A classic work of military history, follows the enigmatic commander in chief of the Union forces through the last year and a half of the Civil War....
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reviews
Dec 09, 2009
Randy
rated it: 
This is an excellent second-half of Mr. Catton’s military biography of Grant. In the first half, Grant Moves South, we experience Grant evolving as a General. In Grant Takes Command we still experience Grant’s evolution, but also his stubborn determination to win the war against many obstacles: Lee, the Washington bureaucracy, and the petty in-fighting between Union generals.
Grant, we see, was a great diplomat, and only a great diplomat could have balanced so many opposing forces an More...
Grant, we see, was a great diplomat, and only a great diplomat could have balanced so many opposing forces an More...
Feb 10, 2012
RJ
rated it:
Sequel to Grant Moves South, the general takes Vicksburg and Chattanooga, then is summoned to Washington to meet President Lincoln for the first time. There Lincoln entrusts Grant with supreme command of the military operation. There follows the bloody Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor battles, followed by the siege of Petersburg. Grant is finally the man to face down Robert E. Lee in Virginia, at great cost.
Dec 24, 2011
Jonathan
rated it:
Catton's prose, once again, drew me in and put me in the middle of places whose names haunt our history - Spotsylvania, The Wilderness, and Cold Harbor to name a few - names that evoke hellish sacrafice drawn with aching precision and, remarkably, infinite grace. He's a national treasure.
Oct 17, 2008
Patrick
rated it:
Fascinating, Fascinating look at U.S. Grant, who after George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, is perhaps the most remarkable American ever.
Think about it. In 1860, he's washed out of the army, a reputation in tatters, and working in his father's leather goods store. In 1864 he's commander of the largest army on earth, and in 1868 he's elected president of the United States.
Grant's reputation has not survived well. It's been said his enemies were better writers than his friends were, More...
Think about it. In 1860, he's washed out of the army, a reputation in tatters, and working in his father's leather goods store. In 1864 he's commander of the largest army on earth, and in 1868 he's elected president of the United States.
Grant's reputation has not survived well. It's been said his enemies were better writers than his friends were, More...
Jan 12, 2011
Erik
rated it:
Reviewed under the rubric "Grant Series" of which this is the second volume of two.
Jul 23, 2007
Patrick
rated it: 
Enjoyable. Well written. A good introduction to Grant's campaign after Vicksburg. Provides a good understanding as to how Grant handled his subordinates as a theater commander and as overall commander during 1864-5.
Aug 19, 2008
Art
rated it:
I read this book back in High School. It was given to me by my Aunt Marge for a Birthday gift. Little did she now that she awaken the Historian in me.
Thanks, Aunt Marge.
:0)
Thanks, Aunt Marge.
:0)
Sep 03, 2011
Fredrick
rated it:
Catton explores the Civil War in the period after U.S. Grants becomes the overall Union commander in the Eastern Theater.
Aug 06, 2009
David
rated it: 
Unbelievably well balanced biography, esp considering it was written over 40 years ago. Recent revisionist historians have definitely stolen a page from Bruce Catton.
Along with the first section, Grant moves South, it provides an incredibly detailed (basically week to week) narrative of Grant's actions throughout the Civil War, as well as an in-depth analysis of Grant's decisions and the factors that led to those decisions.
Along with the first section, Grant moves South, it provides an incredibly detailed (basically week to week) narrative of Grant's actions throughout the Civil War, as well as an in-depth analysis of Grant's decisions and the factors that led to those decisions.
Feb 09, 2012
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