Failure to Pursue - How the Escape of Defeated Forces Prolonged the Civil War

Was the Civil War preordained to last four years or were there reasons why neither side could land a knockout punch? From the outset, both North and South had anticipated a brief conflict but despite more than 50 bloody battles neither could force a decisive conclusion. For most of the war, these battles followed a pattern: the victors claimed the field and the vanquished retreated to rest, resupply and fight another day.
Some generals began to realize that pursuit to capture or destroy the retreating enemy was needed to end the war--not an easy task. Taking a fresh look at the tactics that characterized many major combat actions in the war, this book examines the performance of unsuccessful (sometimes insubordinate) commanders and credits two generals with eventually seeing the need for organized pursuit.

List of contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Western Theater

¿1.¿Overview-Antebellum Influences

¿2.¿Grant at Shiloh-April 6-7, 1862

¿3.¿Buell vs. Bragg in Kentucky-1862

¿4.¿Iuka and Corinth II-September and October 1862

¿5.¿Rosecrans Replaces Buell-October 1862-October 1863

¿6.¿Turnaround at Chattanooga-October and November 1863

¿7.¿Sherman's Atlanta Campaign-1864

¿8.¿Thomas After Nashville-December 1864

Eastern Theater

¿9.¿First Bull Run-July 21, 1861

10.¿Stonewall in the Valley-Spring 1862

11.¿Lee's Pursuit of Seven Days-June 25-July 1, 1862

12.¿Second Bull Run-August 29-30, 1862

13.¿Chantilly, a.k.a. Ox Hill-September 1, 1862

14.¿McClellan After Antietam-September-October 1862

15.¿Eastern Horse Soldiers

16.¿Gathering at Getttysburg-June-July 1863

17.¿Lee and Meade After Gettysburg-July 4-14, 1863

18.¿Little Phil Comes East-1864

19.¿Grant's Ultimate Pursuit-April 1865

20.¿Conclusions

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the author

Retired attorney David Frey served as a U.S. Marine Corps captain in the Vietnam era. He lives in Athens, Ohio, where he gives talks on Civil War topics and is active in the local Civil War Roundtable. He maintains the website Civil War Rumblings.

Product details

• Authors: David Frey, Frey David
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 18
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.11.2016
• EAN: 9781476666693
• ISBN: 978-1-4766-6669-3
• No. of pages: 412
• Dimensions: 178 mm x 254 mm x 21 mm
• Weight: 708 g
• Illustrations: Raster,schwarz-weiss
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; USA, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Security (National & International), HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877), HISTORY / Military / United States, HISTORY / Military / Strategy, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, United States of America, USA, Military tactics, Military and defence strategy, Early modern warfare (including gunpowder warfare), c 1860 to c 1869, Civil wars, American Civil War, HISTORY / Military / Early Modern Warfare (1500-1800)