver Grant and fight a decisive battle in the open he would be forced back into a siege and once pinned to Richmond in a siege he would inevitably lose.
Thus, the aggressive assaults were not mere butchery nor were they tactical incompetence.
Two of the best generals in American history were grappling with how to force a battle of decision out in the open before the realities of siege war closed in on both of them.
They failed, in part because Lee no longer had the forces necessary to fight a battle of decision and the Union Army was not a fast enough instrument to execute the kind of maneuvers Grant and Sherman had exploited in the West.
Rhea brilliantly helps us understand how this happened and why.
He also notes that the common soldiers understood the importance of digging in and entrenching long before their officers did and that the challenges of the First World War were already showing up in the last year of the civil war--some half century earlier. |
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The Overland campaign Series |
The Battle of the Wilderness May 5-6, 1864
Product Details
* Hardcover: 520 pages
* Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (July 1994)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 0807118737
The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7-12, 1864
Product Details
* Hardcover: 483 pages
* Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (May 1997)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 0807121363
To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13-25, 1864
Product Details
* Hardcover: 505 pages
* Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (May 2000)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 0807125350
Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26-June 3, 1864
Product Details
* Hardcover: 552 pages
* Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (September 2002)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 0807128031
I am reviewing the four books a single series although each book is a full stand-alone history. This is a highly detailed military history of Grant's Overland Campaign of 1864. Two of the best generals commanding two of the best armies, in American history, decide the Civil war in the East. Gordon Rhea gives this month the detailed attention it requires and had never received. The 2,000 pages allows for the full story of the campaign, the personalities, failures and success.
The first book covers the major battle of The Wilderness an area Grant wished to clear and Lee hoped to trap him in as he had Hooker in 1863. Through a series of Union miscalculations and command problems, Lee manages to get in Grant's way. What follows is a confused bloody two-day battle that has been termed "Bush whacking on a grand scale". An excellent series of maps, help the reader stay abreast of the battle and understand the confusion of both sides. Lee loses Longstreet and starts to make the hard decisions about personnel that he has avoided since 1862. Grant while testing his relationship with Meade and Burnside, is trying to learn the AOP's generals too. This process dominates the four books as repeatedly Grant is forced to deal with the problems this creates and Lee takes steps that were unthinkable in 1863.
The second book moves the battle from The Wilderness south to Spotsylvania and Yellow Tavern. Grant refuses to "play the game" and retreat behind the Rappahannock but pushes past Lee and continues south. What follows is a race from defensive point to defensive point, which the AOP concedes to the AoNV. Union commanders hesitate at critical moments while the AoNV reinforces the objective. This allows Lee to stay up or ahead producing one of the bloodiest battles in our history at Spotsylvania. In addition, this book covers the critical cavalry operations, Grant's reasoning, and the price paid in taking Sheridan away from Meade. J.E.B. Stuart's death, is well covered. Both in terms of what it means to the AoNV, to Lee and to the Confederacy.
After one of the hardest weeks in their history, the two exhausted bloodied armies eye each other over their entrenchments. Lee understands that he is being trapped and that defensive war can only end in defeat. Grant is trying not to be stuck in a siege and determined to continue south. What follows is a series of forced marches and small battles as Grant and Lee test each other. Each general wins and loses daily as the armies march, counter march and fight. However, at the end of each day, Grant is always closer to Richmond. Lee produces a brilliant trap, Grant takes the bait but circumstances keep lee from springing it. Almost to late, Grant sees the trap pulls back, changes direction and continues south. Book 3, To the North Anna River covers this brilliant and exciting time in detail. Rhea produces some excellent analysis of both commanders and the developing personnel problems they are facing. Neither man is having an easy time of it and both understand they have never faced an enemy like this.
The last book takes us to Cold Harbor, one of the most controversial battles of the war. The detail history and excellent analysis leads us through this battle and produces some startling conclusions. As always, the author provides full support and justification for them. This might be the most important book of the series and the definitive book on the battle of Cold Harbor.
Each book has a full set of maps and illustrations. The writing is uniform and very readable. While detailed, the actions are understandable and you are seldom lost in a sea of names and/or unit numbers. Each book is a stand-alone history and is readable as such. The books were published from 1994 to 2002 and had to be written that way. This is the best account of the Overland Campaign available. It is both an invaluable reference and a great reading experience.
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Disappointing and unfulfilling |
It is not surprising that Gordon Rhea has sold many books through his four volume overview of the Overland Campaign in 1864. After all, the practicing attorney writes well, captivates his audience, and stirs up controversy in the academic community. But after completing three of the four books, it appears that Rhea's personal vendetta against George Gordon Meade and love affair of Ulysses S. Grant has taken over as one of the central themes of this study.
Granted, Rhea's scholarship of debunking American folklore surrounding the battle bears appreciation. Grant as the butcher and Lee as the talented commander are too fabricated into popular memory. Rather, Rhea carefully depicts Grant as the strategist who attempted to "employ combinations of maneuver and force to bring a difficult adversary to bay." (xii) Recently, scholarship is aggressively rethinking memory and its affect on the public. Much of what has become popularized in the Civil War apparently has a different side. Gordon Rhea is one of those trying to reshape the myths and legends that many Civil War buffs grew up with. However, his success comes with failure.
What transpires in the text is Rhea essentially letting Grant off the hook as the so-called "butcher" of the Union, which is appropriate, but not that well-done by the author. Simply stating that the reported thousands killed on June 3 "has no basis in reality" is too easy for a Grant sympathizer. Perhaps the casualty reports for Cold Harbor do not match the figures we know today. But Rhea has apparently made it his mission to deliver Grant as the American hero of the Civil War. No more is this apparent than his continued attack on George Meade, the "commander" of the Army of Potomac. What Rhea fails to understand is the concept of emotion and its attachment in this sense to manhood. Meade was shattered mentally when his army merely was passed over to Grant. Meade's reputation suffered but he continued to be a soldier. Perhaps the relationship of Grant and Meade was rocky. How could it not be? True, Meade had his shortcomings and his handling of the army on June 3 was less than stellar. But Rhea's attempt to inflate the image of Grant by destroying the figure of Meade is one of failure and disappointment.
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Gordon Rheas' Virginia journey continues. |
As with the preceding volumes, this one is filled with the factual detail and the narrative excitement, the reader has come to expect from a Gordon Rhea book. His skillful hand has brought Grant's Virginia campaign to life with a great depth of detail.
The battles leading up to the larger confrontation at Cold Harbor are fascinating. I found much new material that I had not been exposed to before regarding Haw's Shop, Bethedsda Church, and Matadequin Creek. All too often we forget how difficult it was for Grant or Lee to aquire accurate and useful information regarding the disposition of their foe. This seems particularly true of the Cold Harbor campaign. In many ways I found the lead-up to Cold Harbor to be somewhat similar to the lead-up to Antietam. Of course, this time, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had learned the craft of entrenching.
As other reviewers have indicated, there is a wealth of information concerning the leadership difficulties that Grant faced and in particular his relationship with Meade. As a reader, I certainly came away feeling that Meade perhaps deserved a significant amount of the blame for the latter parts of the Union failure at Cold Harbor. Certainly, as the letters to his wife confirm, Meade's focus was on himself and not on his men or his foe.
Lastly, I think many readers will find themselves questioning the time-worn idea that Grant simply sent his army to be butchered at Cold Harbor. Instead, I found that Grant's thought process may not have been so far out of whack. Grant did what McClellan failed to do at Antietam. He pushed the issue as far as he could. Unfortunately, for his men, it wasn't a day 2 at Antietam...but instead was a Cold Harbor indeed.
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