From Beauregard and Custer to Lee and Sherman, twelve commanders from each side vividly describe what they and their men experienced at twelve of the war's most legendary battles from Fort Sumter to Appomattox Court House in accounts gathered from letters, memoirs, reports, and testimonies. They relate noted incidents and personal triumphs and tragedies while covering strategies and explaining battlefield decisions. Trench warfare at Petersburg and Sherman's scorched earth policy in Georgia foreshadowed the world wars to come, and technological advancements-.

Meade: Not Bagging the Confederate Army.

Cover; Copyright; Contents; A Note on the Texts; Introduction: The Rising Storm; The War Begins; Overview; Custer: Thoughts of War from West Point; Sherman: From New Orleans to Washington, D.C.; Early: Virginia Secedes; Lee : Lee Resigns His Commission; Pickett: The Journey to Richmond; The Battle of Fort Sumter; Overview; Porter: Fort Sumter vs Fort Pickens; Side Box: Lincoln's War Room; Beauregard: The Bombardment of Fort Sumter; The First Battle of Manassas (First Bull Run); Overview; Custer: Custer's First Two Days on Duty; Beauregard: The Confederate Battle Plan. Hancock: "The Wheel of Fortune"The Siege of Vicksburg; Overview; Johnston: Lost Opportunities; Porter: Running the Gauntlet; Side Box: Ironclads and Submarines; Grant : Assault or Siege; Sherman: McClernand and the Second Assault; Grant: Forcing a Surrender; The Battle of Gettysburg; Overview; Longstreet: General Longstreet's Spy; Side Box: Espionage; Hancock: The First Day of Battle; Chamberlain: "Hold That Ground at All Hazards"; Hood: General Lee's Orders; Stuart: A Cavalry Battle; Custer: A Brilliant Charge; Longstreet: From Seminary Ridge to Cemetery Ridge; Hancock: Pickett's Charge. Jackson : Turning the TideSherman: Confusion among the Federals; Side Box: Friendly Fire; Beauregard: Analysis of the Battle; Johnston: The Impossibility of Invading Washington, D.C.; Longstreet: Mistakes and What Could Have Been; Johnston and Beauregard: A "Glorious Victory"; The Battle of Shiloh; Overview; Grant: Fighting with Raw Recruits; Side Box: Military Intelligence; Sherman: The Extreme Fury of Battle; Beauregard: Striking a Sudden Blow; Bragg: "Our Condition Is Horrible"; Forrest: "Recruits Wanted"; The Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg); Overview; Longstreet: The Invasion of Maryland. McClellan: Rushing to Defend the NorthSide Box: Aerial Reconnaissance; Hood: "The Hardest Fought Battle"; Early: Fighting at the Dunkard Church; Longstreet: Holding the Line with Two Cannons; Lee : Stragglers; Meade: Battlefield Promotion; Hooker: "A Great Battle Has Been Fought"; McClellan: "A Masterpiece of Art"; Longstreet: What Might Have Been; The Battle of Fredericksburg; Overview; Longstreet: Preparation for Battle; Hooker: Planning the Attack; Lee: The Union Army Enters the Town; Side Box: Sharpshooters; Hood: Discussions with Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Meade: "I Should Have Been the Great Hero"Jackson: The Attack Had to Be Abandoned; Longstreet: Defending Marye's Heights; Hancock: Assaulting Marye's Heights; Hooker: Yet Another Futile Assault; Longstreet: Further Attacks on Marye's Heights; Lee: Trying to Determine the Union's Intentions; Burnside: Explaining the Defeat; Longstreet: What Burnside Should Have Done; Lee: Victory; The Battle of Chancellorsville; Overview; Lee: The Perfect Battle; Early : Stonewall Jackson Is Shot; Side Box: Surgery and Medicine; Hooker: The Problem with Chancellorsville; Meade: "I Am Sorry for Hooker."