Great Campaigns of the Civil War Series
320 pages
15 illustrations, 14 maps
When Gen. Robert E. Lee fled from Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, in April 1865, many observers did not realize that the Civil War had reached its nadir. A large number of Confederates, from Jefferson Davis down to the rank-and-file, were determined to continue fighting. Though Union successes had nearly extinguished the Confederacy’s hope for an outright victory, the South still believed it could force the Union to grant a negotiated peace that would salvage some of its war aims. As evidence of the Confederacy’s determination, two major Union campaigns, along with a number of smaller engagements, were required to quell the continued organized Confederate military resistance.
In Spring 1865 Perry D. Jamieson juxtaposes for the first time the major campaign against Lee that ended at Appomattox and Gen. William T. Sherman’s march north through the Carolinas, which culminated in Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender at Bennett Place. Jamieson also addresses the efforts required to put down armed resistance in the Deep South and the Trans-Mississippi. As both sides fought for political goals following Lee’s surrender, these campaigns had significant consequences for the political-military context that shaped the end of the war as well as Reconstruction.
“An engaging narrative of how the final six months played out and the military and political decisions that led to the final outcome. . . . Crisp, page-turning.”—Judkin Browning, author of The Seven Days’ Battles: The War Begins Anew
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Preface
Acknowledgments
Series Editors’ Introduction
1. Terrible Times of Shipwreck
2. Fort Fisher and Wilmington
3. In the Carolinas
4. Bentonville
5. Late Winter at Petersburg
6. The Fall of Petersburg
7. To Sailor’s Creek
8. Spring Morning
9. A Scrap of Paper
10. Scattered Embers
Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index
