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Emerging Civil War
Hurricane from the Heavens: The Battle of Cold Harbor, May 26 - June 5, 1864
“Lee’s army is really whipped,” Federal commander Ulysses S. Grant believed.
May 1864 had witnessed near-constant combat between his Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Grant, unlike his predecessors, had not relented in his pounding of the Confederates. The armies clashed in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania Courthouse and along the North Anna River. Whenever combat failed to break the Confederates, Grant resorted to maneuver. “I propose to fight it out along this line if it takes all summer,” Grant vowed—and it had.
Casualties mounted on both sides—but Grant kept coming. Although the great, decisive assault had eluded him, he continued to punish Lee’s army. The blows his army landed were nothing like the Confederates had experienced before. The constant marching and fighting had reduced Robert E. Lee’s once-vaunted army into a bedraggled husk of its former glory.
In Grant’s mind, he had worn his foes down and now prepared to deliver the deathblow.
Turning Lee’s flank once more, he hoped to fight the final, decisive battle of the war in the area bordering the Pamunkey and Chickahominy rivers, less than fifteen miles from the outskirts of the Confederate capital of Richmond. “I may be mistaken, but I feel that our success over Lee’s army is already assured,” Grant confided to Washington.
The stakes had grown enormous. Grant’s staggering casualty lists had driven Northern morale to his lowest point of the war. Would Lee’s men hold on to defend their besieged capital—and, in doing so, prolong the war until the North will collapsed entirely? Or would another round of hard fighting finally be enough to crush Lee’s army? Could Grant push through and end the war?
Grant would find his answers around a small Virginia crossroads called Cold Harbor—and he would always regret the results.
Historians Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt have studied the 1864 Overland Campaign since their early days working at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, where Grant first started on his bloody road south—a road that eventually led straight into the eye of a proverbial “Hurricane from the Heavens.”
Hurricane from the Heavens can be read in the comfort of one’s favorite armchair or as a battlefield guide. It is part of the popular Emerging Civil War Series, which offers compelling, easy-to-read overviews of some of the Civil War’s most important stories. The masterful storytelling is richly enhanced with more than one hundred photos, illustrations, and maps.
May 1864 had witnessed near-constant combat between his Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Grant, unlike his predecessors, had not relented in his pounding of the Confederates. The armies clashed in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania Courthouse and along the North Anna River. Whenever combat failed to break the Confederates, Grant resorted to maneuver. “I propose to fight it out along this line if it takes all summer,” Grant vowed—and it had.
Casualties mounted on both sides—but Grant kept coming. Although the great, decisive assault had eluded him, he continued to punish Lee’s army. The blows his army landed were nothing like the Confederates had experienced before. The constant marching and fighting had reduced Robert E. Lee’s once-vaunted army into a bedraggled husk of its former glory.
In Grant’s mind, he had worn his foes down and now prepared to deliver the deathblow.
Turning Lee’s flank once more, he hoped to fight the final, decisive battle of the war in the area bordering the Pamunkey and Chickahominy rivers, less than fifteen miles from the outskirts of the Confederate capital of Richmond. “I may be mistaken, but I feel that our success over Lee’s army is already assured,” Grant confided to Washington.
The stakes had grown enormous. Grant’s staggering casualty lists had driven Northern morale to his lowest point of the war. Would Lee’s men hold on to defend their besieged capital—and, in doing so, prolong the war until the North will collapsed entirely? Or would another round of hard fighting finally be enough to crush Lee’s army? Could Grant push through and end the war?
Grant would find his answers around a small Virginia crossroads called Cold Harbor—and he would always regret the results.
Historians Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt have studied the 1864 Overland Campaign since their early days working at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, where Grant first started on his bloody road south—a road that eventually led straight into the eye of a proverbial “Hurricane from the Heavens.”
Hurricane from the Heavens can be read in the comfort of one’s favorite armchair or as a battlefield guide. It is part of the popular Emerging Civil War Series, which offers compelling, easy-to-read overviews of some of the Civil War’s most important stories. The masterful storytelling is richly enhanced with more than one hundred photos, illustrations, and maps.
192 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 27, 2023
Like the other books in this series, this is an overview of the Battle of Cold Harbor. It provides a very good introduction to the battle. A tour is included as well as a reading list if you want to dive deeper.
