
Bloody Spring
Forty Days That Sealed the Confederacy's Fate
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $17.16
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Grover Gardner
-
By:
-
Joseph Wheelan
About this listen
A unique and compelling examination of the Civil War's "turning point" - 40 crucial days in the spring of 1864 that turned the tide for the Union.
In the spring of 1864, Robert E. Lee faced a new adversary: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Named commander of all Union armies in March, Grant quickly went on the offensive against Lee in Virginia. On May 4th, Grant's army struck hard across the Rapidan River into north central Virginia, with Lee's army contesting every mile. They fought for 40 days until, finally, the Union army crossed the James River and began the siege of Petersburg.
The campaign cost 90,000 men - the largest loss the war had seen. While Grant lost nearly twice as many men as Lee did, he could replace them. Lee could not and would never again mount another major offensive. Lee's surrender at Appomattox less than a year later was the denouement of the drama begun in those crucial 40 days.
©2014 Joseph Wheelan (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Their Last Full Measure
- The Final Days of the Civil War
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Confederacy steadily crumbled under the Union army's relentless hammering, dramatic developments in early 1865 brought the bloody war to a swift climax and denouement. Their Last Full Measure relates these thrilling events, which followed one another like falling dominoes - from Fort Fisher's capture to the burning of South Carolina's capital to the fall of Petersburg and Richmond and, ultimately, to Lee's surrender at Appomattox and Lincoln's assassination.
-
-
Monotone reading. 1st audio book I couldn't finish
- By Mike Beggs on 08-28-18
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Bloody Okinawa
- The Last Great Battle of World War II
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 184,000 US troops began landing on the only Japanese home soil invaded during the Pacific war. Just 350 miles from mainland Japan, Okinawa was to serve as a forward base for Japan's invasion in the fall of 1945. Nearly 140,000 Japanese and auxiliary soldiers fought with suicidal tenacity from hollowed-out, fortified hills and ridges. Under constant fire and in the rain and mud, the Americans battered the defenders with artillery, aerial bombing, naval gunfire, and every infantry tool.
-
-
Very Technical
- By J.Brock on 07-16-21
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Terrible Swift Sword
- The Life of General Philip H. Sheridan
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alongside Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan is the least known of the triumvirate of generals most responsible for winning the Civil War. Yet, before Sherman's famous march through Georgia, it was General Sheridan who introduced scorched-earth warfare to the South, and it was his Cavalry Corps that compelled Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Sheridan's innovative cavalry tactics and "total war" strategy became staples of 20th-century warfare.
-
-
Full of history but just a little long
- By Dennis on 09-17-13
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Midnight in the Pacific
- Guadalcanal -- The World War II Battle That Turned the Tide of War
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Published on the 75th anniversary of the battle and utilizing vivid accounts written by the combatants at Guadalcanal, along with marine corps and army archives and oral histories, Midnight in the Pacific is both a sweeping narrative and a compelling drama of individual marines, soldiers, and sailors caught in the crosshairs of history.
-
-
Don't start here or you'll be confused.
- By Doctor Bob on 08-13-17
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
To the Gates of Richmond
- The Peninsula Campaign
- By: Stephen Sears
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the largest campaign ever attempted in the Civil War: the Peninsula campaign of 1862. General George McClellan planned to advance from Yorktown up the Virginia Peninsula and destroy the Rebel army in its own capital. But with Robert E. Lee delivering blows to the Union army, McClellan’s plan fell through at the gates of Richmond.
-
-
Magnificent chronicle of mismanagement
- By Triceracop on 10-08-13
By: Stephen Sears
-
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
- By: Allen C. Guelzo
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 22 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed Civil War historian, a brilliant new history–the most intimate and richly readable account we have had–of the climactic three-day battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), which draws the reader into the heat, smoke, and grime of Gettysburg alongside the ordinary soldier, and depicts the combination of personalities and circumstances that produced the greatest battle of the Civil War, and one of the greatest in human history.
-
-
A Fresh Look at a Famous Battle
- By W. F. Rucker on 07-03-13
By: Allen C. Guelzo
-
Their Last Full Measure
- The Final Days of the Civil War
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Confederacy steadily crumbled under the Union army's relentless hammering, dramatic developments in early 1865 brought the bloody war to a swift climax and denouement. Their Last Full Measure relates these thrilling events, which followed one another like falling dominoes - from Fort Fisher's capture to the burning of South Carolina's capital to the fall of Petersburg and Richmond and, ultimately, to Lee's surrender at Appomattox and Lincoln's assassination.
