The Bermuda Hundred Campaign

Résumé du livre

The seminal history of an oft-overlooked but pivotal campaign that had the potential to shorten the American Civil War by a year.

This brilliantly researched account is essential reading for fans of D. Scott Hartwig, S. C. Gwynne, and Phillip Thomas Tucker.

In the spring of 1864, Ulysses S. Grant devised a coordinated strategy to thrust into the heart of the Confederacy. While Grant's Overland Campaign drove southward, he was to be supported by General Benjamin Butler, who would travel up the James River and launch a surprise assault with 30,000 men between the weakly defended Richmond and Petersburg.

Grant's plan was masterful, forcing Confederate forces to split. While Robert E. Lee engaged Grant's Army of the Potomac, P. G. T. Beauregard and his hastily assembled men were tasked with halting Butler's threat to the Confederacy's flank.

Yet why, despite their numerical advantage, were Federal forces unable to overwhelm their opponents and turn the tide of the war more swiftly? What were the battles between Butler and Beauregard around the town of Bermuda Hundred like? And how did the Bermuda Hundred Campaign influence the Overland Campaign further north?

Herbert M. Schiller's meticulously researched account sheds light on this little-known campaign, demonstrating through his analysis of both Union and Confederate leaders that this is a history of missed opportunities and heroic defense against overwhelming odds.

"Based on an extensive use of manuscript collections and a thorough canvass of printed materials, Schiller's detailed study sheds considerable light on the complex Bermuda Hundred Campaign." - Gary W. Gallagher, John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia, Author of The Union War, Lee and His Generals in War and Memory, and The Confederate War

"The Bermuda Hundred Campaign of 1864 has finally been recognized as a pivotal event of the Civil War. Had it been successfully executed the war would probably have ended a year earlier. But undue cautiousness, rivalries in high command, and lack of troop coordination doomed it to failure. The author etches his characters sharply, discusses strategy and tactics with clarity and detail, and analyzes objectively the successes and failures on both sides. The research and documentation are of the highest quality." - W. Buck Yearns, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of History Wake Forest University Author of The Confederate Congress, Co-author of North Carolina Civil War Documentary

"Like so many of the battles which occurred during the final two years of the war, those which are encompassed in the May, 1864, Bermuda Hundred Campaign have too long been neglected. Dr. Schiller attempts to remedy this situation with his exhaustive study of General Benjamin Butler's role in that spring offensive against the Confederate capital, Richmond." - Chris Calkins, Historian, Petersburg National Battlefield Author of The Battles of Appomattox Station and Appomattox Court House Co-author of The Battle of Five Forks

"Dr. Schiller's study of Butler's ill-fated venture below the James River reflects thorough and exhaustive scholarship. As a result, his description of one of the war's less renowned but pivotal campaigns offers readers access to original sources of major importance and interest." - Robert K. Krick, Chief Historian, Fredericksburg National Military Park Author of Lee's Colonels, Parker's Battery, 30th Virginia Infantry, 9th Virginia Cavalry