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Bloody Spring: Forty Days that Sealed the Confederacy's Fate
For forty crucial days they fought a bloody struggle. When it was over, the Civil War's tide had turned.
In the spring of 1864, Virginia remained unbroken, its armies having repelled Northern armies for more than two years. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had defeated the campaigns of four Union generals, and Lee's veterans were confident they could crush the Union offensive this spring, too. But their adversary in 1864 was a different kind of Union commander—Ulysses S. Grant. The new Union general-in-chief had never lost a major battle while leading armies in the West. A quiet, rumpled man of simple tastes and a bulldog's determination, Grant would lead the Army of the Potomac in its quest to destroy Lee's army.
During six weeks in May and June 1864, Grant's army campaigned as no Union army ever had. During nearly continual combat operations, the Army of the Potomac battered its way through Virginia, skirting Richmond and crossing the James River on one of the longest pontoon bridges ever built. No campaign in North American history was as bloody as the Overland Campaign. When it ended outside Petersburg, more than 100,000 men had been killed, wounded, or captured on battlefields in the Wilderness, near Spotsylvania Court House, and at Cold Harbor. Although Grant's casualties were nearly twice Lee's, the Union could replace its losses. The Confederacy could not.
Lee's army continued to fight brilliant defensive battles, but it never mounted another major offensive. Grant's spring 1864 campaign had tipped the scales permanently in the Union's favor. The war's denouement came less than a year later with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House.
In the spring of 1864, Virginia remained unbroken, its armies having repelled Northern armies for more than two years. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had defeated the campaigns of four Union generals, and Lee's veterans were confident they could crush the Union offensive this spring, too. But their adversary in 1864 was a different kind of Union commander—Ulysses S. Grant. The new Union general-in-chief had never lost a major battle while leading armies in the West. A quiet, rumpled man of simple tastes and a bulldog's determination, Grant would lead the Army of the Potomac in its quest to destroy Lee's army.
During six weeks in May and June 1864, Grant's army campaigned as no Union army ever had. During nearly continual combat operations, the Army of the Potomac battered its way through Virginia, skirting Richmond and crossing the James River on one of the longest pontoon bridges ever built. No campaign in North American history was as bloody as the Overland Campaign. When it ended outside Petersburg, more than 100,000 men had been killed, wounded, or captured on battlefields in the Wilderness, near Spotsylvania Court House, and at Cold Harbor. Although Grant's casualties were nearly twice Lee's, the Union could replace its losses. The Confederacy could not.
Lee's army continued to fight brilliant defensive battles, but it never mounted another major offensive. Grant's spring 1864 campaign had tipped the scales permanently in the Union's favor. The war's denouement came less than a year later with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published April 29, 2014
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September 5, 2024
There are individual books about each of the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor during the spring of 1864. In the interest of efficiency, I chose to read this book about the entire Overland Campaign that incorporates them all. As a “narrative history” of the campaign and not a detailed treatise, efficiency and readability are this book’s strengths. It provides a broad overview of the state of play as Gen. Grant heads east and carries out a plan to take on Gen. Lee, with just enough detail about how the battles played out without getting too deep into the weeds.
What I thought was lacking was a solid conclusion, an analysis of the strategies and tactics, a good sense of whether the campaign’s horrendous carnage was worth it, and what impact it had on the wider war, beyond the simple declaration that the beginning of the campaign marked the “major turning point of the war.” In some sense this is true, but the same thing is often said of just about any major Civil War battle that an author chooses to write about, in order to help justify the rationale for doing so.
The book does well in setting the scene, with mini-biographies of the main players and a snapshot of where things stood at this stage of the war - on the battlefield, in politics and in Northern and Southern culture - for readers who might be just dropping in without having read up on previous Civil War events.
As Grant takes command as general-in-chief of all Union armies, he begins to formulate a grand strategy, coordinating the movements of all armies to keep Confederate forces occupied everywhere at once. This is not really Wheelan’s focus, however, as he’s more interested specifically in the Army of the Potomac, which up to this point had “lacked offensive victories,” he writes. “Its few triumphs were defensive.”
Grant aimed to change that, by aggressively going on the offensive, resulting in one major battle after another, which Wheelan describes as “Grant’s and Lee’s chess game across Northern Virginia.”
It may seem like an insignificant quibble, but the structure of the book felt odd to me, in that in about 350 pages of text, there are only six chapters. There’s one chapter for each battle - the one on the Battle of the Wilderness alone is more than 100 pages long - with a few shorter chapters to bridge them all. Granted, each chapter consists of several sections which helps to break things up, but if you’re like me and find yourself counting the pages in the next chapter of whatever book you’re reading to see if you have time to read just one more, the long chapters here threw me off a bit.
Overall, Wheelan does well in turning the campaign and its individual battles into a narrative, making it easy to follow and to see how one event led into the next and the next. The Overland Campaign itself, though, was also part of a larger narrative that impacted what happened next. After a very good setup that placed the campaign in context as it began, I thought the book could have used a similar conclusion that placed the campaign in context as it ended.
Instead, the narrative comes to a swift end, as the next stage of the war - the Richmond-Petersburg campaign - is only briefly mentioned as a bit of an afterthought in the epilogue. This is a book about the Overland Campaign, and “Spring” is right there in the title, so it has to end somewhere - I can’t, then, criticize it for not moving on to the summer and the next campaign. But it’s difficult to consider this one campaign in isolation without at least providing a more thorough summary of how this “major turning point of the war” affected what was to come.
