The Richmond Campaign of 1862

288 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 31 illus., 10 maps, notes, bibl., index

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-5919-3
Published: September 2008
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-7356-4
Published: September 2000
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7301-9
Published: September 2000

Military Campaigns of the Civil War

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The Richmond campaign of April-July 1862 ranks as one of the most important military operations of the first years of the American Civil War. Key political, diplomatic, social, and military issues were at stake as Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan faced off on the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. The climactic clash came on June 26-July 1 in what became known as the Seven Days battles, when Lee, newly appointed as commander of the Confederate forces, aggressively attacked the Union army. Casualties for the entire campaign exceeded 50,000, more than 35,000 of whom fell during the Seven Days.

This book offers nine essays in which well-known Civil War historians explore questions regarding high command, strategy and tactics, the effects of the fighting upon politics and society both North and South, and the ways in which emancipation figured in the campaign. The authors have consulted previously untapped manuscript sources and reinterpreted more familiar evidence, sometimes focusing closely on the fighting around Richmond and sometimes looking more broadly at the background and consequences of the campaign.

Contributors:

William A. Blair

Keith S. Bohannon

Peter S. Carmichael

Gary W. Gallagher

John T. Hubbell

R. E. L. Krick

Robert K. Krick

James Marten

William J. Miller

About the Author

Gary W. Gallagher is John L. Nau III Professor of History at the University of Virginia and author or editor of numerous books, including Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know about the Civil War (from the University of North Carolina Press).

For more information about Gary W. Gallagher, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"No academic library should be without this volume, and no American military historian should overlook the insights offered by Gallagher and these authors into one of the most important campaigns of the conflict."--Journal of Southern History

"All these essays enhance understanding of the Peninsular campaign. Whether read separately or collectively, they form a volume that will find a welcome home in individual and institutional libraries on the Civil War."--Civil War History

"It is refreshing to find that even on a campaign that has been so frequently researched one can find new and insightful material in The Richmond Campaign of 1862. Well conceptualized and well written, Gallagher's editorial efforts have once again added significantly to the literature of the Civil War."--Journal of American History

"Another fine addition to the University of North Carolina Press's 'Military Campaigns of the Civil War' series."--American Historical Review

"No where else is so deep a consideration of these and other ponderable aspects of this campaign so conveniently or compellingly condensed as in this splendid volume."--Virginia Quarterly Review

"Offers a series of solidly researched and easily readable essays written by well-known professional and amateur historians."--Richmond Times Dispatch