On Campaign with the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Journal of Therodore Ayrault Dodge - Softcover

Sears, Stephen W.

3.92

25 ratings by Goodreads

9780815412663: On Campaign with the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Journal of Therodore Ayrault Dodge

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0815412665 ISBN 13: 9780815412663

Publisher: Cooper Square Press, 2003

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Theodore Ayrault Dodge (1842-1909) was the nineteenth century's greatest military historian and the author of biographies of Hannibal, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, and Napoleon. In 1862, he arrived on the Virginia Peninsula as a company officer in the 101st New York, a regiment reinforcing George B. McClellan's campaign against Richmond. Here is the war as seen from the company-officer perspective, recorded by a young man of superior intellect who would become a leading historian of the Civil War generation. Although only some thirteen months of the war are detailed here, from the Peninsula through Gettysburg, where he lost a leg, they were critical months for the Union cause.

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About the Author:

Stephen W. Sears is the widely acclaimed author of Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam, Chancellorsville, To the Gates of Richmond and George B. McClellan. He lives in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Review:

A splendid diarist's account of the war... . Combining detailed descriptions of camp life and battle, and excellently written, it is a most worthy addition to its genre. (America's Civil War)

...memorable vignettes of soldiers under stress, and unsparing criticism of Union officers who seemed unable to place their men in a position to win victories. With this edition of Dodge's work, Stephen W. Sears has made a worthy contribution to the literature on the Civil War in the Eastern Theater. (Gary W. Gallagher, Editor of Fighting for the Confederacy)

Published here for the first time, Dodge's journal will become a classic of Civil War literature, for it is the day-to-day record of a young officer who could write as well as fight and did both superbly. (Albert Castel, Lincoln Prize-winning Author of Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864)

Whether he is passing judgement on superior officers, describing the everyday humdrum of soldier life, or pondering why he was fighting, Dodge's observations are unfailingly interesting. Filled with incisive observations and pennetrating commentary on subjects ranging from generalship to the political objectives of the conflict, this narrative is sure to enrich and inform our understanding of both the war and the men who fought it. (Brooks D. Simpson Booklist)

With a helping hand from editor Stephen W. Sears, Dodge's account of life in the Army of the Potomac is one of the freshest to emerge in recent years...His description of life on the march and in camp is enlightening. His thoughts on the Seven Days' Battles and Burnside's infamous "Mud March" are refreshing, and his account of the Chancellorsville Campaign is first-rate. For today's readers, then, On Campaign with the Army of the Potomac is as significant a work as the author's acclaimed histories of the war were in their day. (Eric Ethier Civil War Book Review)

Under even the most trying conditions, Dodge kept his journal faithfully. His accounts of Chancelorsville and the march to Gettysburg, where he lost his right foot, are crisp and detailed. ... Dodge's journal also answers succinctly the questions modern readers would most want to ask him. (Concord Monitor)

A vivid, firsthand account of the Civil War. (Forecast)