Glory Enough for All: The Battle of the Crater : A Novel of the Civil War

by Duane P. Schultz

July 1864. The Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia - U. S. Grant and Robert E. Lee - are locked in deadly trench warfare that neither side can break. Cemetery Hill is the key to the five-mile line of Confederate defenses. If Grant can take the Hill, his troops can walk into Petersburg, sever the railroad line to Richmond, and split Lee's army in two, bringing the Civil War to an end. In the tradition of Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels, historian Duane Schultz brilliantly resurrects one of the most tragic events of the Civil War - the Battle of the Crater. Schultz recounts the efforts of Colonel Henry Pleasants and his regiment, the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteers, as they devise an ingenious plan to end the stalemate: dig a tunnel through five hundred feet of Virginia Clay beneath Cemetery Hill and blow up the hill, a job military experts say cannot be done. In a riveting account, Schultz relates their against-all-odds struggle as the unit fights cave-ins, floods, suffocation, and a bungling army bureaucracy. The Union generals - Burnside, Meade, and Grant - foolishly allow the opportunity to end the war slip away. Concerned for their place in history, they let their rivalries, jealousies, and outright racism lead to the war's greatest tragedy - the massacre of the Fourth Division U.S. colored troops by both Union and Confederate soldiers. From the highest councils of war to daily life in the trenches, Duane Schultz, author of the Over the Earth I Come (A 1992 New York Times Notable Book of the Year), recreates the people, events, and times with historical accuracy and vivid, suspenseful writing. In a stunning blend of fact and fiction, Glory Enough for All encompasses all that is heroic and tragic in the Civil War. It recounts a part of American history that should never be forgotten.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Civil War

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Arnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Historical Fiction based on the events surrounding the Battle of the Crater July 30, 1864 during The American Civil War.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began preparing for a future trip to the site of this battle by trying to read No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864 (9781400066759): Richard Slotkin. I gave up on page 60. That nonfiction book was so detailed about troop movements (that I couldn't follow very well without maps) and such. It was boring. I was reading and not getting anywhere. So I switched to this fiction book. Whew! Finally I have a clue about this battle and the major characters involved. It was a little simple at first, but the characters were somewhat developed and with time I grew very interested.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A historical fiction book about a real happening in the Civil War. A group of soldiers headed by Col. Henry Pleasants, a mining engineer, dig a tunnel and blow up the Confederate lines during the Battle of Petersburg. After all their hard work and improvising, the Union generals, Meade, Burnside and Grant, don't take advantage of the opening in the enemy lines. This event probably would have cut a year off the Civil War, but the lack of leadership kept the event from being a success. I enjoyed the book and the characters very much.

[Tom Darrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical fiction about the little-known Battle of the Crater in 1864. The story covers the efforts of a Pennsylvania infantry regiment filled with coal miners who dug a mine under the Confederate lines at Petersburg in order to blow a hole in the enemy line.