And Keep Moving on

The Union position was uncertain after Gettysburg. A new commander, Ulysses S. Grant, who replaced George Meade, led the Union armies. And although Robert E. Lee had withdrawn from the North, not all considered Gettysburg a defeat- Jeb Stuart considered the battle a Confederate victory and confidently predicted the Southern forces would soon return. When campaigning began anew after the winter of 1863-64, the Battle of Wilderness seemed merely a reprise of earlier struggles - bloody, exhausting, and ending in an apparent Confederate victory. But Grant changed the pattern by refusing to withdraw and instead attacked again and again throughout the summer of 1864. Without time to regroup, the tired Confederate army became caught up in a grim battle of attrition with the North. In the 1864 Virginia campaign, Grant wore down Lee's skilful and brave but outnumbered and under-supplied force, turning a probable Confederate success into a bloody exchange of losses the South could not sustain. Historian Mark Grimsley recounts this pivotal campaign as a whole and the political aims and reactions of both sides, considers the key questions of supply, reinforcement, and troop morale.
He also examines the interconnections between the Virginia campaign and events in other theatres and challenges some conventional interpretations of the campaign. Mark Grimsley is an associate professor of history at Ohio State University. His books include The Collapse of the Confederacy, Civilians in the Path of War, and Gettysburg: A Battlefield Guide, all published by the University of Nebraska Press. Other titles in the series: Atlanta 1864: Last Chance for the Confederacy Richard M. McMurry 0-8032-8278-8 PB GBP15.50 Banners to the breeze: The Kentucky campaign, Corinth, and Stones River Earl J. Hess 0-8032-2380-3 HB GBP24.50 Chessboard of War: Sherman and Hood in the Autumn Campaigns of 1864 Anne J. Bailey 0-8032-1273-9 HB GBP24.50 The Collapse of the Confederacy Edited by Mark Grimsley & Brooks D. Simpson 0-8032-7103-4 PB GBP15.50 Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns Steven E. Woodworth 0-8032-9813-7 PB GBP11.50 Struggle for the Heartland: The Campaigns from Fort Henry to Corinth Stephen D. Engle 0-8032-1818-4 HB GBP26.95