What I thought was really missing, though, was an analysis of Grant’s tactics and whether it was all worth it. If there’s one thing a casual reader knows about the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor, it’s how they contributed to Grant’s reputation as a butcher, with little regard for his own men’s lives, as he attacked and attacked in order to wear down Lee’s forces regardless of the cost. Is this a fair assessment, or were Grant’s tactics precisely what was needed to start bringing the war to an end? Wheelan simply doesn’t engage with the question, and barely even brings it up. He describes the battles’ horrors, and notes that the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was severely diminished as a result, but doesn’t attempt to put two and two together and consider whether the ends justified the means.
So as an efficient, well-written narrative history with a beginning, middle and end, this is a good read that gives you a good sense of what happened without being too detailed for the layman. For this layman, it was a nice break from the scholarly, military-history approach in which every maneuver of every regiment is described and it’s difficult to see the forest for the trees. I just wish this book could have offered a bit more - in focusing on the forest, it could actually have used a few more trees.
What I thought was lacking was a solid conclusion, an analysis of the strategies and tactics, a good sense of whether the campaign’s horrendous carnage was worth it, and what impact it had on the wider war, beyond the simple declaration that the beginning of the campaign marked the “major turning point of the war.” In some sense this is true, but the same thing is often said of just about any major Civil War battle that an author chooses to write about, in order to help justify the rationale for doing so.
The book does well in setting the scene, with mini-biographies of the main players and a snapshot of where things stood at this stage of the war - on the battlefield, in politics and in Northern and Southern culture - for readers who might be just dropping in without having read up on previous Civil War events.
As Grant takes command as general-in-chief of all Union armies, he begins to formulate a grand strategy, coordinating the movements of all armies to keep Confederate forces occupied everywhere at once. This is not really Wheelan’s focus, however, as he’s more interested specifically in the Army of the Potomac, which up to this point had “lacked offensive victories,” he writes. “Its few triumphs were defensive.”
Grant aimed to change that, by aggressively going on the offensive, resulting in one major battle after another, which Wheelan describes as “Grant’s and Lee’s chess game across Northern Virginia.”
It may seem like an insignificant quibble, but the structure of the book felt odd to me, in that in about 350 pages of text, there are only six chapters. There’s one chapter for each battle - the one on the Battle of the Wilderness alone is more than 100 pages long - with a few shorter chapters to bridge them all. Granted, each chapter consists of several sections which helps to break things up, but if you’re like me and find yourself counting the pages in the next chapter of whatever book you’re reading to see if you have time to read just one more, the long chapters here threw me off a bit.
Overall, Wheelan does well in turning the campaign and its individual battles into a narrative, making it easy to follow and to see how one event led into the next and the next. The Overland Campaign itself, though, was also part of a larger narrative that impacted what happened next. After a very good setup that placed the campaign in context as it began, I thought the book could have used a similar conclusion that placed the campaign in context as it ended.
Instead, the narrative comes to a swift end, as the next stage of the war - the Richmond-Petersburg campaign - is only briefly mentioned as a bit of an afterthought in the epilogue. This is a book about the Overland Campaign, and “Spring” is right there in the title, so it has to end somewhere - I can’t, then, criticize it for not moving on to the summer and the next campaign. But it’s difficult to consider this one campaign in isolation without at least providing a more thorough summary of how this “major turning point of the war” affected what was to come.
What I thought was really missing, though, was an analysis of Grant’s tactics and whether it was all worth it. If there’s one thing a casual reader knows about the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor, it’s how they contributed to Grant’s reputation as a butcher, with little regard for his own men’s lives, as he attacked and attacked in order to wear down Lee’s forces regardless of the cost. Is this a fair assessment, or were Grant’s tactics precisely what was needed to start bringing the war to an end? Wheelan simply doesn’t engage with the question, and barely even brings it up. He describes the battles’ horrors, and notes that the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was severely diminished as a result, but doesn’t attempt to put two and two together and consider whether the ends justified the means.
So as an efficient, well-written narrative history with a beginning, middle and end, this is a good read that gives you a good sense of what happened without being too detailed for the layman. For this layman, it was a nice break from the scholarly, military-history approach in which every maneuver of every regiment is described and it’s difficult to see the forest for the trees. I just wish this book could have offered a bit more - in focusing on the forest, it could actually have used a few more trees.
March 20, 2021
I listened to the audio book which was narrated by Grover Gardiner.
He is a phenomenal narrator.
That being said, while this was an interesting and well done book, it really didn't add anything new.
I would definately recommend it to somebody wanting to learn about the Civil War, but for somebody who is familiar? Not so much.
He is a phenomenal narrator.
That being said, while this was an interesting and well done book, it really didn't add anything new.
I would definately recommend it to somebody wanting to learn about the Civil War, but for somebody who is familiar? Not so much.
June 18, 2014
Joseph Wheelan's "Bloody Spring - Forty Days that Sealed the Confederacy's Fate" is about the 1864 "Overland Campaign". Wheelan's book is both a well written history, and an organizational study.
As a history, Wheelan covers the period from US Grants planning of the campaign through the Army of the Potomac reaching the Petersburg lines.
As an organizational study, Wheelen concentrates on the Army of the Potomac as it learns how to fight and manuever against what was arguably the best military organization of the United States Civil War, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. He shows each major mistake made by the Army of the Potomac and how the Union and Confederate commanders responded and reacted. He also shows that mistakes cost lives, in this case many thousands of lives.
The "Overland Campaign" was US Grant's Spring of 1864 campaign to find and destroy the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The United States Army of the Potomac had tried this in 1861, 1862 and 1863 multiple times and failed each time. Grant was able to maintain the organizational and political will to advance the Union Armies after each setback rather than retreat to Washington. And each encounter against the Confederates was tactically a setback. Union armies often arrived after the Confederate armies. Union Armies attacked fixed positions and sustained heavy casualties. And Union Armies were rarely able to seize the battlefield.
