Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. The Dare Mark Campaign (review)

l64CIVIL war history The next three essays concern themselves with specific tactical operations. Gordon Rhea's scathing assessment of Gouverneur K. Warren's dismal performance at Laurel Hill and Spotsylvania will leave one with a less than heroic image of the savior of the Union left at Gettysburg. Robert K. Krick's detailed description of the Confederate defense at the Salient on May 12, 1864 should be read and reread to absorb the gripping detail of that terrible slaughter. It is the best account that I have yet read of that struggle from the Confederate side. Robert E. L. Krick's account of Sheridan's Raid and the death of J. E. B. Stuart is another good tactical study of a little-studied part of the campaign. The final three essays deal with the effects of the campaign upon the survivors . In "A Hard Road to Travel," Carol Reardon explains how this new type of continuous warfare changed the mindset ofboth armies as they dug in for a war of attrition. Peter S. Carmichael's reflective piece on the 15th New Jersey compares and contrasts the veterans' postwar visitations to the battlefield with their actual experiences to explain how time and a need to bring peaceful closure to their lives drove them to mute the horrors of May 12 by glorifying and eulogizing the past. My favorite piece, however, is William A. Blair's "Grant's Second Civil War: The Battle for Historical Memory." He dispels the standard myth that Grant was a bungler and an inept general who won the war by merely overwhelming the South with numerical superiority. Until I read this article, I never realized how so many of my impressions of the man were shaped by the postwar attempts of some Southerners to discredit Grant personally. The Spotsylvania Campaign is an excellent companion volume toWilliam D. Matter's IfItTakesAll Summerand Gordon C. Rhea's The BattlesforSpotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern. John M. Priest Boonsboro, Md. Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. The Dare Mark Campaign. By Daniel E. Sutherland. Great Campaigns of the Civil War, edited by Anne J. Bailey and Brooks D. Simpson. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 234. $29.95.) The battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville are universally considered two of the Union's worst debacles or two of Robert E. Lee's greatest successes. Occurring a mere five months apart, they were fought for the same reason: the Union desire to cross the Rappahannock River, what a Confederate soldier called the "Dare Mark," and then take Richmond. One battle flowed from the other, so it makes sense to study the two in tandem, as this book does, instead of writing about them individually, as is usually the practice. Daniel Sutherland, professor of history at the University of Arkansas and author of several significant Civil War books, fulfills very well the aim of the series of which this book is a part. He gives full attention to combat, but he BOOK REVIEWS165 places the campaign into the context of all aspects of the war and he explains its significance. He discusses topics as varied as the Confederate bread riots, the Union Committee on the Conduct of the War, Union and Confederate soldier looting, the weather, and the impact of politics on strategy. All these issues had impact on this campaign, and Sutherland demonstrates this fact clearly. In many ways, Sutherland tells a familiar story. Lincoln, frustrated with George McClellan, put Ambrose Burnside in his place. Burnside understood well that the nation's political leaders expected action, and he tried to give it to them at Fredericksburg. The disastrous attack on Marye's Heights was followed by the embarrassing Mud March. The result was a demoralized Union army, then literally resuscitated by the brilliant administrative skills ofJoe Hooker. When Hooker ordered a wide flanking movement against Lee's army and seemed to be on the verge ofa great success, however, Lee split his force and StonewallJackson"crossed Hooker's T." The Confederates won a resounding victory at Chancellorsville. The book is full of interesting insights demonstrating the irony of war. Although Lee clearly won at Chancellorsville, he was upset at his...