Vicksburg: Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy

Author: Miller, Donald L.

Edition: Illustrated

Format: Illustrated

Number Of Pages: 688

Details:

Winner of the Civil War Round Table of New York’s Fletcher Pratt Literary Award Winner of the Austin Civil War Round Table’s Daniel M. & Marilyn W. Laney Book Prize Winner of an Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award “A superb account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the longest and most decisive military campaign of the Civil War in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which opened the Mississippi River, split the Confederacy, freed tens of thousands of slaves, and made Ulysses S. Grant the most important general of the war. Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the last stronghold of the Confederacy on the Mississippi River. It prevented the Union from using the river for shipping between the Union-controlled Midwest and New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The Union navy tried to take Vicksburg, which sat on a high bluff overlooking the river, but couldn’t do it. It took Grant’s army and Admiral David Porter’s navy to successfully invade Mississippi and lay siege to Vicksburg, forcing the city to surrender. In this “elegant…enlightening…well-researched and well-told” ( Publishers Weekly) work, Donald L. Miller tells the full story of this year-long campaign to win the city “with probing intelligence and irresistible passion” ( Booklist). He brings to life all the drama, characters, and significance of Vicksburg, a historic moment that rivals any war story in history. In the course of the campaign, tens of thousands of slaves fled to the Union lines, where more than twenty thousand became soldiers, while others seized the plantations they had been forced to work on, destroying the economy of a large part of Mississippi and creating a social revolution. With Vicksburg “Miller has produced a model work that ties together military and social history” ( Civil War Times). Vicksburg solidified Grant’s reputation as the Union’s most capable general. Today no general would ever be permitted to fail as often as Grant did, but ultimately he succeeded in what he himself called the most important battle of the war—the one that all but sealed the fate of the Confederacy.

Reviews:

“A superb account of both military leadership and soldierly warfare. . . . Mr. Miller has done a prodigious amount of research. . . It is an epic story in itself but of course one part of the grand epic of the Civil War. Books like Vicksburg are exactly what Thomas Hardy had in mind when he wrote that ‘war makes rattling good history.’” -- John Steele Gordon

― The Wall Street Journal

“A quarter of a million slaves lived in the lower Mississippi Valley when the Civil War broke out.  In Donald Miller's Vicksburg, we learn not only the story of the war's great western turning point, but how Ulysses S. Grant evolved into a military emancipator of most of those African Americans and therefore with time crushed the Confederacy.  Carefully researched and written with sizzling and persuasive prose, Miller has found the way to write both military and emancipation history in one profound package.  Never have headquarters, slave quarters, and the ultimate purpose of the war been so seamlessly and brilliantly demonstrated.” -- David W. Blight, Sterling Professor of History, Yale University, and Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

“The fullest and best history of the Vicksburg campaign.”  -- James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom

"While there have been many books written about Ulysses S. Grant, no recent publication surpasses Miller’s work in terms of capturing the contradictory nature of this man. . . . Miller has crafted an insightful and striking look at the actions of General Grant at a turning point not only of the Civil War but also of American history. This is a great book and one that Civil war enthusiasts should read.” -- Greg A. Romaneck

― Civil War Courier

“Miller has compiled the best single-volume treatment of the Vicksburg Campaign. His riveting narrative...

EAN: 9781451641370

Release Date: 29-10-2019

Languages: English

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Hardcover Used - Like New Ships fast! 2019Illustrated

Item Condition: UsedLikeNew

Binding: Hardcover