In The Review Queue: Appomattox

Appomattox: The Last Days of

Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia

by Michael Haskew

Appomattox: The Last Days of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia encompasses the defense and evacuation of the Confederate capital of Richmond, the horrific combat in the trenches of Petersburg, General Robert E. Lee's withdrawal toward the Carolinas in his forlorn hope of a rendezvous with General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee to carry on the fight, the relentless pursuit of Union forces, and the ultimate realization that further resistance against overwhelming odds was futile.

The Army of Northern Virginia was the fighting soul of the Confederacy in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War. From its inception, it fought against overwhelming odds. Union forces might have occupied territory, but as long as the Confederate army was active in the field, the rebellion was alive. Through four years of bitter conflict, the Army of Northern Virginia and its longtime commander, General Robert E. Lee, became the stuff of legend. By April 1865, its days were numbered.

There are many stories of heroism and sacrifice, both Union and Confederate, during the Civil War, and Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia wrote their own epic chapter. Author Michael E. Haskew, a researcher, writer, and editor of many military history subjects for over twenty years, puts the hardship and deprivation suffered by this Army's soldiers while defending their home and ideals into proper perspective.

About the Author

Michael E. Haskew has been writing and researching military history subjects for over twenty years. He is the editor of WWII History Magazine and The World War II Desk Reference with the Eisenhower Center for American Studies (HarperCollins). He is the author of over ten titles focused on a wide range of military history. His most recent book, West Point 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley, and the Class the Stars Fell On, was released by Zenith Press in 2014. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Tennessee and resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

ISBN 978-0760348178, Zenith Press, © 2015, Hardcover, 256 Pages, Photographs, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $30.00.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Review: Grant vs. Lee, The Graphic History of the Civil War’s Greatest Rivals During the Last Year of the War

Grant vs. Lee: The Graphic History of the Civil War’s

Greatest Rivals During the Last Year of the War

by Wayne Vansant

On Wednesday, May 4, 1864 the Army of the Potomac, crossed the Rapidan River in north-central Virginia.  It was the last year of the war and the beginning of its end.  Newly installed General-in-Chief of the Union Army, Ulysses S. Grant determined the only way to win the war was to make it a war of attrition, to outlast and outwit his Confederate opponent commanding the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee.  No longer would the Army of the Potomac retreat after a defeat, it would now only move southward.  The war’s final eleven months would prove to be its bloodiest and most destructive.

Wayne Vansant’s graphic novel, “Grant vs. Lee: The Graphic History of the Civil War’s Greatest Rivals During the Last Year of the War,” is an excellent tutorial on the war’s final year.  It follows Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign and covers the battles of The Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor, to the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia.  The Petersburg Campaign is neatly folded in, and includes the Battle of the Crater, The Beefsteak Raid, and the Confederate breakout attempt at Fort Steadman.  After the fall of Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia the book concludes with the Appomattox Campaign and the Battle of Five Forks, and the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House.

“Grant vs. Lee” is told from both the Northern and Southern perspectives, and is just as much about the slow and steady retreat of the Army of Northern Virginia and how General Robert E. Lee tried to blunt Grant’s advances, as it is about the southward trek of the Army of the Potomac.

At 104 pages, it does not by any means encompass all of the events and personalities portrayed between its covers, but rather serves as a small sampler of each of its topics.  It can be easily read in an afternoon, and because of its graphic novel format it is a perfect starting place for younger readers interested in the war as well as older readers who are unschooled on the war.

ISBN 978-0760345313, Zenith Graphic Histories, © 2013, Paperback, Illustrated, 104 pages, $19.99.  To purchase this book please click HERE.