A long shadow: The road to Appomattox – Part 3: 1864-1865
In the third part of our series on the American Civil War, Fred Chiaventone traces the conflict’s bloody final months.
confederacy
Firing the Generals: Lincoln v McClellan
President Abraham Lincoln and Prime Minister Winston Churchill have such iconic status as the victorious leaders of their countries in the American Civil War and World War II respectively that they often seem beyond criticism. Yet, at the height of the conflicts, they both risked all by firing their leading generals. Although Lincoln had no previous military knowledge or experience, whereas Churchill had fought in battles and witnessed war both as a soldier and war correspondent, they acted with similar decision and despatch when their generals seemed either incompetent or not to be fighting with the aggressive spirit they demanded. In the first of two articles, Nigel Jones describes Lincoln’s long search for a war-winning general, and his feud with the ultra-cautious General George B McClellan.
Chancellorsville, 1863: A case of nerves, the moon, and mistaken identity
John Lock looks at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 in the first of a series of articles looking at the Butterfly Effect – where small incidents have significant consequences.