However, operationally, the Confederates began to lose the initiative and were forced to respond to the Union moves. And strategically, the Confederates began to lose the ability to win, organizationally, logistically, and regarding manpower.
By the end of the campaign, the Army of the Potomac had largely learned how to move and fight successfully. The Army of Northern Virginia, was still, in many ways, the superior organization. But lacking the men and material, and trapped defending Richmond, it couldn't regain the initiative and was forced to respond to Union moves rather than set the agenda itself.
I would recommend this book to those interested in Military History, the American Civil War, and in Military Organizational Studies. It is well written, and I found, a good read.
However, those interested in the Lost Cause; As well as those who would find the accounts of death, destruction and massive mistakes might overwhelm any sense of joy in reading, probably wouldn't be interested in this book.
As a history, Wheelan covers the period from US Grants planning of the campaign through the Army of the Potomac reaching the Petersburg lines.
As an organizational study, Wheelen concentrates on the Army of the Potomac as it learns how to fight and manuever against what was arguably the best military organization of the United States Civil War, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. He shows each major mistake made by the Army of the Potomac and how the Union and Confederate commanders responded and reacted. He also shows that mistakes cost lives, in this case many thousands of lives.
The "Overland Campaign" was US Grant's Spring of 1864 campaign to find and destroy the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The United States Army of the Potomac had tried this in 1861, 1862 and 1863 multiple times and failed each time. Grant was able to maintain the organizational and political will to advance the Union Armies after each setback rather than retreat to Washington. And each encounter against the Confederates was tactically a setback. Union armies often arrived after the Confederate armies. Union Armies attacked fixed positions and sustained heavy casualties. And Union Armies were rarely able to seize the battlefield.
However, operationally, the Confederates began to lose the initiative and were forced to respond to the Union moves. And strategically, the Confederates began to lose the ability to win, organizationally, logistically, and regarding manpower.
By the end of the campaign, the Army of the Potomac had largely learned how to move and fight successfully. The Army of Northern Virginia, was still, in many ways, the superior organization. But lacking the men and material, and trapped defending Richmond, it couldn't regain the initiative and was forced to respond to Union moves rather than set the agenda itself.
I would recommend this book to those interested in Military History, the American Civil War, and in Military Organizational Studies. It is well written, and I found, a good read.
However, those interested in the Lost Cause; As well as those who would find the accounts of death, destruction and massive mistakes might overwhelm any sense of joy in reading, probably wouldn't be interested in this book.
July 17, 2021
This is a book that sets out to cover an important period in the American Civil War – the moment when the war turned from being an indecisive back and forth to being a steady march towards near-inevitable Union victory. As he sees it this all occurred in the first forty days of Grant’s invasion of Virginia. Shrugging off casualties, Grant fought off Lee’s army and kept fighting even when he was unable to achieve a clear battlefield victory. As a result, Lee was steadily pushed back until he assumed a defensive position at Petersburg. From there it was just a matter of time until Lee was defeated, assuming no outside forces were able to support him or distract the Federals.
I think this is all pretty much correct, even if I find some of his treatment of Grant’s campaign a bit partial. The idea that Grant won by using superior Northern resources to batter through Lee’s superior tactics has elements of Lost Causerism, even if he does emphasize that this was a result not of Grant’s innate lack of imagination but of Lee’s ability to foresee and block most of Grant’s more clever maneuvers. It would have been nice to see a bit more of the decision-making process of both commanders (who appear as fairly abstract figures most of the time) but it lays out the battles in a clear and understandable fashion. Lee has always seemed to me a master of reading his opponents while Grant largely ignores worrying about what the enemy will do to him and focuses on what he can do to them. Both were major proponents of an aggressive approach to warfare that the Southern armies embraced and the Army of the Potomac resisted (even if I think Wheelan can lay that on a bit thick). Meade in particular does not come across well here.
I think the bigger issue I have with the book though is what it leaves out. I agree that this was the essential moment, but the book doesn’t spend enough time explaining why. To do that it would have to stretch its narrative beyond the Army of the Potomac to take in all the different theaters. The rebel army in the west was falling apart, leaving the Confederacy split in two and vulnerable to an attack from that direction. The Confederates had been remarkably successful so far at avoiding disaster by moving their units between fronts as Union forces made uncoordinated advances. With Grant in charge of it all though, the Union advanced on all fronts simultaneously, which meant the outnumbered Confederates had to do what they could with what they had. He mentions this, but doesn’t really explain it. Grant is presented as very much the commander of the Army of the Potomac, not as the director of overall Union strategy.
It would also help if the book had been a bit more upfront about the different goals and strategies of the two sides. The idea of an unstoppable Northern juggernaut slowly but inevitably beating down the plucky Southern rebels is a popular one (and one of the key Lost Cause elements) but ignores the advantages the South had that could easily have proven decisive. Superior generalship for example, at least before they all got themselves killed. And the simpler strategic situation where the Confederates merely had to hold the Union armies off whereas the Union had to actually invade and occupy vast swaths of territory. Grant’s great trick was placing the Confederacy into a position where their advantages were less decisive than the Union ones. That’s why his tying Lee down in Virginia while Sherman advanced into Georgia represented such a major shift. And again, he acknowledges this (if not quite so clearly) but focuses on Grant’s and Lee’s tactical decisions anyway. Which makes it seem tangential to the account.
