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Title	:	The Civil War, Vol. 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian (The Civil War #2)
Author	:	Shelby Foote
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Anniversary Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 976 pages
Published	:	November 12th 1986 by Vintage (first published 1963)
Categories	:	History. Military History. Civil War. Nonfiction. North American Hi.... American History. War. American Civil War

The Civil War, Vol. 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian (The Civil War #2)

Shelby Foote

Paperback | Pages: 976 pages

Rating: 4.52 | 5959 Users | 200 Reviews

Rendition In Pursuance Of Books The Civil War, Vol. 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian (The Civil War #2)

I took me three months to read the almost one thousand pages of The Civil War, Vol. 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian, the second volume in Shelby Foote’s trilogy. It was a great read considering all the battles minutely analyzed, and the many actors depicted and portrayed. Foote's marvelous narrative made this reading a real enjoyment. As in the first book, here Foote once again presents a detailed analyses of the political climate both in the North and the South, discusses the difficulties and challenges of Lincoln and Davies and how both leaders were able to deal with their respective roles as Commander-in-Chief. The first volume ended after the bloodbath of Antietam in the fall of 1862. This one takes up with events following the removal of the American commander, George McClellan, and his replacement by General Burnside in time to start off with the December 1862’s Fredricksburg and ending in the spring of 1864, with Grant taking command of the entire Union Army. The beginning for me might have been slow, but from the moment Foote starts to discuss two of the most decisive Union victories, Gettysburg and Vicksburg, I could not stop reading. I went straight to the end practically without stopping and merely breathing. That’s should be enough to tell you how much it enthralled me. The other major battle discussed was Chickamauga, a Southern victory which ruined the careers of two generals, Rosecrans and Bragg, and ended with Grant victorious at Chattanooga. Foote continues to use his great narrative style to full effect here. Early on when we read about Lincoln search for a commander for the Army of the Potomac:

Scott and McDowell, Pope and McClellan, and now Burnside: none of these was the killer he was seeking. Already he saw that this search was perhaps the major problem. All else – while, like Blondin, Lincoln threaded his way, burdened by untold treasures – was, in a sense, a biding of time until the unknown killer could be found. Somewhere he existed, and somewhere he would find him, this unidentified general who could face the grim arithmetic being scrawled in blood across these critical, tragic pages of the nation’s history.

It is a masterful book, with the concomitant analyses of developments occurring simultaneously in different theaters, both East and West. For the reader, it means not only a better organized telling, but also a more real understanding of what it was like for actual actors – military, politicians and civilians – to live through this nightmare. Thus, the reader will be reading about Grant's trials and tribulations in finding a way to attack the formidable Confederate defenses position of Vicksburg, Mississippi; while reading concomitantly about the contemporary conflicts between the Federal Army of the Potomac and Rebel Army of Northern Virginia as they fought at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in May and July of the same year. For the first time, the Union started to produce the victories that start to point out to a possible end of the war. The taking of Vicksburg was a great victory for Grant, while at Gettysburg, Lee was defeated by the newly appointed General Meade, after Lincoln had already gone through over a handful of generals. But the outcome of Gettysburg was basically the result of Lee’s mistake of attacking entrenched Union forces. Lee had gambled the chance of winning the day and the war in one sweep; the southern generals’ realization that the South could not hope to actually win the war unless he gained a major battle against the North seemed to have forced his hand.

The true total of Lee's losses in Pennsylvania could hardly have been less than 25,000 and quite possibly was far heavier; 28,063 was the figure computed by one meticulous student of such grisly matters, in which case the butcher's bill for Gettysburg, blue and gray together, exceeded 50,000 men. This was more than Shiloh and Sharpsburg combined, with Ball's Bluff and Belmont thrown in for good measure.

