Overview
How the unprepossessing Ulysses S. Grant, whose military genius ultimately preserved the Union, came to the forefront in the Civil War is a story as surprising as it is compelling. Forced to resign his commission in the peacetime army for drinking, and thereafter reduced to eking out a living for himself and his family with hardscrabble jobs, at the outbreak of hostilities he suddenly found himself a colonel, and then a general, of volunteers. Grant made the most of unexpected commands. what he knew best, it turned out, was how to wage war, relentlessly and with irresistible force.
Early in 1862, with the conflict a year old and both sides in the West relunctant to fight, Grant seized the iniative and took Forts Henry and Donelson, capturing an entire rebel army. Later, in Mississippi, he conducted the ardous campaign against Vicksbug, cutting the confederacy in half and capturing a second army. All the time Grant was forced to cope with jealous superiors, like General Henry Halleck, while finding staunch allies in General William Sherman and Admiral David Dixon Porter, and dealing with disloyalty, like that of General John McClernard, who actually came close to replacing him.But for his many victories Grant was named commander in the West, and sent to relieve the seige of Chattanooga, which earned him his promotion to general-in-chief.
"Whip the Rebellion" was Grant's watchword every day of the war. This dramatic narrative---peopled with the heroics of hundreds of officers and enlisted men, crammed with first-hand accounts of battles, tactics, and civilian hardships---offers fresh insights into both the public and personal lives of Grant and his immediate circle.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"This unique history uses evocative vignettes to explore the lesser-known human side of the fighting machine."---Library Journal on "Damage Them All You Can"
"Walsh posesses the real virtues of intelligibilty, balance, and narrative skill. This is one of the best books on the (Civil) war's eastern theater in some time."---Booklist on "Damage Them all You Can"
"This book belongs on the same shelf with Caton and McPherson, Foote and Freeman, Wiley and Williams. A superb piece of scholarship."---The Virginia Quarterly Review on "Damage Them All You Can"
"Solid and well written, and sure to be of interest to Civil War buffs."--Kirkus Reviews on "Damage Them All You Can"
"George Walsh's probings into the the characters and battle of Robert E. Lee and his officers of the Army of Northern Virginia are just brilliant. Who would have though, with the enormity of books on the subject, that such new, incisive insights could be made on these men of the Confederacy? DAMAGE THEM ALL YOU CAN is a magisterial work."--Dale L. Walker, Spur Award winning author of Pacific Destiny
"This is an extraordinary book. The prose is alive with vivid descriptions and shrew insights into the leaders of the Army of Northern Virginia. The battle narratives are superb. The end result is nothing less than an epic of American courage, told with unflinching detail and deeply moving pathos."--Thomas Fleming, New York Times bestselling author and author of When This Cruel War is Over on "Damage Them All You Can"