None of this makes this a bad book. I feel a bit like I’m doing that annoying thing where a critic complains because a book doesn’t talk about what they want to hear. But the book’s stated justification for focusing on this moment is to show the tide turning, and I feel like it doesn’t really achieve its stated aim. The book serves perfectly well as a campaign history of Grant’s Overland Campaign. It’s just that it seems to take for granted the larger context without really engaging with it. Given the book’s stated subject the goals and strategic situation could have been made much more clear. People who know all about the war and just want a new account of a narrow segment of it may find this a useful addition to the vast field of Civil War historiography. People looking for something a bit more general may be more disappointed.
I think this is all pretty much correct, even if I find some of his treatment of Grant’s campaign a bit partial. The idea that Grant won by using superior Northern resources to batter through Lee’s superior tactics has elements of Lost Causerism, even if he does emphasize that this was a result not of Grant’s innate lack of imagination but of Lee’s ability to foresee and block most of Grant’s more clever maneuvers. It would have been nice to see a bit more of the decision-making process of both commanders (who appear as fairly abstract figures most of the time) but it lays out the battles in a clear and understandable fashion. Lee has always seemed to me a master of reading his opponents while Grant largely ignores worrying about what the enemy will do to him and focuses on what he can do to them. Both were major proponents of an aggressive approach to warfare that the Southern armies embraced and the Army of the Potomac resisted (even if I think Wheelan can lay that on a bit thick). Meade in particular does not come across well here.
I think the bigger issue I have with the book though is what it leaves out. I agree that this was the essential moment, but the book doesn’t spend enough time explaining why. To do that it would have to stretch its narrative beyond the Army of the Potomac to take in all the different theaters. The rebel army in the west was falling apart, leaving the Confederacy split in two and vulnerable to an attack from that direction. The Confederates had been remarkably successful so far at avoiding disaster by moving their units between fronts as Union forces made uncoordinated advances. With Grant in charge of it all though, the Union advanced on all fronts simultaneously, which meant the outnumbered Confederates had to do what they could with what they had. He mentions this, but doesn’t really explain it. Grant is presented as very much the commander of the Army of the Potomac, not as the director of overall Union strategy.
It would also help if the book had been a bit more upfront about the different goals and strategies of the two sides. The idea of an unstoppable Northern juggernaut slowly but inevitably beating down the plucky Southern rebels is a popular one (and one of the key Lost Cause elements) but ignores the advantages the South had that could easily have proven decisive. Superior generalship for example, at least before they all got themselves killed. And the simpler strategic situation where the Confederates merely had to hold the Union armies off whereas the Union had to actually invade and occupy vast swaths of territory. Grant’s great trick was placing the Confederacy into a position where their advantages were less decisive than the Union ones. That’s why his tying Lee down in Virginia while Sherman advanced into Georgia represented such a major shift. And again, he acknowledges this (if not quite so clearly) but focuses on Grant’s and Lee’s tactical decisions anyway. Which makes it seem tangential to the account.
None of this makes this a bad book. I feel a bit like I’m doing that annoying thing where a critic complains because a book doesn’t talk about what they want to hear. But the book’s stated justification for focusing on this moment is to show the tide turning, and I feel like it doesn’t really achieve its stated aim. The book serves perfectly well as a campaign history of Grant’s Overland Campaign. It’s just that it seems to take for granted the larger context without really engaging with it. Given the book’s stated subject the goals and strategic situation could have been made much more clear. People who know all about the war and just want a new account of a narrow segment of it may find this a useful addition to the vast field of Civil War historiography. People looking for something a bit more general may be more disappointed.
March 14, 2019
A good book, providing a history of the Civil War’s 40-day Overland Campaign. Starting on 4 May 1864, General Ulysses Grant began the relentless campaign of attrition necessary to break General Robert Lee’s combat potential and end the stalemate in Virginia. This book outlines the many engagements and maneuvers undertaken as part of that campaign, with heavy use of contemporary accounts to fully understand the scope and hardship of that May and early June in 1864. The author makes a good case that Grant brought to Virginia the method of warfare he had honed in the West: relentless movement to keep the enemy off-balance and victory through attrition vice maneuver. Yet the inabilities of the Army of the Potomac’s leadership and, to a lesser degree, it’s troops lack of fighting spirit stymied Grant’s vision and meant another year of war when the campaign closed. Lee, to his credit, understood the strategy Grant planned from the beginning, but lacked the resources and energy to counter it; as with the previous battles in Virginia the ineptitude of subordinate Union Generals remained Lee’s best advantage. I appreciated how the author made a point to outline the other key forces involved in the overall strategy: the Union armies along the James and in the Shenandoah. Those troops played just as much of a role in pressuring Lee and President Davis as the main Army of the Potomac’s relentless push South. The author also does a good job in the epilogue of outlining the attritional nature of the campaign. The inevitably of such a relentless campaign by the Union to end the war is well argued. A great book for those wanting to know more about the beginning of the end of the Civil War.
August 28, 2014
For forty days in the late spring of 1864 the Federal Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia butchered each other in Virginia.
Ulysses S. Grant, appointed as commander in chief of all Federal armies by Lincoln, took his post with George Meade's Army of the Potomac and launched it's 130,000 men on a brutal campaign to destroy Lee's army of roughly 65,000 men.
At the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, The North Anna River and Cold Harbor the two pugilists beat each other senseless. As far as the actual numbers go, Lee's Confederates came out on top, inflicting nearly twice the losses on the Federals that they themselves received and never once breaking into a true defeat. Tactically one could say all of the battles were draws or even limited victories by the Confederates. But it was the final turning point of the war.
