Synopses & Reviews
Review
"The 1862 Peninsula campaign was the largest of the Civil War, when more than a quarter of a million men assembled in Virginia to battle for the capital of the Confederacy. This detailed account of George McClellan's plan to advance from Yorktown to Richmond offers a rich analysis of the Union general's mistakes and problems as his grand scheme to strike a fatal blow to the South faded into a sweltering summer retreat. Before that summer ended Robert E. Lee had replaced Joe Johnston as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia and turned the face of the war to other arenas far away from Richmond. Sears, a master historian who combines military analysis with interesting narrative, has created the first full-length account of the campaign ever written. The book's maps are of excellent quality and the appendices consisting of a tabulation of forces in the two armies are a useful supplement to a valuable contribution to Civil War history." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
To the Gates of Richmond charts the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, General George McClellans grand scheme to march up the Virginia Peninsula and take the Confederate capital. For three months McClellan battled his way toward Richmond, but then Robert E. Lee took command of the Confederate forces. In seven days, Lee drove the cautious McClellan out, thereby changing the course of the war. Intelligent and well researched, To the Gates of Richmond vividly recounts one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.
About the Author
STEPHEN W. SEARS is the author of many award-winning books on the Civil War, including Gettysburg and Landscape Turned Red. The New York Times Book Review has called him "arguably the preeminent living historian of the war's eastern theater." He is a former editor for American Heritage.