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In the summer of 1862, two great armies met outside of Richmond in a series of battles that would determine the course of the Civil War. The Union had time, men and materiel on its side, while the Confederates had mobility, esprit de corps and aggressive leadership. Untried General Robert E. Lee was tasked with driving the Yankees from their almost impregnable positions to save Richmond and end the war.
Lee planned to isolate part of the Union Army, crush it, and then destroy the only supply base the remaining Federals had. To do so, he had to move thousands of troops hundreds of miles, bringing multiple forces together with intricate timing, all without the Yankees or their spies finding out. The largest and most important of these battles occurred at Gaines' Mill.
List of contents
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Preface
Prologue: When the Yankees Came
¿1.¿Operation Chickahominy
¿2.¿The Tocsin Sounds
¿3.¿The General and the Private View a Battle
¿4.¿They Were All Cut to Pieces
¿5.¿The Retreat to Gaines' Mill
¿6.¿Geography
¿7.¿Porter's Dispositions
¿8.¿If We Whip Them Before Richmond, We Shall Have Peace
¿9.¿I Confess I Did Not Know What Hard Times Were Until I Was Under Jackson
10.¿A Soldier Feels No Fear While Fighting
11.¿Then We Got Down to Our Knitting
12.¿Column After Column Melts Away Like Smoke
13.¿A Dense Woods and an Ugly Marsh
14.¿Fixed Bayonets in the Hands of Resolute Men
15.¿There Is Hot Work on That Hill Yonder
16.¿The Bullets Whistled Through the Leaves Like Fun
17.¿We Had Been Pretty Well Pounded Out That Afternoon
18.¿To the Wall of Death
19.¿At the Wall of Death
20.¿Beyond the Wall of Death
21.¿Respite from the Wall of Death
22.¿Return of the Wall of Death
23.¿Conquest of the Wall of Death
24.¿It Was Death to Stay and Cold Steel Was the Next Thing
25.¿I Have Got My Fill of Fighting
Afterword
Appendix I: Confederate Order of Battle
Appendix II: Union Order of Battle
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Elmer R. Woodard, III is a criminal defense attorney in private practice whose ancestors served with the Currituck Light Cavalry, the 4th North Carolina Cavalry and on the C.S.S. Albemarle. He lives in Blairs, Virginia.
