Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg

The Civil War #22

by William C. Davis

Covers the Siege of Petersburg from its start in June 1864 to the re-election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1864. Various photographs, engravings, and paintings illustrate life during the campaign and the experiences of the soldiers.

Genres: History, Civil War, American Civil War, Military History, Civil War Eastern Theater, Nonfiction, Siege Of Petersburg

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Currently professor of history at Virginia Tech, William C. Davis has written over fifty books, most about the American Civil War. He has won the Jefferson Davis Prize for southern history three times, the Jules F. Landry Award for Southern history once, and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

For several years, he was the editor of the magazine Civil War Times Illustrated. He has also served as a consultant on the A&E television series Civil War Journal.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this over 20 years ago and returned to it only just now. I was impressed by the images collected. Maps could have been better, though. The text is good overall, if missing a few battles such as Jerusalem Plank Road. That said, writing about the first five months of the longest and most complicated campaign of the war is no easy task, and Davis did it well. Great use of quotations too.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great history of the battle of Petersburg for readers of all levels!!

[Henry Kline · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good review of a little major part of the American Civil War that often has the detail left out.

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like other books in the Time-Life Civil War series, this volume gives a fairly good overview of the campaign, with a lot of period photographs and illustrations. However, it doesn't analysis the strategy and tactics used in the campaign; also, it includes a map for only a scattering of battles, rather than for each one discussed in the text.

[David Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

These Time-Life books are great!!!