Decided on the Battlefield
Grant, Sherman, Lincoln and the Election of 1864
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
In the summer of 1864, the American Civil War had been dragging on for over three years with no end in sight. Things had not gone well for the Union, and the public blamed the president for the stalemate against the Confederacy and for the appalling numbers of killed and wounded. Lincoln was thoroughly convinced that without a favorable change in the trajectory of the war he would have no chance of winning a second term against former Union general George B. McClellan, whom he had previously dismissed as commander of the Army of the Potomac.
This vivid, engrossing account of a critical year in American history examines the events of 1864, when the course of American history might have taken a radically different direction. It's no exaggeration to say that if McClellan had won the election, everything would have been different-McClellan and the Democrats planned to end the war immediately, grant the South its independence, and let the Confederacy keep its slaves. What were the crucial factors that in the end swung public sentiment in favor of Lincoln? Johnson focuses on the battlefield campaigns of Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. While Grant was waging a war of attrition with superior manpower against the quick and elusive rebel forces under General Robert E. Lee, Sherman was fighting a protracted battle in Georgia against Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston. But then the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, made a tactical error that would change the whole course of the war.
This lively narrative, full of intriguing historical facts, brings to life an important series of episodes in our nation's history. History and Civil War buffs will not want to put down this real-life page-turner.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As if it weren t hard enough to win the Civil War, Generals Grant and Sherman labored under the knowledge that if they failed, Lincoln would lose his bid for a second term as President he knew the weary citizens of the North despaired of victory after several defeats and Jubal Early s demoralizing attack on Washington. In the political arena, he struggled against The Radical Republicans who threatened to split the party, as well as the leading Democratic candidate, failed head of the Army of the Potomac, George McClellan the Virginia Creeper. The Confederacy recognized that it couldn t beat the Union, but if they could outlast them until a new president was elected in 1864, victory would be theirs. At the same time, Grant knew that his advantage in terms of manpower and resources would ensure success if his troops could hold out long enough. In the summer of 1864, two rays of hope shone on the Union Army: Rear Admiral David Farragut took Mobile Bay, the last major port on the Gulf Coast, and General Philip Sheridan following orders from Grant to make all the Valley south of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad a desert drove Early out of the Shenandoah Valley, and destroyed the Confederacy s breadbasket. By September, Lincoln s victory had been decided on the battlefield. In a fascinating epilogue, Johnson illustrates the dire implications of a McClellan win. Historians will appreciate this excellently researched book for its level of insight, while casual readers will enjoy Johnson s deft narrative management of battles and strategy. Photos.