-
-
Monotone reading. 1st audio book I couldn't finish
- By Mike Beggs on 08-28-18
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Bloody Okinawa
- The Last Great Battle of World War II
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 184,000 US troops began landing on the only Japanese home soil invaded during the Pacific war. Just 350 miles from mainland Japan, Okinawa was to serve as a forward base for Japan's invasion in the fall of 1945. Nearly 140,000 Japanese and auxiliary soldiers fought with suicidal tenacity from hollowed-out, fortified hills and ridges. Under constant fire and in the rain and mud, the Americans battered the defenders with artillery, aerial bombing, naval gunfire, and every infantry tool.
-
-
Very Technical
- By J.Brock on 07-16-21
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Terrible Swift Sword
- The Life of General Philip H. Sheridan
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alongside Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan is the least known of the triumvirate of generals most responsible for winning the Civil War. Yet, before Sherman's famous march through Georgia, it was General Sheridan who introduced scorched-earth warfare to the South, and it was his Cavalry Corps that compelled Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Sheridan's innovative cavalry tactics and "total war" strategy became staples of 20th-century warfare.
-
-
Full of history but just a little long
- By Dennis on 09-17-13
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Midnight in the Pacific
- Guadalcanal -- The World War II Battle That Turned the Tide of War
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Published on the 75th anniversary of the battle and utilizing vivid accounts written by the combatants at Guadalcanal, along with marine corps and army archives and oral histories, Midnight in the Pacific is both a sweeping narrative and a compelling drama of individual marines, soldiers, and sailors caught in the crosshairs of history.
-
-
Don't start here or you'll be confused.
- By Doctor Bob on 08-13-17
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
To the Gates of Richmond
- The Peninsula Campaign
- By: Stephen Sears
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the largest campaign ever attempted in the Civil War: the Peninsula campaign of 1862. General George McClellan planned to advance from Yorktown up the Virginia Peninsula and destroy the Rebel army in its own capital. But with Robert E. Lee delivering blows to the Union army, McClellan’s plan fell through at the gates of Richmond.
-
-
Magnificent chronicle of mismanagement
- By Triceracop on 10-08-13
By: Stephen Sears
-
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
- By: Allen C. Guelzo
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 22 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed Civil War historian, a brilliant new history–the most intimate and richly readable account we have had–of the climactic three-day battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), which draws the reader into the heat, smoke, and grime of Gettysburg alongside the ordinary soldier, and depicts the combination of personalities and circumstances that produced the greatest battle of the Civil War, and one of the greatest in human history.
-
-
A Fresh Look at a Famous Battle
- By W. F. Rucker on 07-03-13
By: Allen C. Guelzo
-
Born to Battle
- Grant and Forrest: Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga: The Campaigns that Doomed the Confederacy
- By: Jack Hurst
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born to Battle examines the Civil War’s complex and decisive western theater through the exploits of its greatest figures: Ulysses S. Grant and Nathan Bedford Forrest. These two opposing giants squared off in some of the most epic campaigns of the war, starting at Shiloh and continuing through Perryville, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga - battles in which the Union would slowly but surely divide the western Confederacy, setting the stage for the final showdowns of this bloody and protracted conflict.
By: Jack Hurst
-
Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle
- By: Kenneth W. Noe
- Narrated by: Tom Sleeker
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On October 8, 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed near Perryville, Kentucky, in what would be the largest battle ever fought on Kentucky soil. The climax of a campaign that began two months before in Northern Mississippi, Perryville came to be recognized as the high water mark of the western Confederacy. Some said the hard-fought battle, forever remembered by participants for its sheer savagery and for their commanders' confusion, was the worst battle of the war, losing the last chance to bring the Commonwealth into the Confederacy.
-
-
Pitiful narration
- By Charles on 10-22-17
By: Kenneth W. Noe
-
Lincoln's Lieutenants
- The High Command of the Army of the Potomac
- By: Stephen W. Sears
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 32 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The high command of the Army of the Potomac was a changeable, often dysfunctional band of brothers, going through the fires of war under seven commanding generals in three years, until Grant came east in 1864. The men in charge all too frequently appeared to be fighting against the administration in Washington instead of for it, increasingly cast as political pawns facing down a vindictive congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War.