With Lee defeated, however, Meade failed to follow Lee's army in retreat and destroy it. Once more, a commander of the Army of the Potomac showed an acute lack of aggressiveness that until then proved to be one of the Union’s major shortcomings. Later we read about the fighting in the West, with the Federal capture of Chattanooga followed by the battles of Chickamauga Creek and Missionary Ridge in Tennessee and Northern Georgia. This is just a sample of how much Foote is able to handle at any given time. With the first loss by the Union, where Bragg defeated Rosecrans, Lincoln places Grant as the commander of the Union’s Western Army. Thus, the South’s momentum is broken. Grant once again showed the aggressiveness that was lacking in the East, by attacking Bragg’s position in the ridge and liberating the besieged Chattanooga. Foote ends this installment with Lincoln's decision to bring Grant to the East to command all the Union forces as the General-In-Chief. Lincoln, after going through with seven generals that proved not aggressive enough, had finally found his killer, the man to win the war.

Yonder began the campaign, Sherman was to say a quarter century later, standing before the hotel on the occasion of a visit to the Ohio city. "He was to go for Lee and I was to go for Joe Johnston. That was his plan."

Highly recommended!

Identify Books As The Civil War, Vol. 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian (The Civil War #2)

Original Title:	The Civil War: A Narrative (Volume 2, Fredericksburg to Meridian)
ISBN:	039474621X (ISBN13: 9780394746210)
Edition Language:	English
Series:	The Civil War #2
Literary Awards:	National Book Award Finalist for History and Biography (1964), Fletcher Pratt Award (1963)

Rating Of Books The Civil War, Vol. 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian (The Civil War #2)

Ratings: 4.52 From 5959 Users | 200 Reviews

Crit Of Books The Civil War, Vol. 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian (The Civil War #2)

I took me three months to read the almost one thousand pages of The Civil War, Vol. 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian, the second volume in Shelby Footes trilogy. It was a great read considering all the battles minutely analyzed, and the many actors depicted and portrayed. Foote's marvelous narrative made this reading a real enjoyment. As in the first book, here Foote once again presents a detailed analyses of the political climate both in the North and the South, discusses the difficulties and

Ever since I first came across the works of Bruce Catton in my teens, I have been an aficionado of the American Civil War. So much concentrated slaughter among peoples who resembled one another so much! Also, so many lessons to be learned about the arts of leadership, and what happens when they are lacking -- as in all but the last general in charge of the Army of the Potomac!This is the second volume of three of historian Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. Nestled away in the

Volume 2 takes us up to the point where Grant is made lieutenant general in charge of the entire Army. By this time, the North's superior resources are beginning to take their toll on the South.As with volume 1, volume 2 is primarily concerned with troop movement and battles. One criticism I have of both volumes 1 and 2 is the lack of dates. There are PLENTY of dates during the description of the multi day battle at Gettysburg, but dates again disappear thereafter. Interestingly enough, the

This second in Footes trilogy of the war is a vast doorway into the stories of a myriad of people managing and perpetrating the American Civil War for most of the year 1863. Starting with Robert E. Lees Confederate successes in Virginia against Ambrose Burnside in Fredericksburg (Dec. 1862) and against Joe Hooker at Chancellorville in the Spring, the year proceeds toward a major turning of tables with Meades victory over Lee at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania and U.S. Grants final taking of Vicksburg

Volume II of the this definitive history of the war deals with the period from the spring of 1863 to early 1864. The first part of the book covers the Union siege of Vicksburg in the West by Grant and the battle of Gettysburg in the East. In taking Vicksburg Grant gains an enormous victory. At Gettysburg a newly appointed General Meade defeated Lee's army when Lee made the mistake of attacking entrenched Union forces with too few men to hope to succeed. Lee was gambling if he could win the day,

A thorough and entertaining telling of the middle part of the Civil War, lasting roughly from the approach by Grant on Vicksburg, through the capture of that city, the battle of Chickamagua and the subsequent removal of Rosencrantz, the unsuccessful bid to re-establish Union control of Florida and the political opposition to the 1/10 Reconstruction rule, the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's attempts to clothe the sectional struggle in the mantle of a struggle for liberty while calling up

Well, it only took me three years to get from Volume 1 to Volume 2, and my comments are about the same: this is as detailed a history of the war itself as can be imagined, tracing the armies and the battles on a day to day basis. I am always learning more about that tragedy, including the cabinet's effort to get Lincoln to step aside, the controversies among generals on each side, the mistakes that Lee made at Gettysburg, the incredible importance of Stonewall Jackson's death (by a Confederate's