The greatest of American generals, Robert E. Lee, at the end of the campaign had his greatest asset, maneuverability and open terrain, taken away from him as Grant, now effectively commander of the Army of the Potomac, hemmed the exceptional Rebel army into the defensive works around Richmond and Petersburg. There even Lee knew it was only a matter of time before attrition forced his excellent army's collapse.
Joseph Wheelan presents a well written, lively, incredibly detailed popular account of this vital campaign. Save for the Atlanta Campaign, no other campaign in the American Civil War had as much impact as this one did on the final outcome of the war.
Wheelan makes a few really good points that not all authors of the saga care to mention.
By taking the excessive losses that he did in forcing Lee to withdraw towards Richmond, Grant was literally killing the best soldiers in his army and thereby transforming, negatively at least for a time, the Army of the Potomac. Neither army was the same at the conclusion of the campaign. But it can be said that Grant's Federals had certainly taken the greater beating.
So too, however, did Lee's forces need time to adjust to its new character. Longstreet, Lee's right hand man following the loss of Stonewall a year earlier at Chancellorsville, had been wounded at the Wilderness (ironically, not far from where Jackson met his own end), he would be replaced by Richard Anderson who would, very shortly, prove to be a worthy replacement. Richard Ewell, commander of Jackson's old Second Corps would eventually be replaced by Jubal Early, a wiser choice than Ewell as it turns out but a man who preferred independent action and didn't get along well with others. And worst of all, JEB Stuarts mortal wounding facing Custer's Michiganders at Yellow Tavern meant that the 'Grey Knight' had to be replaced by Wade Hampton. Although all of these men proved either adept in the extreme or, in the case of Hampton, even better than their predecessors still took time to work out. If the rank and file of the Army of the Potomac was forever changed by losses, so too was the leadership of the Army of Northern Virginia.
All in all this was an excellent read and a worthy addition to an already voluminous library on the Civil War's military history. Definitely worth the read.
Ulysses S. Grant, appointed as commander in chief of all Federal armies by Lincoln, took his post with George Meade's Army of the Potomac and launched it's 130,000 men on a brutal campaign to destroy Lee's army of roughly 65,000 men.
At the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, The North Anna River and Cold Harbor the two pugilists beat each other senseless. As far as the actual numbers go, Lee's Confederates came out on top, inflicting nearly twice the losses on the Federals that they themselves received and never once breaking into a true defeat. Tactically one could say all of the battles were draws or even limited victories by the Confederates. But it was the final turning point of the war.
The greatest of American generals, Robert E. Lee, at the end of the campaign had his greatest asset, maneuverability and open terrain, taken away from him as Grant, now effectively commander of the Army of the Potomac, hemmed the exceptional Rebel army into the defensive works around Richmond and Petersburg. There even Lee knew it was only a matter of time before attrition forced his excellent army's collapse.
Joseph Wheelan presents a well written, lively, incredibly detailed popular account of this vital campaign. Save for the Atlanta Campaign, no other campaign in the American Civil War had as much impact as this one did on the final outcome of the war.
Wheelan makes a few really good points that not all authors of the saga care to mention.
By taking the excessive losses that he did in forcing Lee to withdraw towards Richmond, Grant was literally killing the best soldiers in his army and thereby transforming, negatively at least for a time, the Army of the Potomac. Neither army was the same at the conclusion of the campaign. But it can be said that Grant's Federals had certainly taken the greater beating.
So too, however, did Lee's forces need time to adjust to its new character. Longstreet, Lee's right hand man following the loss of Stonewall a year earlier at Chancellorsville, had been wounded at the Wilderness (ironically, not far from where Jackson met his own end), he would be replaced by Richard Anderson who would, very shortly, prove to be a worthy replacement. Richard Ewell, commander of Jackson's old Second Corps would eventually be replaced by Jubal Early, a wiser choice than Ewell as it turns out but a man who preferred independent action and didn't get along well with others. And worst of all, JEB Stuarts mortal wounding facing Custer's Michiganders at Yellow Tavern meant that the 'Grey Knight' had to be replaced by Wade Hampton. Although all of these men proved either adept in the extreme or, in the case of Hampton, even better than their predecessors still took time to work out. If the rank and file of the Army of the Potomac was forever changed by losses, so too was the leadership of the Army of Northern Virginia.
All in all this was an excellent read and a worthy addition to an already voluminous library on the Civil War's military history. Definitely worth the read.
September 21, 2014
For forty days in the Spring of 1864, the armies under the command of Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant were locked in combat at the Battle of Cold Harbor, North Anna River, Spotsylvania Court House, and the Wildnerness. Wheelan examines the personalities involved in these struggles as well as the strategies employed by both sides and he concludes that at the end of the forty days that the tide of the Civil War had turned toward an ultimate Union victory. But he also points out that the cost of these forty days was immense. By the time the Overland Campaign ended outside Petersburg, more than 100,000 men had been killed, wounded, or captured. Grant's army suffered more than twice the casualties of Lee's army, but Grant could replace his losses and Lee could not. Because of this reality, while the Confederate Army fought on brilliantly in a series of defensive campaigns, the war ended less than a year later with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. A very well-written examination of the Overland Campaign that is both interesting and accessible to readers with all levels of knowledge about the Civil War.
June 29, 2024
I'm always amazed reading about this, the bloodiest period of the Civil War. The tribulations those soldiers faced over six weeks is astonishing. Wheelan plucks the two armies out of their respective langour in April 1864 and describes the ferocious fighting and simple but effective strategy of U.S. Grant to its logical conclusion. Well written and broad in scope but doesn't stray far from the battlefield to the politicians or other war theatres.