-
-
Good, but not what I thought
- By Paul S. on 08-10-17
By: Stephen W. Sears
-
On to Petersburg
- Grant and Lee, June 4-15, 1864
- By: Gordon C. Rhea
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On to Petersburg follows the Union army's movement to the James River, the military response from the Confederates, and the initial assault on Petersburg, which Rhea suggests marked the true end of the Overland Campaign. Beginning his account in the immediate aftermath of Grant's three-day attack on Confederate troops at Cold Harbor, Rhea argues that the Union general's primary goal was not - as often supposed - to take Richmond, but rather to destroy Lee's army by closing off its retreat routes and disrupting its supply chain.
-
-
Important to understanding the Overland Campaign
- By Jimbo on 12-29-19
By: Gordon C. Rhea
-
In Mortal Combat
- Korea, 1950-1953
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 27 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this brilliant narrative of America's first limited war, Toland lets both the events and the participants speak for themselves, employing scrupulous archival research and interviews as the bases for the drama and accuracy of his writing. In Mortal Combat reveals Mao's prediction of the date and place of MacArthur's Inchon landing, Russia's indifference to the war, Mao's secret leadership of the North Korean military, and the true nature of both sides' treatment and repatriation of POWs.
-
-
Slightly disappointed
- By Patrick on 09-02-19
By: John Toland
-
Big Week
- The Biggest Air Battle of World War II
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the third week of February 1944, the combined Allied air forces based in Britain and Italy launched their first round-the-clock bomber offensive against Germany. Their goal: to smash the main factories and production centers of the Luftwaffe while also drawing German planes into an aerial battle of attrition to neutralize the Luftwaffe as a fighting force prior to the cross-channel invasion, planned for a few months later. Officially called Operation ARGUMENT, this aerial offensive quickly became known as “Big Week,” and it was one of the turning-points of World War II.
-
-
War in the Air: Sets stage with gripping narrative
- By Nashville Cat on 11-17-18
By: James Holland
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
-
-
OUTSTANDING! I'M PROUD TO BE A BLACK AMERICAN!!
- By The Louligan on 08-22-13
By: Shelby Foote
-
Sicily '43
- The First Assault on Fortress Europe
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Al Murray
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On July 10, 1943, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted took place, larger even than the Normandy invasion 11 months later: 160,000 American, British, and Canadian troops came ashore or were parachuted onto Sicily, signaling the start of the campaign to defeat Nazi Germany on European soil. Operation HUSKY, as it was known, was enormously complex, involving dramatic battles on land, in the air, and at sea. Yet, despite its paramount importance to ultimate Allied victory, and its drama, very little has been written about the 38-day Battle for Sicily.
-
-
Great writing, great narration, interesting topic
- By ItalCali on 08-02-21
By: James Holland
-
Shiloh
- In Hell before Night
- By: James Lee Mcdonough
- Narrated by: Gary D. MacFadden
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colorful, dramatic, blundering, and tragic - these are some of the adjectives that have been applied to the two-day engagement at Shiloh. This battle, which bears the biblical name meaning “place of peace,” was one of the bloodiest encounters of the Civil War. The Union colonel, whose words give the present book its title, foretold the losses when he told his men: “Fill your canteens Boys! Some of you will be in hell before night….” Fought in the early spring of 1862 on the west bank of the Mississippi state line, Shiloh was, up to that time, the biggest battle of American history.
-
-
SHILOH
- By Danny Harr on 04-02-25
-
Chancellorsville
- By: Stephen Sears
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
- Length: 23 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A former editor of American Heritage, Stephen W. Sears has collected a wealth of new sources for this definitive portrait of one of the most dramatic battles of the Civil War. Using scores of letters and diaries written by soldiers from both Union and Confederate armies, Sears’ narrative history seeks to strip away the gloss of later commentary and restore the battle of Chancellorsville to its original voices.
-
-
It's a Wonderful Tool
- By Drake M. Davis on 08-23-14
By: Stephen Sears
-
1812: The Navy's War
- By: George C. Daughan
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the outbreak of the War of 1812, America's prospects looked dismal. It was clear that the primary battlefield would be the open ocean but America's war fleet, only 20 ships strong, faced a practiced British navy of more than a thousand men-of-war. Still, through a combination of nautical deftness and sheer bravado, the American navy managed to take the fight to the British and turn the tide of the war.
-
-
Arghhhh!!! Not meant for audio.
