The Civil War on the river lines of Virginia, 1862-1864 : decision on the Rappahannock and the Rapidan Rivers / David F. Trask.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Trask, David F.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Campaigns.

Virginia.

History.

Physical Description:

x, 208 pages : maps, plans ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham : University Press of America, [2009]

Summary:

In The Civil War on the River Lines of Virginia, 1862-1864, Trask argues that the bloody engagements on the river lines were the most important battles of the Civil War in the East, far surpassing even the dramatic contests at Antietam and Gettysburg in significance. During the Civil War, the Union and the Confederacy fought for possession of the land between Culpeper Court House and Fredericksburg in east-central Virginia from December 1862 to May 1864, waging four great battles at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. The Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers flowed through the area. It was the only defensible stronghold between Washington, D.C. and Richmond, the capitals of the belligerent nations. Its loss would doom the Southern cause in Virginia. When the army of General Ulysses S. Grant finally evicted General Robert E. Lee's troops from the river lines, he soon marched to the James River and lay siege to Petersburg and Richmond. Eventually, Grant achieved the final victory of the union in the eastern theater of war. This book is the first to analyze and evaluate all of the struggles on the river lines in one book.

Contents:

Ch. 1 River Lines of Virginia 1

Ch. 2 Preliminaries: July 1861-December 1862 9

Ch. 3 Fredericksburg-Chancellorsville Campaign: Battle of Fredericksburg 13 December 1862 31

Ch. 4 Planning for Chancellorsville: January-April 1863 47

Ch. 5 Fredericksburg-Chancellorsville Campaign: Chancellorsville 1-6 May 1863 61

Ch. 6 Between Campaigns: May 1863-May 1864 89

Ch. 7 Wilderness-Spotsylvania Campaign: Battle of The Wilderness 4-6 May 1864 113

Ch. 8 Wilderness-Spotsylvania Campaign: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House 8-12 May 1864 143

Ch. 9 Wilderness-Spotsylvania Campaign: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House 13-21 May 1864 169.

ISBN:

9780761846048

0761846042

OCLC:

316827791