"This is a complete life story of one of the most controversial yet least well known generals on either side during the Civil War. Graduating first in his class at West Point, William Buel Franklin went on to serve in the Army's Corps of Topographical Engineers and contributed greatly to the building of the nation's internal improvements; at one point, he was chief engineer in charge of construction of the U.S. Capitol's dome and extension. During the Civil War, Franklin rose rapidly, commanding a brigade at Bull Run, moving up to leadership of the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac in the Peninsula and Maryland campaigns, and going on to command of the Left Grand Division at Fredericksburg. In the wake of that terrible battle, Franklin was unjustly blamed for the Union defeat - largely for political reasons. Censured by the notorious joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War, Franklin was banished to the Department of the Gulf, where he participated in the ill-fated Sabine Pass Expedition and the Red River Campaign. Wounded during the latter campaign, Franklin was captured during his convalescent leave. He would escape his Confederate captors, but he could not escape the wrath of the Lincoln administration. Franklin resigned his commission in 1866 and began a highly successful postwar career as vice president and general manager of Colt Firearms in Hartford, Connecticut. Franklin continued to serve in various public positions, including leadership of a bureau that eventually became the U.S. Veterans Administration." "This study of Franklin's life points out the flaws and lapses of judgement - such as at the battle of Crampton's Gap - but illuminates his previously ignored strengths. From First to Last may well change the way historians interpret this important period of American history."--Jacket.

"A Dutiful and Affectionate Son": From York to West Point --"Fire Grape at Them if They Get Too Close": From the Great Lakes to the South Pass and Beyond -- "I Have Thought So Much of Leaving the Army": Between Two Wars -- "Rascality in High Places": Washington, 1857-1860 -- "The Hottest and Most Disagreeable Fire That Anyone Ever Was In": The War Begins -- "The First Great Crime of the War": From Bull Run to Yorktown -- "Glory Enough for One Day": The Peninsula Campaign, April-June 1862 -- "It Is Likely That We Should Have Been Defeated": The Seven Days -- "We Will Try to Do Our Duty": Harrison's Landing to Second Manassas -- "I Would Prefer to Make the Attack": The Maryland Campaign, September 1862 -- "The Radical Thirst for Blood": The Battle of Fredericksburg -- "Halleck Deserves Hanging": The Army of the Potomac and the Politics of Defeat -- "The Army Is Literally Stuck in the Mud": Mud Marching and Mudslinging -- "My Whole Campaign Has Been a Perfect Purgatory": Operations in the Department of the Gulf, 1863 -- "Don't You Know This Is Mutiny?": The Red River Campaign -- "The Noble Army of the Shelved": Capture, Escape, and Waiting Out the War's End -- "A Butterfly Kind of Existence": Colt's Firearms and a New Beginning -- "A Person Whose Life Had So Little in It to Awake Popular Enthusiasm": Public Servant Till the Very End.