Be Specific About Based On Books The Civil War, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox (The Civil War #3)
| Title | : | The Civil War, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox (The Civil War #3) |
| Author | : | Shelby Foote |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 1120 pages |
| Published | : | November 12th 1986 by Vintage (first published January 1st 1974) |
| Categories | : | History. Military History. Civil War. American History. American Civil War. Nonfiction. War. Military Fiction |
Shelby Foote
Paperback | Pages: 1120 pages Rating: 4.54 | 6016 Users | 184 Reviews
Interpretation As Books The Civil War, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox (The Civil War #3)
Shelby Foote writes, in the afterward section of this, the third volume of his monumental history of the Civil War, how relieved he was to finally finish this labor of love after researching and writing for twenty years. A literary effort begun to commemorate the centennial of the Civil War ended long after, in his description, the centennial enthusiasm had dried up. True, a centennial celebration itself fizzles out, otherwise we, or rather our descendants, would never eventually get re-excited about a bi- and a tri- and on and on .. centennial. I'm not sure Foote is implying with this statement that Civil War enthusiasm waned after the mid-1960's, but if it took a dip, it was only temporary. Thanks to Foote and others, including Ken Burns, the American Civil War continues to fascinate generations of readers. It isn't necessary to read the three volumes of Shelby Foote's "The Civil War" in order, but my experience from doing so imparted the feeling that I had been exposed to the whole grand majestic scope of this struggle. Foote is all-inclusive in his choice of the war's significant struggles. His motive is revealed literally on the last page of prose (page 1065) in which he states that his writing aim was to provide a "more fitting balance" than many histories provide, by showing the patient reader how the actions outside the state of Virginia, vaguely labeled as in "the West", had no less importance to the war's outcome than the well-known battles such as Gettysburg and Chancellorsville. Foote shows how these geographically wide pieces fit into the 1864 puzzle in his first chapter, aptly titled "Another Grand Design". In the spring of that year, another recently-appointed Union commanding general, Ulysses Grant, launched a multi-pronged attack designed to hit the Confederate forces in numerous locations ranging West-to-East from Arkansas to Virginia. The greatest Union concentration of forces, personally accompanied by Grant, was the Army of the Potomac, which had had three years of up-and-down morale as various of Grant's predecessors tried to crack the nut of opposition to Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. All of these various conflicts occurring on land and water are narrated by Foote, who never loses the magic touch of making you feel the gravity of the struggle between blue-and butternut-clad armies, while making the reading experience compelling. As we know in retrospect, the time period covered in this third volume parallels the long, painful series of events leading to the Confederate downfall. Not that anyone knew for sure what the outcome would be, or when it would occur, as Grant started his spring, 1864 invasion. He may have been the national hero of Donelson, Shiloh and Vicksburg in the Western theater, but he was up against the best general in the Civil War now. With Grant, Lee continued his pattern of keeping his forces from being smashed by larger Union armies, while always inflicting heavier casualties against his opponent. Grant found himself being set up on numerous occasions for a smashing blow from Lee which would force him to withdraw from the field; he countered these sometimes surprising threats by "sidling" his army eastward across Virginia in a campaign we now know as "The Forty Days", as violent, bloody clashes occurred from The Wilderness, to Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. Foote graphically describes the "concentrated terror" of one terrible day, when the struggle at the "Bloody Angle" at Spotsylvania involved fighting by both sides across a parapet at literally arms' length, a "waking nightmare" going on for sixteen hours, a defense as much as it was an attack by either side, where neither victory nor defeat mattered, and fighting continued on and on, under the influence of pure adrenalin, and "Slaughter became an end in itself" (p. 221). This one day resulted in 3000 Confederate soldiers captured, killed or wounded compared with 6820 of their enemy. And this day followed numerous others already involving many thousands of casualties on each side, to be followed by many more. Lee would somehow be able to block Grant again and again, in order to protect Richmond, the Confederate Capital. The cost of constant attrition of his forces during the spring, summer and fall of that year would find the two armies facing each other outside Richmond, at Petersburg. By November, Lee knew he was on the verge of calamity because his forces were spread very thin, and there were no more reinforcements to be had. Grant would continue to plan for the breakthrough that would send Lee's forces reeling from their intrenched positions, and it was provided by one of his most aggressive generals, Phil Sheridan, whose thrust at Five Forks on April 1st, 1865 tarnished the reputation of George Picket and began the unravelling of Lee's defenses. One of the Civil War's most dramatic chapters occurred while the Confederate government abandoned Richmond, beginning its itinerant railroad journey to avoid being captured, while Lee evacuated his army westward in the long-shot attempt to get the survivors of his forces to meet with General Johnston's army in North Carolina. Foote shows how Lee and his exhausted army never considered giving up trying to keep the fight