- By Jonathan Love on 07-07-12
-
The War Lovers
- Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898
- By: Evan Thomas
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor. Although there was no evidence that the Spanish were responsible, yellow newspapers such as William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal whipped Americans into frenzy by claiming that Spain's "secret infernal machine" had destroyed the battleship. Soon after, the blandly handsome and easily influenced President McKinley declared war, sending troops not only to Cuba but also to the Philippines.
-
-
A Rather Poor History
- By Paul C. White on 08-17-10
By: Evan Thomas
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Bloody Okinawa
- The Last Great Battle of World War II
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 184,000 US troops began landing on the only Japanese home soil invaded during the Pacific war. Just 350 miles from mainland Japan, Okinawa was to serve as a forward base for Japan's invasion in the fall of 1945. Nearly 140,000 Japanese and auxiliary soldiers fought with suicidal tenacity from hollowed-out, fortified hills and ridges. Under constant fire and in the rain and mud, the Americans battered the defenders with artillery, aerial bombing, naval gunfire, and every infantry tool.
-
-
Very Technical
- By J.Brock on 07-16-21
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Midnight in the Pacific
- Guadalcanal -- The World War II Battle That Turned the Tide of War
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Published on the 75th anniversary of the battle and utilizing vivid accounts written by the combatants at Guadalcanal, along with marine corps and army archives and oral histories, Midnight in the Pacific is both a sweeping narrative and a compelling drama of individual marines, soldiers, and sailors caught in the crosshairs of history.
-
-
Don't start here or you'll be confused.
- By Doctor Bob on 08-13-17
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Terrible Swift Sword
- The Life of General Philip H. Sheridan
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alongside Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan is the least known of the triumvirate of generals most responsible for winning the Civil War. Yet, before Sherman's famous march through Georgia, it was General Sheridan who introduced scorched-earth warfare to the South, and it was his Cavalry Corps that compelled Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Sheridan's innovative cavalry tactics and "total war" strategy became staples of 20th-century warfare.
-
-
Full of history but just a little long
- By Dennis on 09-17-13
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Jefferson's War
- America's First War on Terror, 1801-1805
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Patrick Cullen
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two centuries ago, without congressional or public debate, a president who is thought of today as peaceable, Thomas Jefferson, launched America's first war on foreign soil, a war against terror. The enemy was Muslim; the war was waged unconventionally, with commandos, native troops, and encrypted intelligence, and launched from foreign bases.
-
-
A Great Read
- By Donald on 06-19-05
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Their Last Full Measure
- The Final Days of the Civil War
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Confederacy steadily crumbled under the Union army's relentless hammering, dramatic developments in early 1865 brought the bloody war to a swift climax and denouement. Their Last Full Measure relates these thrilling events, which followed one another like falling dominoes - from Fort Fisher's capture to the burning of South Carolina's capital to the fall of Petersburg and Richmond and, ultimately, to Lee's surrender at Appomattox and Lincoln's assassination.
-
-
Monotone reading. 1st audio book I couldn't finish
- By Mike Beggs on 08-28-18
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Longstreet
- The Confederate General Who Defied the South
- By: Elizabeth Varon
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the most remarkable political about-face in American history. During the Civil War, General James Longstreet fought tenaciously for the Confederacy. He was alongside Lee at Gettysburg (and counseled him not to order the ill-fated attacks on entrenched Union forces there). He won a major Confederate victory at Chickamauga and was seriously wounded during a later battle.
-
-
Misleading
- By kevin on 09-11-24
By: Elizabeth Varon
-
Bloody Okinawa
- The Last Great Battle of World War II
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 184,000 US troops began landing on the only Japanese home soil invaded during the Pacific war. Just 350 miles from mainland Japan, Okinawa was to serve as a forward base for Japan's invasion in the fall of 1945. Nearly 140,000 Japanese and auxiliary soldiers fought with suicidal tenacity from hollowed-out, fortified hills and ridges. Under constant fire and in the rain and mud, the Americans battered the defenders with artillery, aerial bombing, naval gunfire, and every infantry tool.
-
-
Very Technical
- By J.Brock on 07-16-21
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Midnight in the Pacific
- Guadalcanal -- The World War II Battle That Turned the Tide of War
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Published on the 75th anniversary of the battle and utilizing vivid accounts written by the combatants at Guadalcanal, along with marine corps and army archives and oral histories, Midnight in the Pacific is both a sweeping narrative and a compelling drama of individual marines, soldiers, and sailors caught in the crosshairs of history.
