Grant and Lee: The Virginia Campaigns, 1864-1865

by William A. Frassanito

Book Overview

The third in the original classic trilogy, this book follows the path of the commanders during the final decisive campaigns of the Civil War. Like his first two books, it uses photographs taken during... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684178737
• ISBN13: 9780684178738
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 442 Pages
• Weight: 2.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great for Looking At the Overland campaign: Then and Now

This is my favorite book of the author's because he takes you across the landscape of the great Lee and Grant campaign of 1864 right up to the Petersburg siege. Here you see the less famous pictures of the long and ferocious campaign that decided the war. The author/photographer shows you pictures of river crossings, earth works, battlefields, albatis, historically significant homes and he often finds the exact locations in present time where he gives you a present day photo on the scene where the initial picture was originally shot. These reflective pictures give the historian the knowledge and ability to stand where that point of history was made. Excellent for those that follows the Civil War trails and who like to stand in those historic places. Also includes many pictures of Officers and staff that are famous and in some cases obscure. The healthy size book has a sprightly narrative that ties the pictures and events together to give the reader a quick reference to all the pictures as the campaign unfolds. Frassanito's work on Gettysburg is famous because he finds the exact location of historical pictures taken just days after the battle and corrects their location on the field through photographic research. This book steps into a less famous campaign compared to Gettysburg but it is a jewel as it covers the many months of campaigning creating a great visual appreciation of it making it a great guide to the decisive Lee and Grant campaign.

Excellent Analyses of Grant and Lee Civil War photographs

There are several photographs that are frequently used in documentaries describing the last year of the American Civil War in the Eastern Theater. One is a full length of Lee standing in his best uniform hat in his right hand staring at the camera. If you know the story behind the photograph, you can see the fatigue in his eyes but also his fiery eyes that his contemporaries often mentioned. The one of Grant shows him leaning against a tree with his right hand, a tent behind him and his left hand on his hip. This photo is often used in documentaries when Grant's doggedness (bordering on stubbornness) is mentioned. This book describes these and many other photographs of this period of the war, some frequently used, many others less so. The history of each photograph is described in careful detail. For example, you can read here that the Lee photograph was taken on his back porch, within a week of his having surrendered his army to Grant, probably on April 16. Frassanito also indicates that this photograph is part of a series taken in one session including photographs with Lee's staff officer (and biographer) Walter Taylor and Lee's eldest son Custis Lee. The photograph of Grant was taken near Cold Harbor and is part of a series of photographs taken of several generals and their staffs.Other frequently used photographs are of a wagon train leaving Petersburg (often erroneously associated with Lee's withdrawal from that city, the dead southern soldiers in Petersburg's trenches and Grant's headquarters at City Point, Virginia. Particularly interesting is the description of a series taken at Massaponax Baptist Church near the intersection of present-day route 1 and the road to the Spotsylvania battlefield. The pews had been taken out of the church to the yard and three photographs were taken of Grant, Meade and their staff officers while supply wagons rolled by in the background. Frassanito explains that Grant and Meade discuss a message brought by a cavalry officer in one photo, Grant writes a dispatch in the second and all relax in the third. Frassanito even identifies the message that Grant probably wrote while the photograph was taken.As in his other books, Frassanito explains how many of the photographs were misidentified over the years. Further, Frassanito always indicates when he's making an educated guess and why he made that guess. However, these errors are not as dramatic as the instances covered in his "Gettysburg: A Journey in Time". But they do give you further insight to this period of the war.Frassanito was an intelligence analyst during the Vietnam War and won the Bronze Star. I feel that only from a lot of practice analyzing photographs during the war could he have developed the skill needed to make the many insightful observations in his books. I would recommend all of Frassanito's books to Civil War buffs, but this one in particular to those interested in the last year of the war, the period where Grant and Lee faced off against eac