Meade and Lee After Gettysburg: Vol. 1: from Falling Waters to Culpeper Courthouse, July 14 to October 1, 1863

The period of the Civil War in Virginia sandwiched between the traditional ending date of the Gettysburg Campaign and the arrival of U. S. Grant is routinely overlooked. The operations conducted during that period have been overshadowed by the bloodshed in Pennsylvania, the large-scale Confederate victory at Chickamauga in September, and the disastrous Southern defeat at Chattanooga two months later. Author Jeffrey Wm Hunt, in his new Meade and Lee After Gettysburg: Vol. 1: From Falling Waters to Culpeper Courthouse, July 14 to October 1, 1863, helps rectify this glaring oversight. In what promises to be the first of four volumes on this important period, Hunt demonstrates that this period was full of high drama as Lee and Meade sought to repair the damage done to their armies at Gettysburg, cope with an epidemic of desertions and home front disenchantment, and a host of logistical and strategic dilemmas. The Gettysburg Campaign, argues Hunt, did not end until late July, and included the fighting at Shepherdstown and Manassas Gap. Meade and Lee After Gettysburg also details how Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis and their senior commanders coped with the strategic dilemmas they faced once the battle lines had been reestablished along the Rappahannock River, and how each side sought an opening to resume the offensive, the efforts triggering a series of bloody clashes at Brandy Station, Culpeper Courthouse, and Jack’s Shop. Hunt’s work is based upon years of archival research and scores of firsthand accounts, newspapers, diaries, letter collections, and a firm understanding of the terrain of northern Virginia. Together with its photos, maps, and invaluable footnotes, Meade and Lee After Gettysburg offers a significant contribution to the Civil War literature.

About the Author :
Jeffrey William Hunt is Director of the Texas Military Forces Museum, the official museum of the Texas National Guard, located at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas, and an Adjunct Professor of History at Austin Community College, where he has taught since 1988. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Government and a Masters Degree in History, both from the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Hunt’s writing credits include his book, The Last Battle of the Civil War: Palmetto Ranch, and contributions to Essential Civil War Curriculum, the Revised Handbook of Texas and the Gale Library of Daily Life: American Civil War.

Review :
This book fills a useful niche…the author writes well, and there are adequate maps and photos to enable wargame refights. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the American Civil War. It breaks new ground, covers in detail a dozen skirmishes that might have been dismissed in a couple of sentences in more general histories and does lay out clearly the problems faced by both generals and the courses of action they chose. 4 stars.