The Last Citadel
Petersburg, June 1864-April 1865
1st Edition
Published on 20. May 2022
500 pages
978-1-940669-56-4 (ISBN)
Description
The revised and updated groundbreaking study of the most extensive military operation of the Civil War-from the author of
Bloody Roads South.
The Petersburg campaign began on June 9, 1864, and ended on April 3, 1865, when Federal troops at last entered the city. It was the longest and most costly siege ever to take place on North American soil, yet it has been overshadowed by other actions that occurred at the same time period, most notably Sherman's famous "March to the Sea," and Sheridan's celebrated Shenandoah Valley campaign. The ten-month Petersburg affair witnessed many more combat actions than the other two combined, and involved an average of 170,000 soldiers, not to mention thousands of civilians who were also caught up in the maelstrom. By its bloody end, the Petersburg campaign would add more than 70,000 casualties to the war's total.
With the same dogged determination that had seen him through the terrible Overland Campaign, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant fixed his sights on the capture of Petersburg. Grant's opponent, General Robert E. Lee, was equally determined that the "Cockade City" would not fall. Trudeau crafts this dramatic and moving story largely through the words of the men and women who were there, including officers, common soldiers, and the residents of Petersburg. What emerges is an epic account rich in human incident and adventure. Based on exhaustive research into official records and unpublished memoirs, letters, and diaries, as well as published recollections and regimental histories, The Last Citadel also includes twenty-three maps and a choice selection of drawings by on-the-spot combat artists.
The Petersburg campaign began on June 9, 1864, and ended on April 3, 1865, when Federal troops at last entered the city. It was the longest and most costly siege ever to take place on North American soil, yet it has been overshadowed by other actions that occurred at the same time period, most notably Sherman's famous "March to the Sea," and Sheridan's celebrated Shenandoah Valley campaign. The ten-month Petersburg affair witnessed many more combat actions than the other two combined, and involved an average of 170,000 soldiers, not to mention thousands of civilians who were also caught up in the maelstrom. By its bloody end, the Petersburg campaign would add more than 70,000 casualties to the war's total.
With the same dogged determination that had seen him through the terrible Overland Campaign, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant fixed his sights on the capture of Petersburg. Grant's opponent, General Robert E. Lee, was equally determined that the "Cockade City" would not fall. Trudeau crafts this dramatic and moving story largely through the words of the men and women who were there, including officers, common soldiers, and the residents of Petersburg. What emerges is an epic account rich in human incident and adventure. Based on exhaustive research into official records and unpublished memoirs, letters, and diaries, as well as published recollections and regimental histories, The Last Citadel also includes twenty-three maps and a choice selection of drawings by on-the-spot combat artists.
All prices
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
11/2014
Savas Beatie
€47.91
Article exhausted; check different version
Book
Savas Beatie
€41.27
The article will not be published
Person
Noah Andre Trudeau is a history graduate of the State University of New York at Albany. His first book, Bloody Roads South, won the Civil War Round Table of New York's prestigious Fletcher Pratt Award, and enjoyed a cameo appearance in the hit web television series House of Cards. His fourth book, Like Men of War, a combat history of black troops in the Civil War, was honored with the Grady McWhiney Research Foundation's Jerry Coffey Memorial Book Prize. His other books include a best-selling history of the Battle of Gettysburg, Sherman's "March to the Sea," and a compact biography of Robert E. Lee.
Content
- Intro
- Preface
- Author's Note
- A Note on the Illustrations
- Prologue: A Distant Thunder
- 1. "Petersburg is to be and shall be defended"
- 2. "It was a marvel of a move"
- Part I: Enemy at the Gates
- 3. "Hold on at all hazards!"
- 4. "I have determined to try to envelop Petersburg"
- 5. "The destructive work of the shells was visible on every hand"
- 6. "The saddest affair I have ever witnessed in the war"
- Part II: Fighting Right, Fighting Left
- 7. "It was terrible-awful-terrific"
- 8. "Fire low! Low! Low!"
- 9. "Hello! Yanks! Want any fresh beef?"
- 10. Dateline: Petersburg
- 11. "Everything now hinges on the election"
- Part III: The Last Winter of War
- 12. "Starvation Parties"
- 13. "We cannot believe Americans can do these things"
- 14. "When we weren't killing each other, we were the best of friends"
- 15. "Proper subjects for the hangman"
- Part IV: An End, A Beginning
- 16. "The tremendous possibility"
- 17. "I have ordered a general assault along the lines"
- Epilogue: A Distant Thunder
- 18. "My kitchen is full of soldiers"
- 19. "I hoped to capture them soon"
- Notes
- Note on the Organization of Forces
- Organization of Forces (1864 - 1865)
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgments
- Index