-
-
Don't start here or you'll be confused.
- By Doctor Bob on 08-13-17
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Terrible Swift Sword
- The Life of General Philip H. Sheridan
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alongside Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan is the least known of the triumvirate of generals most responsible for winning the Civil War. Yet, before Sherman's famous march through Georgia, it was General Sheridan who introduced scorched-earth warfare to the South, and it was his Cavalry Corps that compelled Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Sheridan's innovative cavalry tactics and "total war" strategy became staples of 20th-century warfare.
-
-
Full of history but just a little long
- By Dennis on 09-17-13
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Jefferson's War
- America's First War on Terror, 1801-1805
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Patrick Cullen
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two centuries ago, without congressional or public debate, a president who is thought of today as peaceable, Thomas Jefferson, launched America's first war on foreign soil, a war against terror. The enemy was Muslim; the war was waged unconventionally, with commandos, native troops, and encrypted intelligence, and launched from foreign bases.
-
-
A Great Read
- By Donald on 06-19-05
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Their Last Full Measure
- The Final Days of the Civil War
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Confederacy steadily crumbled under the Union army's relentless hammering, dramatic developments in early 1865 brought the bloody war to a swift climax and denouement. Their Last Full Measure relates these thrilling events, which followed one another like falling dominoes - from Fort Fisher's capture to the burning of South Carolina's capital to the fall of Petersburg and Richmond and, ultimately, to Lee's surrender at Appomattox and Lincoln's assassination.
-
-
Monotone reading. 1st audio book I couldn't finish
- By Mike Beggs on 08-28-18
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Longstreet
- The Confederate General Who Defied the South
- By: Elizabeth Varon
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the most remarkable political about-face in American history. During the Civil War, General James Longstreet fought tenaciously for the Confederacy. He was alongside Lee at Gettysburg (and counseled him not to order the ill-fated attacks on entrenched Union forces there). He won a major Confederate victory at Chickamauga and was seriously wounded during a later battle.
-
-
Misleading
- By kevin on 09-11-24
By: Elizabeth Varon
Very Detailed
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Awesome book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
He gives excellent evidence to support The conclusion that neither Lee nor Grant, nor even divisional Icons like Hancock or Longstreet, were close to perfect. He portrays instead imperfection - not only in human error, but in tactics given technology, inadequate diet, “knee deep” dust and mud.
I really appreciated his presentation in detail of “modern” Trench warfare, presaged in every dimension by the Civil War in the Spring of 1865. This includes the violence and unbelievable level of destruction to combatants, both physical and psychological. This is the first book I have read which documents she’ll shock and PTSD through quotations of front line surgeons.
Bloody Spring reads like a great fiction, while working very hard to portray an historically accurate, fair and balanced reporting of the late civil War in the East, bereft of chivalry and even humanity - and utterly tragic.
My only critique is.that Wheelan ends the story with Lee’s and Johnson’s Armies under siege and incapable of fighting o outside their fortification, signaling the ultimate fall of Richmond, and any chance of joining the two Confederate armies. It’s a fair place to end, but I would have liked another 100 pages chasing Bobbie Lee Westward, even with the ending a forgone conclusion.
Loved it- fair and balanced
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I got lost in all the detail
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you’re a student of the war like I am you’ll find this an excellent read, and even if you’re a history buff, you might find yourself immersed. There is almost a Bruce Catton tone to Bloody Spring, which lends to the authenticity though I always found Catton to be too romantic. There are times when I feel the book bogs you down with “Battles and Leaders” type dialog but Wheelen does an excellent job of keeping you engaged by citing accounts and anecdotes from soldiers in both armies. You will not be bored.
I also have been finding myself selecting books that are read by Grover Gardner. Not all but it seems the last several anyway. I like how he reads and I like the sound of his voice. The tone and manner in which he tells the story keeps my interest and will not disappoint. Now, if he could only take over for the Wall Street Journal Morning Read.
Do yourself a favor and put this one in your library. And follow up with Jay Winik’s April, 1865 (I didn’t see on Audible though I have in my collection). It will help bridge your desire for closure and the end of the war when this one is complete because ending the book 5 months short doesn’t do the reader, or the author justice.
Better than Bruce Catton?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent work on 64
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Exciting and definitive
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good, but not great retelling of this campaign
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great interpretation of the Overland Campaign.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
STRATEGY THAT ENDED US CIVIL WAR
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.