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A review by papidoc
A Stillness at Appomattox: The Army of the Potomac Trilogy by Bruce Catton
5.0
I suppose I went into this backwards. This is the final volume of the Army of the Potomac trilogy written by Bruce Catton about the Civil War. After spending some time visiting historical sites in and around Richmond, VA, I particularly wanted to read this account of the last year of the Civil War. In 1954, it won both the Pulitzer Prize for history and the National Book Award for non-fiction.
In A Stillness at Appomattox, Catton walks his readers through the various battles that took place during that final bloody year of the Civil War. We gain glimpses into the character, relationships, military movements, and stratagems of major players such as Grant, Sheridan, and Lee, as well as of numerous more minor characters in that great tragedy. We see moments in which, but for this or that misstep, the way could have ended months (maybe years) earlier, saving untold thousands of lives.
The Battle of the Wilderness, the Bloody Angle, the numerous battles in and around Cold Harbor, the massively destructive explosion (and squandered opportunity) of the Crater, and many others come to life through Catton's writing. Just a few days before reading this book, I had been wandering through these same battlefields, imagining the troop maneuvers and encounters, picturing to myself the circumstances in which so many men with differing loyalties, but similar values, found themselves. Standing near the edge of the Crater, I could almost see the stunned expressions on the faces of those who saw the land rupture and explode from within, and hear their anguished cries.
My only disappointment was that there wasn't more about the immediate aftermath of the war, the encounter of Grant and Lee at the courthouse, and the dissolution of the armies. I would like to have learned a bit more their experiences following the war. But that is a very minor complaint when held up against the vast sweep of the Civil War saga thoroughly and expertly covered in Catton's account. Well done!
In A Stillness at Appomattox, Catton walks his readers through the various battles that took place during that final bloody year of the Civil War. We gain glimpses into the character, relationships, military movements, and stratagems of major players such as Grant, Sheridan, and Lee, as well as of numerous more minor characters in that great tragedy. We see moments in which, but for this or that misstep, the way could have ended months (maybe years) earlier, saving untold thousands of lives.
The Battle of the Wilderness, the Bloody Angle, the numerous battles in and around Cold Harbor, the massively destructive explosion (and squandered opportunity) of the Crater, and many others come to life through Catton's writing. Just a few days before reading this book, I had been wandering through these same battlefields, imagining the troop maneuvers and encounters, picturing to myself the circumstances in which so many men with differing loyalties, but similar values, found themselves. Standing near the edge of the Crater, I could almost see the stunned expressions on the faces of those who saw the land rupture and explode from within, and hear their anguished cries.
My only disappointment was that there wasn't more about the immediate aftermath of the war, the encounter of Grant and Lee at the courthouse, and the dissolution of the armies. I would like to have learned a bit more their experiences following the war. But that is a very minor complaint when held up against the vast sweep of the Civil War saga thoroughly and expertly covered in Catton's account. Well done!