If it takes all summer : the battle of Spotsylvania / by William D. Matter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Matter, William D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spotsylvania Court House, Battle of, Va., 1864.

Physical Description:

x, 455 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [1988]

Summary:

The termination of the war and the fate of the Union hung in the balance in May of 1864 as Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac clashed in the Virginia countryside-first in the battle of the Wilderness, where the Federal army sustained greater losses than at Chancellorsville, and then further south in the vicinity of Spotsylvania Courthouse, where Grant sought to cut Lee's troops off from the Confederate capital of Richmond.

If It Takes All Summer is the first book-length examination of the pivotal Spotsylvania campaign of 7-21 May. Drawing on extensive research in manuscript collections across the country and an exhaustive reading of the available literature, William Matter sets the strategic stage for the campaign before turning to a detailed description of tactical movements. He offers abundant fresh material on the race from the Wilderness to Spotsylvania, the role of Federal and Confederate cavalry, Emory Upton's brilliantly conceived Union assault on 10 May, and the bitter clash on 19 May at the Harris farm. Throughout the book, Matter assesses each side's successes, failures, and lost opportunities and sketches portraits of the principal commanders.

The centerpiece of the narrative is a meticulous and dramatic treatment of the horrific encounter in the salient that formed the Confederate center on 12 May. There the campaign reached its crisis, as soldiers waged perhaps the longest and most desperate fight of the entire war for possession of the Bloody Angle-a fight so savage that trees were literally shot to pieces by musket fire. Matter's sure command of a mass of often-conflicting testimony enables him to present by far the clearest account to date of this immensely complex phase of the battle.

Rigorously researched, effectively presented, and well supported by maps, If It Takes All Summer is a model tactical study that accords long overdue attention to the Spotsylvania campaign. It will quickly take its place in the front rank of military studies of the Civil War.

Contents:

Introduction: Initial Encounter 1

Part I Disengagement and Reengagement, 6-8 May

1 Feel with Your Pickets 9

2 Make All Preparations 22

3 The Enemy Came, Yelling As Only They Could 34

4 Press On and Clear This Road 44

5 Our Advance Is Now at Spotsylvania Court House 71

6 Went in Rough and Tumble 83

Part II Thrust and Parry, 9-11 May

7 Couldn't Hit an Elephant 99

8 If You Can Hold Your Position, Do So 124

9 It Is Ordered That We Attack 131

10 The First Gun Ever Lost by the Second Corps 141

11 One of the Classic Infantry Attacks 156

12 The Enemy Are Preparing to Retreat 170

Part III Thunder in the Morning, 12 May

13 General, the Line Is Broken 183

14 If You Will Promise Me, I Will Go Back 208

15 See That Your Orders Are Executed 223

16 If It Should Be My Luck to Come Home 244

Part IV North-South Becomes East-West, 13-21 May

17 Difficult Things Are Being Attempted 271

18 The Army Is in the Best of Spirits 296

19 The Artillery Fired at the Whole D-d Lot 315

20 If It Takes All Summer 342

Appendix A Order of Battle 351

Appendix B Sheridan versus Meade 367

Appendix C The Oak Stump of Spotsylvania 373.

Notes:

Includes index.

Bibliography: pages [419]-435.

ISBN:

0807817813

OCLC:

17108266