Lee's Last Campaign: The Story of Lee and His Men Against Grant-1864

by Clifford Dowdey

Signed with an Illegible scribble below his typed name on the title page. World War II Memoir.

Genres: Civil War, History, American History, Nonfiction, American Civil War

415 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Clifford Dowdey was born in Richmond, Virginia January 23, 1904 and died there May 30, 1979. The Richmond Newspapers, the Richmond Times Dispatch and the Richmond News Leader eulogized him as The Last Confederate. His father was descended from immigrants surnamed O'Dowda of County Galway, Ireland, and his mother from an English settler of Jamestown. His father worked for Western Union and his mother was a housewife. Four of his grandmother’s brothers were Confederate soldiers. His grandmother lived with his family until she died when Dowdey was age 19. Her reminiscences spurred his lifelong interest in the American Civil War and the history of Virginia.[1]

He attended Columbia University from 1921-1925. He worked for about a year as a newspaper reporter and book reviewer for the Richmond News Leader. He returned to New York City and worked as an editor for various pulp magazines (Munsey’s, Argosy and Dell) from 1926 to around 1935. About 1933 he started writing seriously on what eventually would become his first novel "Bugles Blow No More.” Leaving the magazines, he and his wife moved to Florida for a season and then to Richmond, Virginia where he finished the novel. For the rest of his life, he lived in Richmond and worked as a writer of historical fiction and history. He reviewed others' historical works in academic journals, such as "The Journal of Southern History" and " The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography." Even though he had no formal training as an historian several of his works received critical acclaim by noted historians. His historical novels were popular as evidenced by their being reviewed in "The New York Times."[2]

The circumstance of his first marriage is unknown. In an interview published in The New York Times July 13, 1941, he made reference to a wife as early as 1934 or 1935. On July 13, 1944, he married Frances Wilson, a clinical psychologist; she died July 1970.[3] He was the father of two daughters, Frances and Sarah.

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and also thought that it was really bad. I can't wait to read more by this author! He has a totally uncompromisingly opinionated view of all of the events that he writes about. You often find yourself cringing at the jibes delivered at some of the characters involved. That's the thing that will keep you reading it is how blunt and often times brutally honest he is.

The reason why it's bad and not a very helpful account of the events is because quite literally the only person who is credited with any osrt of merrit or even a brain in his head is Robert E. Lee. All mistakes occur in his absence and are infact due to his absence. This book liteally worships the man by defaming EVERYONE else involved in asisting or opposing him. By the end if you swallowed all of the authors conclusions you will come to the impresion that if it weren't for all the idiots on his side of events he would have conquered the world. Although most interesting of all was his analysis of the confederate beuracratic system which kept Lee pinned down to a very small sphere of influence while Grant was in control of all armed forces. His argument that this difference in systems alone had a massive impact on Lee's ability to resist Grant's multi-pronged offensive of 1864 is very convincing and something that there is little dialouge about in Civil War literature.

Dowdey makes a point of constantly refering to overwhelming union numbers being their only saving grace and only tactical tool in battle. Grant is an idiot totally unaware of what he is doing most of the time and underestimating our shining god of a genius, Lee, at every turn. Grant just won't learn that things have changed and that new technology makes carrying a fixed position astronomicaly dificult. The entire union command is shown nothing but contempt, Hancock is called "honest and "brave", but through gritted teeth. No mention of grants trouble in overcoming one of the greatest tacticians of all time in a campaign that closely resembles the deadlocked fronts of World War 1. No mention of the fact that Lee over his previous campaigns had exhausted huge amounts of manpower and equipment in bold and costly offensive strokes against the union forces. The worst of these being against a fixed position at Gettysburg. I would love to see how the author manages to justify Picketts Charge without having the same harsh judgment as he slapped onto grant. I could go on forever about the other side of alot of thew ludicrously close minded ascertations made in this thing.

Overall it was a good and informative book although frustrating. I could take the author more seriously if only his southern leaning sympathies and hero worship of Lee were not so obvious as to characterise the book. It seems that more than trying to portray the campaign or even the character of lee he is simply doing Lee's dirty laundry 100 years after the fact (book was published in 1960). Moral of the story, Lee: good, everything else: bad.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grant's Grind, Lee's Legend: Lee's Last Campaign

Clifford Dowdey’s Lee's Last Campaign: The Story of Lee and His Men Against Grant – 1864 (1960) offers a detailed, granular account of the brutal Overland Campaign. But whose campaign was it?

Dowdey follows Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia as they fight desperately to stop Grant’s relentless advance through Virginia in the spring and summer of 1864. From the bloody Wilderness and Spotsylvania to the North Anna, Cold Harbor, and the crossing of the James River, the narrative is packed with tactical analysis, command decisions, and the experiences of soldiers on both sides. Lee emerges as the brilliant, audacious defender; calm under pressure and masterful at counterpunching; while Grant is portrayed more as a blunt, determined grinder willing to absorb horrific casualties.

The book is an excellent and often gripping look at one of the war’s most punishing campaigns. That said, the title is misleading. While marketed as “Lee’s Last Campaign,” this is far more Grant’s campaign. The operational initiative belonged to Grant from the first crossing of the Rapidan to the final move on Petersburg. Lee fought brilliantly on the defensive and inflicted terrible losses, but he was consistently reacting to Grant’s moves. Dowdey has a clear pro-Lee tilt and sometimes frames events to suggest Lee was directing the flow when Grant was clearly the one forcing the action.

If one can look past the "ShouldahadaV8" lean, this is a valuable and hyper-detailed account of the real last gasp of the Confederacy.

#CivilWar #OverlandCampaign #RobertELee #UlyssesSGrant #MilitaryHistory #BookReview

[Heinz E. Malon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Content five stars editing one star

This is a fine recap of Lee's last campaign if the editing had been as good as the content it would be a five star book.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book...make sure you read the Bibliography, the author has a great discussion concerning thee writing of history.