going until Grant's relentless pushing of his forces finally boxed in the Confederates at Appomattox Courthouse. There were other Confederate forces still in the field, but Foote makes it clear how Lee's April 9th surrender gave really no alternative to the holdouts, forcing Richard Taylor to surrender his army of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana to Federal General Canby, and Johnston to surrender his army of the Department of North and South Carolina and Georgia to William T. Sherman. Meanwhile, President Jefferson Davis was pursuing the hope of some kind of Confederate government-on-the-run survival, moving from town to town with his cabinet, on the Danville and Richmond Railroad, as cabinet members gradually gave up the cause and bugged out of Davis' retinue. Foote, a Southerner sensitive to the not-so sympathetic treatment given to Davis' memory by historians, documents the treatment and mistreatment received by the forever unrepentant leader from his capture in Georgia, to his long, harsh imprisonment and beyond. The war bestowed two legacies to Americans. Regarding the first, Foote notes the struggles Abraham Lincoln had in uniting what remained of the remainder of the United States in order to militarily recover the section that had departed, living to see this goal fulfilled, but not living long enough to observe how his returning veterans realized that a nation emerged from the crucible of strife. He writes: "They knew now they had a nation, for they had seen it; they had been there, they had touched it, climbed its mountains, crossed its rivers ....their comrades lay buried in its soil, along with many thousands of their own arms and legs." (p. 1042). The second legacy directly affected the southern veterans, who would also be part of the new nation but would claim membership in a new country south of the Mason-Dixon line; as their claim to nationhood through secession was denied, they claimed unity through pride in enduring a terrible war, the end of which was marked by a villification of their former leaders as instruments of Lucifer, and which was followed by the societal disruptions of Reconstruction and its aftermath. As Foote states: "Not secession but the war itself, and above all the memories recurrent through the peace that followed - such as it was - created a Solid South, more firmly united in defeat than it had been during the brief span when it claimed independence." (p. 1042). Why bother studying History, especially the Civil War? Because, otherwise, it is impossible to understand the difference, to paraphrase Shelby Foote, between "the United States are" and "the United States is" (p. 1042).
Mention Books In Pursuance Of The Civil War, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox (The Civil War #3)
| Original Title: | The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol 3: Red River to Appomattox |
| ISBN: | 0394746228 (ISBN13: 9780394746227) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The Civil War #3 |
| Literary Awards: | Fletcher Pratt Award (1974) |
Rating Based On Books The Civil War, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox (The Civil War #3)
Ratings: 4.54 From 6016 Users | 184 ReviewsWrite Up Based On Books The Civil War, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox (The Civil War #3)
When you finish a trilogy like this you feel a sense of accomplishment. I can't even begin to imagine how Mr. Foote must have felt in completing this work, three thick volumes telling the story of one of the most crucial times in our nation's history.The Civil War, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox concludes an epic but does not satiate my passionate interest in the Civil War itself. It is to the author's great credit that he has told this monumental story not as a series of dry historical battlesWhat an experience its been to read this complete narrativevery much a high point in my love of in-depth history. The real payoff of Footes outstanding portrayal and presentation of the American Civil War comes in this final volume, for all that I adore the two previous books. Having lived with the primary playersLincoln, Grant, Sherman, Lee, Davis, Longstreet, etc.throughout the explosive first years of the war, painted so vividly by Footes eye for the telling details of character, by his
Reread and rating changed from 3 to 4. More appreciated the 2nd time through. Another must read for all interested in American history. This trilogy is really the definitive history of the civil war presented in a very readable style. It has been criticized for omitting mention of some of the atrocities committed by both southern and northern troops, but this is not an important omission. Finally finishing once again (3rd time) the thousands of pages of this definitive history of our civil war.
I believe that Shelby Foote's three volume history of the civil war is the most masterfully written American history book ever.
The blurb on the cover of these books describes the series as an American Iliad which doesn't at all to me seem like an overstatement because I can't think of any other group of American books, fiction or non-fiction, that encompasses the scope of this series. The facts of the Civil War are pretty well documented throughout the 3000 pages or so that Foote has written but it's a testament to his writing ability that these books are such a compelling read. I found myself tearing up when he was
Shelby Foote's Narrative is sometimes called the "American Illiad," and that name fits well for a war saga that is nearly endless, seamlessly blends history and mythology, glows from the page with epic and overblown language. Foote also shares Homer's focus on particular 'hero' characters and their duels, though unlike Hector and Achilles these champions are presidents and commanding officers rather than superhuman warriors. I didn't realize until near the end of this final segment, when the
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