Ending the Civil War

Dramatically and authentically, using eyewitness accounts where possible, this book recounts the final 13 months of the Civil War, a year in which a new U.S. Army general in chief was appointed, a new course for the war was charted, a massive new campaign was begun, the abolition of slavery was confirmed by the re-election of Abraham Lincoln, and the course of history was altered by the assassination of America’s most revered president. It was the year that the United States won the final battle and the year that the sundered nation was reunited. The book describes those events and the key figures in them.

Formerly with the New York Times and the Saturday Evening Post, Benton Rain Patterson is an emeritus associate professor of journalism at the University of Florida.

Benton Rain Patterson
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 332
Bibliographic Info: 37 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6964-2
eISBN: 978-0-7864-9102-5
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1

1. The Change of Command, March 1864      3

2. The Plan for Victory, March 23 to May 3, 1864      10

3. The Massacre, March 25 to April 13, 1864      17

4. Lee, April 1864      29

5. The Grant Offensive Begins, May 2 to May 7, 1864      33

6. The Red River Debacle, March 2 to May 21, 1864      46

7. Death at Spotsylvania, May 7 to May 19, 1864      56

8. Repulse at Cold Harbor, May 21 to June 12, 1864      64

9. The Georgia Invasion, May 4 to July 17, 1864      73

10. General Sigel and the Battle of New Market, May 15, 1864      87

11. The End of the CSS Alabama, June 11 to June 19, 1864      96

12. General Hunter’s War, May 21 to June 30, 1864      106

13. Petersburg, June 12 to June 18, 1864      115

14. The March to Washington, June 23 to July 12, 1864      123

15. The Mining Disaster, June 21 to July 30, 1864      131

16. Damn the Torpedoes, August 4 to August 5, 1864      138

17. Stalemate at Atlanta, July 17 to August 23, 1864      149

18. Atlanta Is Burning, August 24 to November 16, 1864      160

19. Sheridan in the Valley, July 31, 1864, to March 2, 1865      171

20. The Presidential Election, June 8 to November 8, 1864      188

21. Across the Mississippi, May to December 1864      199

22. Hood’s Last Campaign, October 15, 1864, to January 23, 1865      209

23. The March to the Sea, November 16 to December 21, 1864      221

24. The Fight for Fort Fisher, December 24, 1864, to January 15, 1865      235

25. Sherman in the Carolinas, January 21 to March 24, 1865      247

26. The Fall of Petersburg and the Capture of Richmond, March 25 to April 3, 1865      259

27. The Meeting at the McLean House, April 9, 1865      269

28. The Assassination, April 14, 1865      282

29. The Beginning of Peace      294

Chapter Notes      305

Bibliography      321

Index      325

“excellent”—On Point; “this lively narrative account of the last year of the Civil War, March–April 1865, will interest general readers, history buffs, and scholars alike”—Reference & Research Book News.