Out of the Storm: The End of the Civil War, April-June 1865

by Noah Andre Trudeau

Many people continue to believe that the Civil War ended with Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, yet it took three more months to end the bloodiest of all American wars. Out of the Storm is a remarkable portrait of this turbulent closing phase of the war. Photos.

Genres: Civil War, History, American Civil War, Nonfiction

496 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1994

About the author

American Civil War historian. He has won the Civil War Round Table of New York's Fletcher Pratt Award and the Jerry Coffey Memorial Book Prize. A former executive producer at National Public Radio, he lives in Washington, DC.

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author does a good job covering the final major military operations of the war: the Appomattox Campaign, Johnston's surrender at the Bennett Place, the capture of Mobile, Alabama, and Wilson's Raid, plus the Battle of Palmitto Ranch and the surrender of the C.S.S. Shenandoah. If I had anything to complain about the book, it would be that the author doesn't provides any tactical or strategic analysis of the campaigns; but on the other hand, he is probably more focused on telling the story of how the war ended, rather than a traditional battle study.

[Margaret Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it was over it wasn't over. That is the captivating story shown to us by Mr. Trudeau in this worthy book. By selectively quoting from hundreds of personal letters and journals housed in special collections at almost three dozen university, state, and other historical archives, he elicits our compassion for the people who lived through—or died because of—this now-long-ago three-month span of time in American history.

The facts are, of course, that the defenses of Petersburg were finally broken, Richmond fell, and General Lee surrendered his formidable Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant at Appomattox Court House. Follow-up facts are that on the same April 2 day that Richmond was being evacuated, General Nathan Bedford Forrest fought his last battle of the war in Selma, Alabama; the succeeding days and weeks saw more fighting in southern states—and surrender of Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama; West Point, Columbus, and Macon, Georgia; and Raleigh, North Carolina. Jefferson Davis began an escape odyssey. President Lincoln was murdered, and his assailant John Wilkes Booth also ran by horse and boat, until he was caught and shot. There were the funeral ceremonies for Lincoln, and the long train procession from Washington to Illinois. Then General Joe Johnston surrendered the last major Confederate Army to General Sherman in North Carolina. Soldiers were discharged from service. Military prisoners were released, some of the federals only to suffer tragic death when an overloaded steamer transporting them northward on the Mississippi River exploded in the night. Jeff Davis was captured and imprisoned. Occupied Mobile was used to stockpile left-over military ordnance, until it blew up one night and destroyed so much of the city that no accurate count of the dead was ever possible. A military tribunal convicted eight individuals of being accomplices of John Wilkes Booth, and four of them were hanged.

All of these facts are related here via the eyes and emotions of ordinary people who wrote down what they saw and felt. That is what gives the story its power—their anguish, their fatigue, their sorrow or relief or subdued joy for the end. By the final chapter, however, we come to understand that the war was really over at different times in the hearts of each individual man or woman. For that story, it might take an encyclopedia.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trudeau explores the somewhat messy end of the Civil War, and what lessons it holds for us. He covers the surrender of Lee and how the ends the the War influenced America moving forward.

This is definitely a must-read for the Civil War buff, but would recommend other Trudeau books for the Civil War novice. Can't wait to read his new book on Lee.

[Read1000books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trudeau does a good job of gathering up all the major threads of the war and tying them up. Find out how it all came to an end - read this book!