January 17, 2020
A Review of the Audiobook
Published in 2014 by Blackstone Audio.
Read by Grover Gardner.
Duration: 14 hours, 11 minutes.
Unabridged.
Joseph Wheelan's Bloody Spring is a look at General Grant's Overland Campaign from May to June in 1864. This was Grant's first experience against Robert E. Lee and he brought a change in strategy to the Eastern Theater.
Rather than try to defeat Lee in a single battle like the previous generals, Grant decided that it was best to find Lee, engage in a battle and never disengage and let the superior resources and manpower grind Lee's army into surrender. Grant understood that when Lee surrendered the Confederacy would surrender.
Wheelan spends little time talking about the causes of the war, but he does offer a short recap before he delves into a lively and interesting narrative history of the forty days of the Overland Campaign. This campaign had several of the most brutal battles of the war, including The Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania CourtHouse, Yellow Tavern, Cold Harbor, North Anna and the beginning of the Siege of Petersburg. It was also rough on the Confederate leadership. Famed cavalry general J.E.B. "Jeb" Stuart was killed and trusted General James Longstreet (Lee called him his "Old War Horse") was severely wounded early on and forced to recuperate for several months.
We learn about the first major uses of African-American soldiers, Union engineering marvels that overcame the swamps and rivers, the quickly-evolving use of breastworks. Sometimes, we see brilliant maneuvers and choices from the leadership. More often, we see questionable choices from both armies.
These fights were horrific. Wheelan's re-telling does not pretty it up for the listener. This was a nightmare campaign. It started on the site of the Battle of Chancellorsville from the previous year. There were fights among the exposed skeletons that were ripped from their shallow graves by cannon fire, night marches through forest fires, wounded men being burned alive, hand-to-hand combat in trenches and the single most deadly hour of the Civil War.
Grover Gardner read this audiobook and did a fantastic job. This was a surprisingly well-told story and Gardner's reading added to that.
I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.
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Published in 2014 by Blackstone Audio.
Read by Grover Gardner.
Duration: 14 hours, 11 minutes.
Unabridged.
Joseph Wheelan's Bloody Spring is a look at General Grant's Overland Campaign from May to June in 1864. This was Grant's first experience against Robert E. Lee and he brought a change in strategy to the Eastern Theater.
Rather than try to defeat Lee in a single battle like the previous generals, Grant decided that it was best to find Lee, engage in a battle and never disengage and let the superior resources and manpower grind Lee's army into surrender. Grant understood that when Lee surrendered the Confederacy would surrender.
Wheelan spends little time talking about the causes of the war, but he does offer a short recap before he delves into a lively and interesting narrative history of the forty days of the Overland Campaign. This campaign had several of the most brutal battles of the war, including The Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania CourtHouse, Yellow Tavern, Cold Harbor, North Anna and the beginning of the Siege of Petersburg. It was also rough on the Confederate leadership. Famed cavalry general J.E.B. "Jeb" Stuart was killed and trusted General James Longstreet (Lee called him his "Old War Horse") was severely wounded early on and forced to recuperate for several months.
We learn about the first major uses of African-American soldiers, Union engineering marvels that overcame the swamps and rivers, the quickly-evolving use of breastworks. Sometimes, we see brilliant maneuvers and choices from the leadership. More often, we see questionable choices from both armies.
These fights were horrific. Wheelan's re-telling does not pretty it up for the listener. This was a nightmare campaign. It started on the site of the Battle of Chancellorsville from the previous year. There were fights among the exposed skeletons that were ripped from their shallow graves by cannon fire, night marches through forest fires, wounded men being burned alive, hand-to-hand combat in trenches and the single most deadly hour of the Civil War.
Grover Gardner read this audiobook and did a fantastic job. This was a surprisingly well-told story and Gardner's reading added to that.
I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.
See all of my reviews of books by this author here: https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/sear...
See all of my reviews of books with Ulysses S. Grant here:
https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/sear...
See all of my reviews of books with Robert E. Lee here:
https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/sear...
See all of my reviews of books about the Civil War here:
https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/sear...
November 7, 2022
This is the story of the final major campaign of the Civil War, pitting the new overall Union Commander General Ulysses Grant against the even-then near mythic Confederate hero, General Robert E. Lee. It’s outcome was a key determinant in Lincoln’s election. In the spring of 1864 when Grant moved the huge but, up to then, largely ineffectual Army of the Potomac toward Richmond (and actually toward Lee’s army, his real target), people on both sides held their breadth. There were many doubters about the abilities of this new commander of all the Union armies, openly skeptical that a westerner would be effective against the tested and resolute Army of Northern Virginia. Over the 40 days of the brutal campaign covered in this volume — battles already covered in great detail but many other excellent historians — the armies met each other in a close-set series of battles that ultimately led to Union victory. This is a well written account in that it is imminently readable and includes sufficient detail to understand how and why the campaign was a Union success. However, it’s nagging flaw (in my opinion), is what I perceived to be a negative slant toward Grant and his army. Like some early writers, many of whom advanced the notion of a noble, heroic, and outgunned south fighting and losing to a brutal, highly resourced north, this author seemed to portray the north as well-resourced bumblers and the south as masterful tacticians and strategists. While the northern side made its share of mistakes, and did benefit from having more men and materiel, Grant is not given his due for fighting in ways not previously seen in that theater or anywhere else in the war. Less was unlike any general Grant had yet fought, but more importantly, Grant was unlike anyone Lee had ever encountered. He commanded what to him was a new army with generals with whom he was not familiar, and despite absorbing losses that would have turned back any of his predecessors (and actually did), he persevered and ultimately won. While I did enjoy this audiobook, it did not reveal anything new to what has been known about the armies, personalities of the warriors, or the circumstances of the events. The style of writing was excellent and the audiobook narration excellent—Grover Gardner is one of the best narrators in the business.
