Ninety-Eight Days

Grant s campaign against Vicksburg has been studied from a number of perspectives but always with the outcome in the foreground This documented history of the final phases of the Vicksburg Campaign, from March 29 through July 4, 1863, examines the actions of Union and Confederate commanders as they unfolded, reconstructing their decisions based only on what they knew at any given time In meticulous detail, Warren E Grabau describes the logistical situation at key junctures during the campaign and explains how and why those situations constrained the choices available to Grant and Confederate commander John C Pemberton Alternating between Confederate and Federal perspectives, he allows the reader to see the situation as the commanders did and then describes how the available information led to their decisions Grabau examines not only topographic and hydrographic features but also strategic, political, economic, and demographic factors that influenced the commanders thinking He analyzes the effectiveness of the intelligence gathering capabilities of each side, shows how the decisions of both commanders were affected by the presence of the Union Navy, and describes the impact of political philosophies and command structures on the conduct of the campaign Through his detailed analysis, Grabau even suggests that Grant had no actual campaign plan but was instead a master opportunist, able to exploit every situation Remarkably detailed maps reconstruct the terrain as it was at the time and show how incomplete data often resulted in poor military decisions Other supportive material includes Command Structures of the Federal and Confederate Forces in diagrammatic form as they stood at the beginning of the ninety eight days Ninety eight Days is a monumental work masterfully executed, a reconstruction of military reasoning that is analytical than any previous study of Vicksburg It contributes substantially to our understanding of those military operations and demonstrates how crucial geography is to the conduct of war.The Author Warren E Grabau is a retired geologist with a long interest in the Civil War He is he coauthor of two earlier books Evolution of Geomorphology A Nation by Nation Summary of Development with H J Walker and The Battle of Jackson, May 14, 1863 with Edwin C Bearss. Best Read Kindle ePUB Ninety-Eight Days Author Warren E. Grabau – kino-fada.fr When I stumbled across this book on , my initial thoughts were mmm professional geographer meets amateur Civil War buff I wonder But the reviews were overwhelmingly positive, so after lingering for a few months on my wish list I finally clicked the buy button And I am glad I did As a long time reader of military history in general, and Civil War history specifically, I have found that the vast majority of detailed operational accounts bog down in the details of unit movement When I stumbled across this book on , my initial thoughts were mmm professional geographer meets amateur Civil War buff I wonder But the reviews were overwhelmingly positive, so after lingering for a few months on my wish list I finally clicked the buy button And I am glad I did As a long time reader of military history in general, and Civil War history specifically, I have found that the vast majority of detailed operational accounts bog down in the details of unit movement Ninety Eight Days is the exact opposite Grabau s emphasis on the overriding infl...The scholarship in Ninety Eight Days is great, the writing is excellent, and I absolutely loved the structure Grabau tells the story in parallel, from each side s perspective and knowing only what they know, as opposed to an omniscient third party overhead view While this doesn t make Pemberton look like a mi...Sometimes you read a book that can change your outlook on historical events, and this was one for me Grabau is a geologist, and his study of the Vicksburg campaign puts the landscape that crazy, changing and wildly different landscape of the Mississippi Valley front and center of the narrative Decisions that seem to make no sense suddenly become clear, once one understands the terrain, the geology, the land use, the road net, and the effects of weather and season on that part of the countr Sometimes you read a book that can change your outlook on historical events, and this was one for me Grabau is a geologist, and his study of the Vicksburg campaign puts the landscape that crazy, changing and wildly different landscape of the Mississippi Valley front and center of the narrative Decisions that seem to make no sense suddenly become clear, once one understands the terrain, the geology, the ...This is an exceedingly detailed history of U.S Grant s Vicksburg campaign.Grant wrapped up his Vicksburg action the day after General George Meade defeated Robert E Lee at Gettysburg.A tour de force The narrative is full of well researched detail yet never bogs down This is the very best analysis I ve ever read of this masterful campaign A joy to read

• English
• 04 October 2018
Warren E. Grabau
• Hardcover
• 680 pages
• 1572330686
• Warren E. Grabau
• Ninety-Eight Days