A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg, Volume 1

From the Crossing of the James to the Crater

By: A. Wilson Greene, Gary W. W. Gallagher - foreword

Narrated by: Paul Woodson

Grinding, bloody, and ultimately decisive, the Petersburg Campaign was the Civil War's longest and among its most complex. Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee squared off for more than nine months in their struggle for Petersburg, the key to the Confederate capital at Richmond. Featuring some of the war's most notorious battles, the campaign played out against a backdrop of political drama and crucial fighting elsewhere, with massive costs for soldiers and civilians alike. 

After failing to bull his way into Petersburg, Grant concentrated on isolating the city from its communications with the rest of the surviving Confederacy, stretching Lee's defenses to the breaking point. When Lee's desperate breakout attempt failed in March 1865, Grant launched his final offensives that forced the Confederates to abandon the city on April 2, 1865. A week later, Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House.  

Here, A. Wilson Greene opens his sweeping new three-volume history of the Petersburg Campaign, taking listeners from Grant's crossing of the James in mid-June 1864 to the fateful Battle of the Crater on July 30. Full of fresh insights drawn from military, political, and social history, A Campaign of Giants is destined to be the definitive account of the campaign. With new perspectives on operational and tactical choices by commanders, the experiences of common soldiers and civilians, and the significant role of the United States Colored Troops in the fighting, this audiobook is a must-listen for all those interested in the history of the Civil War.

©2018 The University of North Carolina Press (P)2019 Tantor

Well documented and fills a big gap

Great narration of a deftly written text. The maps in the actual book are helpful and it would be great if they were made available to the listener via pdf.

Finally the Full Campaign

campaign largely ignored by historians and buffs, it was horrendous long and continuous fir a year. very well read and written, lots of background and detail. a must read for civil war readers. reading vol 2 now. waiting for vol 3.

ripe with detail

with the subtitle of the book promising only between the crossing of the James and the battle of the crater, this work promises to go into depths of detail largely not covered by most general civil war overviews. I expected this and respected it, knowing and seeing there was a volume 2 also out now, but then the author aims they will need at least 3 volumes and i am left anxious as to how long I'll have to wait for volume 3 (this volume came out 2019 and volume 2 in 2025).


For the other reviewers claiming this is somehow whitewashed or biased towards the Confederates I honestly cannot see how or maybe they rushed to this judgment before reaching the Crater battle itself.


None of what the author write about Grant suggests any real incompetence or possible drunkenness, and the immense amount of direct quotations from Confederates using not just the n word but incredibly violent almost fetishist fantasy about massacring captured black soldiers. Towards the end, the descriptions of how black soldiers were treated by Confederate soldiers (as well as a previous mention of the Fort Pillow massacre) makes it very clear just what these people thought and how the idea that "slavery would eventually die out if the south was just left alone" was a complete delusion.


my biggest issue with this book however is the very messy chronology it follows. the initial movement period over the James and the first two skirmishes at Petersburg from between June 4 and June 22 are hopped between with no respect for chronological consistency so it becomes incredibly easy to get lost as to where events stand in the narrative, as you get told of events happening on June 18th only to then hear about June 15th events only to return to June 18th but then skip ahead to June 22 and 23 only to now go back to June 15th.



this becomes a bigger issue when it comes time for the Crater, as the inconsistent chronology even creates some factual errors that I can only hope were grammatical mistakes or else me misinterpreting the words, as at one point we're told that digging work began for the crater on June 30th or so, only to hear that the idea was only conceived of around July 1st or 2nd, or that diggers used the July 4th celebrations to hide their digging noises but then also that Grant only agreed to move forward with the project after July 4th.


this sort of back and forth inconsistency with dates seems extremely minor (especially when covering major singular events like the battle of the crater itself) but when a chapter is covering a period of a few weeks or a month, it becomes a big mess as to what is happening when and where when you're being told ABC is happening on June Xth only to suddenly hear BCA was happening on June Xth and ABC was ordered on July Xth and CBA actually happened June Yth and ABC received orders on June Zth when they were 50 miles away.

Excellent

Best book in the beginning of the Petersburg campaign I’ve ever listened to! I highly recommend

Confederate Lost Cause Propaganda in Disguise

This book exemplifies contemporary Lost Cause narratives. Mountains of details that are always interpreted to fit a Pro-Confederate perspective. Somehow the author even manages to put a positive spin on Confederates' mass executions of captured black soldiers by saying that the black soldiers were the first to refuse quarter and that Union soldiers participated in the atrocities. And this is just one glaring example among many. Save your brain cells for something more deserving of your time.