August 23, 2020
A solid coverage of a series of often overlooked battles of the Civil War. Wheelan writes with a fast pace and weaves primary source material into the narrative pretty seamlessly.
A couple of minor complaints that prevent me from giving it five stars.
1) His major argument is that after an attack along the Orange Plank road during the Battle of the Wilderness, that the Army of Northern Virginia never attacks again. This isn't true. In several places within this book, he discusses the Confederates going on the offensive (at Spotsylvania, cavalry raids, etc.).
2) He covers the Wilderness and Spotsylvania in great detail, but lightens up a bit with North Anna and Cold Harbor. Granted, those battles were smaller and less deadly, but even proportionally, it seems like he didn't include as much detail as he could have. It's almost like he was running out of steam as an author or approaching a deadline and kind of sped through this section.
3) Probably my biggest complaint is the quality and quantity of the maps. There is only one map of the entire campaign, and it is very zoomed out, which makes it pretty useless when looking for troop movements between battles. For each battle, there is only one low quality map. These individual battles each last for several days, with troops attacking and repositioning over large pieces of land. Only having one map makes it very difficult to understand these complex troop movements. Finally, a lot of the action of the campaign, and the brilliance of the commanders, was in the troop movements between the battles. It would be nice to see more detailed maps for those.
But, just purely based on the writing, this is a solid book that will appeal to both experts and novices.
A couple of minor complaints that prevent me from giving it five stars.
1) His major argument is that after an attack along the Orange Plank road during the Battle of the Wilderness, that the Army of Northern Virginia never attacks again. This isn't true. In several places within this book, he discusses the Confederates going on the offensive (at Spotsylvania, cavalry raids, etc.).
2) He covers the Wilderness and Spotsylvania in great detail, but lightens up a bit with North Anna and Cold Harbor. Granted, those battles were smaller and less deadly, but even proportionally, it seems like he didn't include as much detail as he could have. It's almost like he was running out of steam as an author or approaching a deadline and kind of sped through this section.
3) Probably my biggest complaint is the quality and quantity of the maps. There is only one map of the entire campaign, and it is very zoomed out, which makes it pretty useless when looking for troop movements between battles. For each battle, there is only one low quality map. These individual battles each last for several days, with troops attacking and repositioning over large pieces of land. Only having one map makes it very difficult to understand these complex troop movements. Finally, a lot of the action of the campaign, and the brilliance of the commanders, was in the troop movements between the battles. It would be nice to see more detailed maps for those.
But, just purely based on the writing, this is a solid book that will appeal to both experts and novices.
April 6, 2023
My first history of the Overland Campaign of 1864. It’s always been a bit of a blind spot in my Civil War knowledge partly due to the ease at which individual battles like Shiloh or Gettysburg can be covered when compared to this massive and weeks long struggle. As military history books go this one was engrossing. Fascinating on one hand for the evolution of military tactics from the fluid Napoleonic style to the static entrenchments of WWI, and fascinating in a more morbid sense when discussing the horrors of war seen in this campaign. Forty days of nearly constant combat and maneuver where even the smallest engagements racked up casualties in the hundreds if not thousands. Not to mention the exhaustion and starvation felt by soldiers on both sides. It’s impossible for me to truly understand what these men went through in 1864 but this book has gone a long way to expand my knowledge of this period in the Civil War.
August 15, 2021
Had just read Rhea’s classic “On to Petersburg”. Read this more recent history of same period. Former seems to be a better written and reader accessible to those interested in military-political events. However, lives and lives in the trenches are not forgotten. The latter more up-to-date re: scholarship etc. So, depends on what reader seeking. My preference is Rhea. However, I’ve had luxury of reading both. If looking for one, I’d go with Rhea. But, ideally read/listen to both. (Rhea, in introduction, admits to having access to more government docs than confederate.)
April 10, 2024
An unsparing and detailed account of Ulysses Grant’s costly Spring campaign that drove south and forced the Army of North Virginia into a siege around Richmond and Petersburg.
It is unsparing because it criticizes the Army of the Potomac’s leaders as plodding and slow, with Grant and Hancock being the only two to appreciate aggressive action and initiative. However, Grant himself is criticized for his insistence on attacking entrenched troops.
The book gives strategic and tactical insights while also giving first person accounts of the horror of battle.
It is unsparing because it criticizes the Army of the Potomac’s leaders as plodding and slow, with Grant and Hancock being the only two to appreciate aggressive action and initiative. However, Grant himself is criticized for his insistence on attacking entrenched troops.
The book gives strategic and tactical insights while also giving first person accounts of the horror of battle.
December 19, 2024
A detailed account of U.S. Grant’s Overland Campaign to capture Richmond in spring 1864. From the Wilderness to Petersburg, the book exposes the many miss steps of both the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia; the war could have ended time and again but for the poor performance of both sides’ senior officers. The horrendous losses by both armies are explained, accompanied by an analysis of the effects these setbacks had on moral and physical wellbeing of troops and civilians. An excellent book!
May 8, 2022
Not war, murder
This is a well written account of one of the more wasteful episodes in a long and eventually fruitless war that continues to be waged covertly to this day. It is a story of how an army of people wanted the product of another person's unrewarded labor and to inflict thousands of casualties on those willing to die to protect other people's rights fighting for a lost cause. It could benefit from a few more maps.
