Cold Harbor To The Crater: The End Of The Overland Campaign

The Civil War''s Overland Campaign began in May 1864 as a series of clashes in which Grant''s Army of the Potomac sought to draw Lee''s Army of Northern Virginia out of Richmond and into open battle, the capture of the Confederate capital their clear objective. The campaign, however, developed into a brutal war of attrition that culminated in the siege and fall of Petersburg, nearly nine months after the Battle of the Wilderness. Histories of the Civil War often treat the Overland and Petersburg campaigns separately, but by following the progression from Cold Harbor in early June 1864 to the infamous Battle of the Crater on July 30, the contributors to this volume illuminate the details of a total war that raged across more than forty miles of increasingly complex entrenchments in central Virginia.

Each of the ten essays considers the campaign''s military action from a different perspective, from the assimilation of new recruits into the Army of Northern Virginia following the bloody losses incurred throughout May to the performance of key commanders in both armies. Contributors also examine the ways in which field fortifications changed the nature of fighting, soldiers'' experiences in battle, civilians'' responses, and how the famous Battle of the Crater has resonated in historical memory.

Contributors include Keith S. Bohannon, Stephen Cushman, Gary W. Gallagher, M. Keith Harris, Caroline E. Janney, Robert E. L. Krick, Kevin M. Levin, Kathryn Shively Meier, Gordon C. Rhea, and Joan Waugh.