A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg by A. Wilson Greene (review)

To say that chronicling the entire siege of Petersburg is an immense task would be a gross understatement, but the author of A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg has completed the first installment of just such a work. A. Wilson Greene is already an accomplished historian and author, having written numerous articles for various publications, as well as three books, and he brings his considerable experience to bear on this massive project.

The scope of this book becomes clear immediately: Greene defines the focus of this first volume as the first six weeks of the conflict alone. Starting with the movement of George Meade’s and Benjamin Butler’s Union armies across the James River in mid-June 1864, Greene walks the reader through the initial invasion of Petersburg, the numerous skirmishes and missteps on both sides as lines were established, to the seemingly abrupt conclusion after Ulysses S. Grant’s failed First and Second Offensives throughout July of that year.

The extent and quality of Greene’s research is clearly demonstrated by the sheer amount of tactical detail that he provides throughout the volume. He has drawn from nearly every notable archival collection relevant to the Petersburg Campaign and is fair to both sides in showcasing both successes and failures at varying levels of command. The command structures of both sides are shown to be equally chaotic at times, but he devotes particular attention to the relationships and correspondence of the Union high command. Both Meade and Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard take their share of blame for their roles in numerous communication issues resulting in missed opportunities, but Greene is especially critical of Grant’s laissez-faire command approach for much of the conflict, especially in the immediate aftermath of the disastrous Battle of the Crater.

Though he does not fully develop the perspectives of the common soldiers beyond their opinions regarding the First and Second Offensives in this volume, the promise of two more volumes gives hope that he will expand on them in due time. Greene does, however, devote a full chapter to the citizens of Petersburg and their plight during the summer of 1864, thereby giving them the attention they deserve. This is an especially praiseworthy accomplishment. Typically in a work of this scope, with so much tactical detail and attention to command correspondence, it is often easier simply to weave the civilian experience into the narrative as it progresses, diminishing its importance and losing valuable contextual impact on the overall conflict.

As the former executive director of the Pamplin Historical Park in Petersburg, Virginia, and an accomplished author in his own right, Greene brings unique expertise to a subject he has lived with for decades. His stated aim, to “strike a balance between providing enough tactical detail to satisfy demanding consumers of military history, while never losing sight of the campaign’s overall context” (xiv), is daunting but for the most part Greene successfully accomplishes this task.

Though Greene claims that his planned three-volume work is not definitive, this first volume firmly establishes itself as essential reading for scholars of the Civil War and military tactics, and specifically for scholars of the Petersburg Campaign. It is, by Greene’s own definition, the first work to attempt to examine the military operations throughout the nine-month siege as well as to incorporate the civilian experiences on both sides of the battle lines. As such, Greene has already greatly contributed to numerous ongoing discussions within the historical community about the implications of the Petersburg Campaign on future military operations.