March 1865: The United States was at a crossroads and, truth be told, Abraham Lincoln was a sick man. "I am very unwell," he confided to a close acquaintance. A vast and terrible civil war was winding down, leaving momentous questions for a war-weary president to address. A timely invitation from General U. S. Grant provided the impetus for an escape to City Point, Virginia, a journey from which Abraham Lincoln drew much more than he ever expected. Lincoln's Greatest Journey: Sixteen Days that Changed a Presidency, March 24-April 8, 1865 offers the first comprehensive account of a momentous time. Lincoln traveled to City Point, Virginia, in late March 1865 to escape the constant interruptions in the nation's capital that were carrying off a portion of his "vitality," and to make his personal amends for having presided over the most destructive war in American history in order to save the nation. Lincoln returned to Washington sixteen days later with a renewed sense of purpose, urgency, and direction that would fundamentally shape his second term agenda.
General Robert E. Lee was a complicated man and military figure. In Robert E. Lee, the eleventh book in the critically acclaimed Great Generals Series, Noah Andre Trudeau follows the general's Civil War path with a special emphasis on Lee's changing set of personal values as the conflict wended through four bloody years, offering tantalizing glimpses into Lee’s character and exploring his famous skills as a crafty and daring tactician. This insightful new account delivers a fresh perspective on one of the most beloved and enigmatic military leaders of all time, as well as on the war that divided our nation and led to many of the sectional political issues that have since cast a long shadow over American politics.
“For a century after the death of Robert E. Lee in 1870, his image achieved iconic status in the South—and beyond. In recent decades, however, historians have discovered a flesh-and-blood Lee who is far more complex and interesting than the marble man of yore. Trudeau’s fast-paced biography offers a well-rounded portrait of Robert E. Lee.”—James M. McPherson, bestselling author of Battle Cry of Freedom
Award-winning Civil War historian Noah Andre Trudeau has written a gripping, definitive new account that will stand as the last word on General William Tecumseh Sherman's epic march-a targeted strategy aimed to break not only the Confederate army but an entire society as well. With Lincoln's hard-fought reelection victory in hand, Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union forces, allowed Sherman to lead the largest and riskiest operation of the war. In rich detail, Trudeau explains why General Sherman's name is still anathema below the Mason-Dixon Line, especially in Georgia, where he is remembered as "the one who marched to the sea with death and devastation in his wake."
Sherman's swath of destruction spanned more than sixty miles in width and virtually cut the South in two, badly disabling the flow of supplies to the Confederate army. He led more than 60,000 Union troops to blaze a path from Atlanta to Savannah, ordering his men to burn crops, kill livestock, and decimate everything that fed the Rebel war machine. Grant and Sherman's gamble worked, and the march managed to crush a critical part of the Confederacy and increase the pressure on General Lee, who was already under siege in Virginia.
Told through the intimate and engrossing diaries and letters of Sherman's soldiers and the civilians who suffered in their path, Southern Storm paints a vivid picture of an event that would forever change the course of America.
