U. S. Grant: The Making of a General, 1861-1863(The American Crisis Series: Books on the Civil War Era)

What made Ulysses S. Grant tick? Perhaps the greatest general of the Civil War, Grant won impressive victories and established a brilliant military career. His single-minded approach to command was coupled with the ability to adapt to the kind of military campaign the moment required. In this exciting new book, Michael B. Ballard provides a crisp account of Grant's strategic and tactical concepts in the period from the outset of the Civil War to the battle of Chattanooga-a period in which U. S. Grant rose from a semi-disgraceful obscurity to the position of overall commander of all Union armies. The author carefully sifts through diaries and letters of Grant and his inner circle to try to get inside Grant's mind and reveal why those early years of the war were formative in producing the Civil War's greatest general.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1:Training Grounds Chapter 2: Belmont Chapter 3: Forts Henry and Donelson Chapter 4: Shiloh Chapter 5: Securing Northern Mississippi Chapter 6: First Attempts to Take Vicksburg Chapter 7: Months of Frustration Chapter 8: April 1863 Chapter 9: Fighting to Reach Vicksburg Chapter 10: Assault, Siege, and Surrender Chapter 11: Chattanooga and Another Siege Chapter 12: Wrapping Up Service in the West

About the Author :
Michael B. Ballard is a professor and coordinator of the Congressional and Political Research Center at Mississippi State University.

Review :
In prose nearly as coolly precise as his subject's own, Michael Ballard . . . sets out to do what he says hasn't been done in nearly 50 years. He analyzes Ulysses S. Grant as a military leader. The evolution of Ulysses S. Grant as an army commander during the Civil War is as significant as the victories he gained from Shiloh to Vicksburg to Chattanooga. Understanding that evolution is vital to an appreciation of Grant and his conduct of the war as general-in-chief. Yet popular historians and idolaters have only presented Grant in his final form and fail to analyze the often painful evolutionary process by which he developed as one of the great battle captains in history. Michael B. Ballard skillfully peels away the mask crafted by standard biographies and reveals Grant the man who struggled daily with his strengths and weaknesses to achieve his destiny. In so doing, Ballard provides readers with a powerful analysis of this American military icon. How did Ulysses S. Grant rise from obscurity when the Civil War began to become President Abraham Lincoln's choice to lead all the Union armies? Historian Michael B. Ballard skillfully answers with a thoughtful narrative and analysis of Grant's western campaigns. Ballard explores Grant's versatility, resilience, equanimity, and originality in campaigns from Belmont to Chattanooga by guiding the reader through bloody battlefields where Grant mastered the art of war. I recommend this book to those interested in the military career of Grant. It contains some fine analysis on his development as a commander.