Grant Takes Command

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian's "lively and absorbing" biography of Ulysses S. Grant and his leadership during the Civil War (The New York Times Book Review). This conclusion to Bruce Catton's acclaimed history of General Grant begins in the summer of 1863. After Grant's bold and decisive triumph over the Confederate Army at Vicksburg, President Lincoln promoted him to the head of the Army of the Potomac. The newly named general was virtually unknown to the Union's military high command, but he proved himself in the brutal closing year and a half of the War Between the States. Grant's strategic brilliance and unshakeable tenacity crushed the Confederacy in the battles of the Overland Campaign in Virginia and the Siege of Petersburg. In the spring of 1865, Grant finally forced Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, thus ending the bloodiest conflict on American soil. Although tragedy struck only days later when Lincoln--whom Grant called "incontestably the greatest man I have ever known"--was assassinated, Grant's military triumphs would ensure that the president's principles of unity and freedom would endure. In Grant Takes Command, Catton offers readers an in-depth portrait of an extraordinary warrior and unparalleled military strategist whose brilliant battlefield leadership saved an endangered Union.

About the Author :
Bruce Catton (1899-1978) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, historian, and journalist. He served in the navy during World War I and was the director of information for the War Production Board during World War II. Catton's military and government experience inspired his first book, The War Lords of Washington, and he is best known for his acclaimed works on the Civil War, including Mr. Lincoln's Army and Glory Road. His most celebrated Civil War history, A Stillness at Appomattox, won both the National Book Award for Nonfiction and the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1954. Catton was also the founding editor of American Heritage magazine. Among his other works are Grant Moves South; Grant Takes Command; and a three-part chronicle endorsed by the US Civil War Centennial Commission, The Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword, and Never Call Retreat.

Review :
"Catton gives a new perspective to the human dramas and personality clashes, the campaigns and battles and the strange events surrounding the death of Lincoln." --Kirkus Reviews "Catton has written [numerous] books about the Civil War. [Grant Takes Command] is as lively and absorbing as any." --The New York Times Book Review Praise for Bruce Catton "No one around can write of the 'terrible beauty of an army' the way Bruce Catton can." --The Washington Post Book World "Nothing in our time makes the Civil War as alive as the writings of Bruce Catton." --The Baltimore Sun