Download The Last Gasp of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia: The Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox Campaign AudioBook Free

"I have seen your despatch expressing your unwillingness to break your hold what your location is. Neither am I willing. Hang on with a bulldog grasp, and chew and choke as much as possible." (President Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant, August 1864) After the last major pitched challenge of the Overland Advertising campaign was fought at Cool Harbor in early on June, Ulysses S. Grant's Military of the Potomac acquired suffered more casualties through the marketing campaign than Robert E. Lee acquired in his complete Army of North Virginia in the beginning of May. Understandably, the American people was shocked by the carnage. To this day Grant has been accused to be a butcher, but attrition acquired become a vital war aim for the North and Grant remained undeterred. Refusing to assault Lee in frontal assaults, and aware that Lee dared not go out to counterattack, Grant almost captured Richmond in mid-June by stealing a march on Lee's military and crossing the James River. The fog of warfare, poor chance, and a competent, impromptu protection by P.G.T. Beauregard quit Grant from taking Petersburg, that was a critical railroad hub and supply range for Richmond, before Lee's military could confront, therefore saving the Confederacy for the moment. Both armies began to dig in around Petersburg. Unbeknownst to them, they would be there for the next 9 months, constructing complex trenches and engaging in the kind of warfare that would be the forerunner of World Battle I. Both sides engaged in progressive and unique attempts at mining within the enemy's siege lines, as well as countermining. This led to the famous Challenge of the Crater, which changed an ingenious anatomist feat into a Union debacle.

Category: Classics