eBook Trench Warfare under Grant and Lee: Field Fortifications in the Overland Campaign (Civil War America) ePub

No student of Grant's overland campaign should forego reading this thoroughly researched study. As the author thoroughly documents, field fortifications were critical for both sides of that struggle.

Earl J. Hess's new "Trench Warfare under Grant and Lee: Field Fortifications in the Overland Campaign" is as good a piece of Civil War scholarship as I have read in years. It is at the most fundamental level a narrative history of military operations in the Overland Campaign of May and June, 1864: the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, and Cold Harbor, but it is a narrative history that focuses particularly on how field fortifications evolved over the course of those six weeks of heavy combat and it details how the use of field fortifications influenced the course of that campaign. In his earlier volume, "Field Armies and Fortifications in the Civil War," Hess dispelled the old myths that such entrenchments were a direct consequence of the power of rifled-muskets or that their use suddenly sprang into being in the spring of 1864 (he documented three years of field fortifications, although not on such a scale as became standard by the end of the Overland Campaign) and that these entrenchments were somehow merely the fruit of the teaching of Dennis Hart Mahan at West Point. Or to quote the author: "The use of field fortifications evolved during the Civil War not due to some irrational fear, but due to a real and potent threat: the continued presence of an enemy army within striking distance. Their use was a rational and logical response to that threat."

Hess reserves most of the technical details of entrenchment and breastwork design for an appendix, leaving his main narrative fast-moving and compelling. "Trench Warfare under Grant and Lee" is an important contribution to Civil War literature and should find a ready spot on the bookshelves of any serious student of the era. I look forward to his planned third volume, to examine field fortifications during the Petersburg campaign.

Inevitably, it must be asked how Hess views the Overland Campaign in balance. Was it a Union or a Confederate success? Although Hess does not absolve Grant of errors in too hastily ordering attacks or in failing to recognize the power of impromptu fieldworks, Hess concludes: "Grant's most significant achievement in the Overland campaign was not in capturing territory, or in positioning his army close to Richmond, or in reducing the fighting strength of the Army of Northern Virginia by 50 percent; rather it lay in robbing Lee of the opportunity to launch large-scale offensives against the Army of the Potomac. In laying claim to the strategic initiative, Grant won an important physical and emotional victory over Lee, and he did it with fewer losses than his predecessors had suffered in attempting the same goal ... Most important, he did not give up the strategic initiative and thereby brought the war to an end. The Overland campaign was as much a watershed in the strategic course of the Civil War as the Seven Days."

Great book from a great academic.

outstanding analysis of the shift in the style of combat in the Eastern Theater.

Earl J. Hess has sought out to perform a duty which is not quite researched in the American Civil War: he has written great academic works on field fortifications in the conflict. The reason this work should be hailed is due to the painstaking detail he places in the work and the amount of research he has performed. Trench Warfare Under Grant and Lee is the second book in the series he has written about field fortifications and while it is incredibly different from the first work, it shines even greater. Many works have been written about the Overland Campaign, but none have ever devoted themselves to the development of the warfare around the use of the trenches. In all honesty, these studies of trench warfare are usually written about when analyzing World War One, but Hess proves that the use of the trench was more prevalent during this campaign than any other.

Earl J. Hess is an associate professor of history at Lincoln Memorial University and has authored other works such as The Civil War in the West: Victory and Defeat from the Appalachians to the Mississippi and Pickett’s Charge – The Last Attack at Gettysburg. His book on Pickett’s Charge was the winner of the 2001 James I. Robertson Jr. Prize from the Civil War Library and Research Center. The first in the series on fortifications was Field Armies and Fortifications in the Civil War: The Eastern Campaign and the final work in the series is In the Trenches at Petersburg: Field Fortifications and the Confederate Defeat.

Much like his first work, he separates the book into the many different battles which occurred during the Overland Campaign. Instead of spanning years as he did in his first work, he has matter of months to write about. In each chapter, he analyzes the types of trenches and or field fortifications used by the armies along with the evolution of the tactics being used in order to combat the types of fortifications or trenches. When talking about battles specifically, there are moments when he breaks up the narrative into the days of attacks which, in many cases, have changes in the tactics used against them. In his account on the Battle of the Wilderness, he breaks up the action into certain days and it is quite amazing how the tactics change. His work is also aided by the use of maps which are drawn with such simplicity as to understand how the trenches are working in this regard. There are many works where the maps attempt to show the rises and falls in the terrain, but here, the map is laid out for complete understanding. That is not to say that the maps are not detailed, but they are not over-detailed as in other works. Also as part of the work, there are pictures on the types of fortifications and trenches used. As with his first work in the series, this was a great aid into understanding what was being described. Throughout the text, there are plenty of examples as to the types of trenches and fortifications and are usually always aided by a photograph or drawing. This type of detail and expertise is greatly appreciated in this work.

Earl J. Hess has proven that he is a master at writing about field armies and fortifications from his first book and now has proven himself even more by writing about the trenches. I highly recommend this book to any Civil War historian. There is a general study that most of the great fighting is done by the infantrymen while there is quite a lot the corps of engineers does for bringing about the victories on the battlefield. The narrative is flowing and easy to follow which is always a positive advantage in a work such as this. The terms being used can often confuse the Civil War novice, but in this work, Hess does a fantastic job ensuring the reader’s understanding of what is going on. In conclusion, I am greatly looking forward to reading the last work in the series and I applaud Earl J. Hess in the study which he has brought to light here. Highly Recommended!

Matthew Bartlett - Gettysburg Chronicle