This is a well written account of one of the more wasteful episodes in a long and eventually fruitless war that continues to be waged covertly to this day. It is a story of how an army of people wanted the product of another person's unrewarded labor and to inflict thousands of casualties on those willing to die to protect other people's rights fighting for a lost cause. It could benefit from a few more maps.
January 18, 2026
3.5. Good examination of the Overland Campaign. Perfectly serviceable and well researched study. Wheelan’s narrative drags a bit as the campaign drags, but as a military history it is definitely more readable than most.
Reinforcing the picture of the Army of the Potomac as slow and plodding, Bloody Spring spends a fair amount of time giving Lee flowers as a tactical and strategic commander while deriding Meade and Grant as less capable generals.
Reinforcing the picture of the Army of the Potomac as slow and plodding, Bloody Spring spends a fair amount of time giving Lee flowers as a tactical and strategic commander while deriding Meade and Grant as less capable generals.
August 7, 2025
Really good and straight-forward account that moves fairly briskly through the Overland campaign and it's various battles. I found it very helpful to understand the breadth and overall relentlessness of Grant's moves and how it slowly but surely forced Lee into a permanent defense.
Not much here for those who want the finer details.
Not much here for those who want the finer details.
July 10, 2020
Excellent book on the first matchup between Grant and Lee. The audible version has Grover Gardner narrating and he, as always, is excellent. He can really make history come alive for me.
I borrowed this book from my local library.
I borrowed this book from my local library.
January 19, 2021
This is a good documentation of the 40 days that began with The Wilderness battle and ended in the siege around Petersburg. This period of time spelled the death knell of the Confederacy. I enjoyed this book but I would only recommend it for someone who is a true American Civil War buff.
May 31, 2023
A solid history of the bloody month of May, 1864 and the battles in Virginia that indeed sealed the Confederacy's fate. Eminently readable. Flows great. Moving on now to the author' Their Last Full Measure.
April 29, 2019
A good, in depth overview of the Overland Campaign.
March 25, 2024
A good summary of the Wilderness Campaign.
May 14, 2024
Very readable
February 26, 2017
This book is well written,but basically does not cover any new information on Grant's overland campaign.
The Civil war in the East has been the main focus of almost every book on the war.
This is not even close to Gordon Rhea's multi volume work on the Overland campaign. Still this is a good book for someone starting to study Grant's campaign.
The Civil war in the East has been the main focus of almost every book on the war.
This is not even close to Gordon Rhea's multi volume work on the Overland campaign. Still this is a good book for someone starting to study Grant's campaign.
February 16, 2016
The third summer of the Civil War is about to begin and General Grant has now come east to take over command of the army and face off against Robert E. Lee in Northern Virginia. Wheelan's book, "Bloody Spring" takes a look at the Overland Campaign and how it's brutal 40 days of fighting weakened the Confederacy. While many of called the battle of Gettysburg the "turning point of the war," it is truly these 40 days that are the beginning of the end.
Wheelan's telling is an overview, with focus on some of the hard hitting moments of this time - the Wildnerness, the Bloody Angel, the Death of Stuart and Cold Harbor. While this book is only 350 pages of text, and certainly not an in depth study of the campaign, it seems to be well written and a good introduction to anyone trying to understand the major events of the campaign.
I enjoyed the book, and recommend to all my Civil War peeps who might be looking for a lighter treatment of this important campaign.
Wheelan's telling is an overview, with focus on some of the hard hitting moments of this time - the Wildnerness, the Bloody Angel, the Death of Stuart and Cold Harbor. While this book is only 350 pages of text, and certainly not an in depth study of the campaign, it seems to be well written and a good introduction to anyone trying to understand the major events of the campaign.
I enjoyed the book, and recommend to all my Civil War peeps who might be looking for a lighter treatment of this important campaign.
May 26, 2014
Very fitting to finish this book on Memorial Day, since it is about the 40 day period 150 years ago, when Grant and Lee's armies fought across Virginia at the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, the North Anna River and Cold Harbor. My impression is that Grant had the advantages of manpower and while his tactics ultimately won the day, Lee was by far the better strategist. If a few points had broken his way, at different times, the war could possibly have had a different finish (there was one point in particular, at North Anna, where he possibly could have defeated Grant's army, which might have ended the war). If Lee had the manpower to draw on, he could have soundly defeated Grant. But he didn't, and while he had his moments that came close, he was doomed by the South's position.
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July 20, 2022A very competent interpretation of one of the bloodiest and most important campaigns in the American Civil War, and indeed, in American History. Wheelan tells the story of the Overland Campaign (May 4 – June 24, 1864) in Virginia in which the armies commanded by Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee fought a series of battles for 40 days beginning at the Wilderness in Northern Virginia and ending with an unsuccessful Union attempt to storm Petersburg, Virginia. Wheelan explains how the Union failed to inflict outright defeat on the Confederacy, Grant nevertheless succeeded in pinning down Lee and his army--the South's most effective fighting force--in what would become the 9-and-a-half month long Siege of Petersburg.
June 11, 2014
I'm a Civil War nut and I really enjoyed this book. What impressed me was its lack of agenda. Too many Civil War books are written in defense of a person or incident. This book examines the 40 days beginning with Grant crossing the Rapidan and the Battle of the Wilderness to the Seige at Petersburg and comes to some conclusions that are sure to rile both the "Grant is great" and the "Robt. E. Lee for sainthood" camps. Wheelan examines the strengths and weaknesses of the various generals involved and offers (to me) an unbiased view of the events.
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