The Civil War's Great Crisis: Lincoln and Grant in the Summer of 1864
About this book
It was the beginning of the end, but no one then knew it.In the summer of 1864, the outcome of the Civil War was far from decided. Many Americans still look to 1863 as the high tide of Confederate fortunes, especially the dramatic battle of Gettysburg, yet Confederate prospects remained bright the following year. By June 1864, both Ulysses S. Grant and his favorite subordinate, William T. Sherman, were bogged down in siege operations in Virginia and Georgia while the Confederate high command of Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee made plans to strike back. Union military failures ate away at support for the war as a weary population wondered whether the conflict was worth it. In a critical election year, would the president bow to his radical critics, who looked for a tougher war and a more demanding peace? What should he say to those who urged him to drop emancipation and seek a negotiated settlement?The events of that summer are often passed over, but they show how politics, military operations, and public opinion all played roles almost as big as the powerful men involved. In the end, four Union leaders—Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and Philip H. Sheridan—prevailed over their Confederate counterparts Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, John Bell Hood, and Jubal Early. In this illustrated book, historian Brooks D. Simpson shows how the events of that hot summer proved decisive in determining the outcome of the war.