Dimensions
140 x 215 x 33mm
The exciting but heartrending events that turned a limited political action into an all-out conflict - and made the Civil War a fight for human freedom. The second in the American Civil War trilogy, Catton shows how the union and Confederacy slowly reconciled themselves to all out war.
To begin with there was little action as each side reviewed its position and counted its heads and guns. The North had positive advantages (but not one in General McClellan who is impaled forever in this book by extracts from his arrogant letters). The South recognised that it would have to strike hard to win, but it had terrible handicaps (including flintlock rifles that wouldn't fire in the rain.) It waited for the inevitable.
Gradually the action changed from small skirmishes to major battles and with it the stature of Lee, Grant, Jefferson Davis and Sherman emerged. Slowly and inexorably the conflict changed its nature from an uninspiring police action to a series of bloody clashes in the cause of ending human slavery. It became a war for freedom.