June 3, 2022
Great introduction to the final stage of the Overland Campaign. It is written in a fun style with lots of maps and photos.
p. xvii: "Open-field fighting was a thing of the past. In one bloody campaign, Grant and Lee ushered out open-field fighting--that standard way of doing battle since the time of Napoleon--and ushered in the trench warfare that would become the hallmark of the First World War."
p. 64: Col. Laurence M. Keitt, 20th South Carolina, Kershaw's Brigade, Kershaw's Division, First Corps was killed leading his unit from the front on his horse on June 1, 1864.
p. 70: "The implementation of fieldworks over the course of Overland Campaign represented a tactical evolution by the Rebels; the Federals needed to evolve, too, if they hoped to dislodge them from their battlements."
p. 86: "It was not war; it was murder."
p. 93: Grant was a "much more stubborn Gen. than we have ever fought before."
p. 97: Charles Dana: "Nothing can give a greater idea of deathless tenacity of purpose than the picture ... after a bloody and nearly continuous struggle for thirty days [by the men of both armies] ... lying down to sleep, with their heads almost on each other's throats!"
p. 102: Lee to Grant: "[I] regret ... that I did not make myself understood in my commuication of yesterday."
p 102: "General Grant means to hold on and I know that he will win in the end."
p. 107: Grant: "My idea from the start has been to beat Lee's army if possible, north of Richmond."
p. 110: Lee: "We must destroy this Army of Grant's before he gets to the James River. If he gets there it will become a siege and then it will be a mere question of time."
p 113: [book:Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War|2129106
p. 131: "Gaines' Mill--or the first battle of Cold Harbor--resulted in Lee's first tactical victory. The 1864 battle of Cold Harbor was, in hindsight, his last tactical victory in a major, general enagement; despite localized successes, Lee would lose the nearly 10-month siege of Petersburg and ultimately surrendered the remnants of his army at Appomattox."
p. 135: Grant: "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made."
p. 147: Lee: "Richmond must not be given up; it shall not be given up!"
p. xvii: "Open-field fighting was a thing of the past. In one bloody campaign, Grant and Lee ushered out open-field fighting--that standard way of doing battle since the time of Napoleon--and ushered in the trench warfare that would become the hallmark of the First World War."
p. 64: Col. Laurence M. Keitt, 20th South Carolina, Kershaw's Brigade, Kershaw's Division, First Corps was killed leading his unit from the front on his horse on June 1, 1864.
p. 70: "The implementation of fieldworks over the course of Overland Campaign represented a tactical evolution by the Rebels; the Federals needed to evolve, too, if they hoped to dislodge them from their battlements."
p. 86: "It was not war; it was murder."
p. 93: Grant was a "much more stubborn Gen. than we have ever fought before."
p. 97: Charles Dana: "Nothing can give a greater idea of deathless tenacity of purpose than the picture ... after a bloody and nearly continuous struggle for thirty days [by the men of both armies] ... lying down to sleep, with their heads almost on each other's throats!"
p. 102: Lee to Grant: "[I] regret ... that I did not make myself understood in my commuication of yesterday."
p 102: "General Grant means to hold on and I know that he will win in the end."
p. 107: Grant: "My idea from the start has been to beat Lee's army if possible, north of Richmond."
p. 110: Lee: "We must destroy this Army of Grant's before he gets to the James River. If he gets there it will become a siege and then it will be a mere question of time."
p 113: [book:Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War|2129106
p. 131: "Gaines' Mill--or the first battle of Cold Harbor--resulted in Lee's first tactical victory. The 1864 battle of Cold Harbor was, in hindsight, his last tactical victory in a major, general enagement; despite localized successes, Lee would lose the nearly 10-month siege of Petersburg and ultimately surrendered the remnants of his army at Appomattox."
p. 135: Grant: "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made."
p. 147: Lee: "Richmond must not be given up; it shall not be given up!"
February 2, 2023
This slim volume delivers something we've been waiting for a long time; a clear, concise, easy to follow guide to one of the Eastern Theater's epic battles. Also included in this volume is a visitor's guide that gives directions to important parts of the battlefield(s). Although the author doesn't go into the deeper historiography of the battle, there is a list of recommended reading at the conclusion of the book. Overall, I would say this volume is a good starting point for anyone looking to learn more about the Overland Campaign in Virginia.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews