Customer Reviews

The Last Citadel: Petersburg, Virginia June 1864-April 1865

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I was moved to read this book by a recent visit to the Petersburg National Battlefield in Virginia. I spent the better part of a weekend touring various parts of the Battlefield with Park Rangers, but I still came away confused. The siege lines are lengthy and the key locations of the battle are separated and distant from each other. (I got lost several times driving.)

For some battlefields I have seen, such as Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh, or Vicksburg, a vist can illuminate and can be more informative than a casual reading of several books. For Petersburg, the reverse is true. I think this is due to the length of the siege (from June 1864-April 1865), to the complexity of the military operations, and to the interrelationship of the Petersburg siege with activites elswhere, particularly Sheridan's raids in the Shenendoah Valley and Sherman's taking of Atlanta and March to the sea. I found I needed to hold these events in mind in understanding the siege, rather than simply view the battlefield. Trudeau's book, which I found during my visit to Petersburg, helped me to do this.

Noah Andre Trudeau's "The Last Citadel" explains the Petersburg Siege and places it in its context in ending the Civil War. Perhaps most importantly for me, he explains how the decisive event of the siege occurred before it even began: Grant's brilliant move following the Union disaster at Cold Harbor, in which he stole a march on General Lee, crossed the James River, (a risky and audacious move) and attacked Petersburg from the South. Lee had forseen this move. He told Confederate General Jubal Early at Cold Harbor that: "we must destroy this army of Grant's before he gets to the James River. If he gets there it will become a siege, and then it will be a mere question of time." These were prophetic words but Lee was unable to react quickly enough when Grant moved his army from its trenches at Cold Harbor and crossed the James River.

The object of the siege was to capture the City of Petersburg and then move on the Confederate capitol of Richmond from the South. The siege itself was combined, as Trudeau shows, with operations directly on Richmond, staged from an area slightly north of Petersburg called the Bermuda Hundred. When Petersburg fell at last, the Union moved immediately into Richmond. General Lee surrendered at Appatomatox only one week later.

Trudeau's book is divided into four large Parts, together with a Prologue and an Epilogue. The book covers the early days of the siege (Petersburg probably could have been taken immediately after Grant crossed the James River with more aggressive efforts from the Union commanders), the famous incident of the Crater, operations against the southern railroads providing supplies to Petersburg, southern attempts to break the siege, the long, weary winter of the siege, and much else. Each part of the book begins with a short quotation from General Grant's "Final Report of Operations, March 1864 -- May, 1865". The four parts are each divided into short chapters which are, in turn, subdivided by short bold-faced headings each highlighting a critical moment or event. Thus the scene shifts rapidly from the Union lines to those of the South, from General Grant's deliberations to those of General Lee, from the battles to the trenches. It is, on the whole, an effective means of presenting the story. It held my attention and helped me understand the sometimes confusing sequences of events.

There are excellent discussions of the famous Battle of the Crater and of General Lee's numerous attempts to take the initiative and break the siege. I found the best and most poignant writing in Part IV of the book which details the breaking of the Confederate lines in April, 1865. Trudeau explains how Lee's lines were simply stretched too thin and how Grant after laboring to create this situation, was able to exploit it with an all-out assault. There is a good treatment of the battle of Five Forks, which led to the break -- this discussion occurs at the end of the chapter rather than at the beginning. I viewed and heard a discussion of the Five Forks site during my visit to Petersburg -- Five Forks is some distance from most of the rest of the Battlefield -- But I didn't really understand the significance of the site until I read Trudeau's book.

There are eloquent accounts of the evacuation of Petersburg and of visits during the siege by President Lincoln. Trudeau's Epilogue is thoughtful and a good summation of the book and the siege.

The maps in the book were helpful. And I particularly enjoyed the many drawings and illustrations in the book. These illustrations were made contemporaneously with the events they describe and have not often been reproduced.

This book is a good account of a critical but sometimes underestimated battle in our country's Civil War.

Many Civil War histories cover the Petersburg Campaign in a fell swoop of attrition warfare, privation among the defenders and inhabitants of Petersburg and Grant's slow and methodical picking of Lee's lock hold on this strategic Southern transportation hub. Trudeau gives description to the very many major battles that encompassed Grant's attempts to first break through Lee's stout defensive lines then string the Confederates thinly by forcing them to extend to their right to cover remaining rail lines.

This is an excellent book which covers the strategy, battles, siege warfare, life in the trenches and civilian existence during the 290 plus day siege (the longest siege of any American city). Anyone familiar with Trudeau's more recent Gettysburg, will appreciate the author's enlivenment of the big picture with contemporary observations by participants of all ranks. Many fascinating details of the siege emerge in this telling such as the City Point sabotage, the Great Beef Raid, as well as the more familiar Grant's stolen march across the James, Battle of the Crater, and breakthrough following Five Forks.

The only curiosity is that the author did not treat Five Forks and Dinwiddie Courthouse in detail, treating them as out-of-theater events like the capture of Atlanta and Thomas' victories over Hood. My only guess is that as they were fought under Sheridan -- recently from the Shenandoah - the author considered these not part and parcel of the Petersburg Campaign. I think the historical record differs from that assumption, but it does not take away from an altogether fine book.

I do agree with some of the quibbles about lack of detail on some of the maps. While not true for every beginning of chapter map, there were a few which did not contain enough detail to allow them to be easily followed. On the other hand, he does have maps for every major engagement plus a good overall map showing all of the fortifications along each side's lines.

Any Civil War enthusiast looking for a very good treatment of the Siege of Petersburg will be well satisfied with this book.

There are a lot of good things about Trudeau's book. It's meticulous, easy to read, interesting, and most importantly, it encompasses the entire siege campaign.

Trudeau's sequel to Bloody Roads South has the same strengths as the first book. With that said, it has the same problems:

#1 - The maps are pitiful. Like the prequel, this book's maps are few and far between, and the maps themselves are cluttered. The battle actions are zoomed in from an overall map via arrows, and there is no legend giving any idea of distance between lines.

#2 - There are no footnotes or endnotes, so the reader can't be sure just what resource is being used for what information. At the end of the book, Trudeau lists some of the sources he used in each chapter, but for students of the war who are used to books with 100+ notes per chapter, this style is disconcerting.

#3 - Maybe it's just an effort to be objective, but there is almost no editorial commentary offered by the author himself. Trudeau simply takes the sources and quotes them or reports what happened, without interjecting any of his own commentary on who was to blame, what went critically wrong or right, or anything like that.

Despite those gripes, the book is certainly well worth the read. The highlight of the book is probably the chapter about the Battle of the Crater. Throughout the book, Trudeau does a good job of splicing together official record reports with the subsequent action, but it works remarkably well in this chapter, as he goes back and forth between the action and the Joint Committee testimony on what happened.

All in all, he does a good job of presenting both armies' viewpoints and mindsets, as well as that of the townspeople. I'm not sure why he didn't cover the action at Five Forks between Pickett and Sheridan/Warren, but everything else was covered well.

"I have ordered a general assault along the lines". With these words, Ulysses Grant initiated the attack that ended the siege at Petersburg in April of 1864 and set in motion the slow retreat of the Confederacy that ultimately ended with their surrender at Appomattox Court House. Noted Civil War historian Noah Trudeau covers this episode of the war comprehensively with "The Last Citadel". Using many first-person accounts and scholarship long ignored by historians, Trudeau has crafted an intriguing look at this often overlooked portion of the war and presents a nice bridge between the much analyzed battle at Cold Harbor and the equally scrutinized Confederate surrender at Appomattox.

Trudeau's strength in this work is his compelling descriptions of the military actions and tactics as the Union forces steal a march on Confederate general R.E. Lee, leaving the front at Cold Harbor and nearly taking Petersburg before Lee can mount a counter-offensive. Only the hesitancy of Union general Baldy Smith (undoubtedly leary from his defeat at Cold Harbor) at exploiting a major opportunity with the Confederate works lightly manned, prevents Petersburg from falling and potentially ending the war many months early. Confederate general P.G.T. Beauregard manages this small force effectively and is able to interdict this minor Union offensive until Lee can get his forces to Petersburg.

Probing Union forces then learn that Lee is fronting Petersburg in force and Grant now must decide to attack in full force or settle in for a siege. Trudeau makes an effective argument for Grant's rationale for siege warfare, documenting the many lessons learned from the Federal defeats at Cold Harbor. Once Grant's troops are entrenched, Trudeau covers the many engagements that ensue as Grant encircles the city. Battles south of town along the Weldon Railroad (a major Confederate supply line that Grant is successful at blocking) and the more well-known encounters at the "Crater" and Fort Stedman are balanced with the many smaller skirmishes north of the city, mainly at Deep Bottom and Bermuda Hundred. Trudeau is effective at showing how this slow strangle-hold of the town ultimately drives the Confederate leadership to abandon both Petersburg and the capital at Richmond, essentially sealing the fate of the rebellion.

Although, as mentioned above, Trudeau uses many diary/journal accounts of this period, he fails in my view to really give the feeling of siege warfare, however. It seems that we go from one battle description to the next, and although he devotes some space to discussing the civilian life and actions in town, this period of the war covered 10 months and I never got the true sense of anxiety and frustration that most assuredly they all felt. Another criticism (a fairly normal one coming from readers of military tactics) is the lack of maps. Trudeau includes a confusing set of maps at the beginning of each chapter and the the reader is expected to refer to these throughout the text. I sometimes had to backtrack 40-50 pages to refer to a map and this not only added undue time, but also detracted from the reading quality as well. Trudeau obviously learned this lesson well as his most recent work (this book was written in 1991) on the battle at Gettysburg was annoted with many timely and useful maps. Finally, the seminal battle at Five Forks is curiously given short shrift here. This Union victory was the key ingredient that Grant needed to complete his encirclement of the city and was a major contributor to the Confederate decision to retreat. Also, the actions of Federal generals Philip Sheridan and Gouvenour Warren at Five Forks had far reaching implications for the rest of the war and should have been included. These criticisms are fairly minor however and should not make one hesitate to read this book.

A fast paced and militarily strong account of this little covered portion of the Civil War, Noah Trudeau adds to his already growing reputation as a leading modern Civil War historian with this work. Civil War buffs wil love it and the general reader will certainly get something from it if they are willing to invest the time. Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly.

This book seems to be the only resource out there for people wanting to better understand the ten month seige of Petersburg. Trudeau writes in an engaging narrative style and handles his subject skillfully. The parts that mention the explosion at the docks in City Point and the rapid narrative that describes the battle of Fort Stedman stand out as a few of the many satisfying moments in the book. Having been a Seasonal Park Ranger at Petersburg National Battlefield, I found "The Last Citadel" an indispensable resource and heartily reccomend it to all students of the Civil War.

I recently had the urge to read a book on the seige at Petersburgh during the Civil War, as I had never read a book on the whole seige. I found this book after reading the reviews and it sounded like what I was looking for.

I love it when reality meets expectations. This book covered the battles at a nice pace and covered most of what I was expecting. The author also covered some of the actions of the generals during the individual battles that will lead me to want to read more on those. The bibliography is extensive and will lead me to those sources.

I can't remember the last book I got that was this satisfying a read for what I was after.

This is a very nice rendering of the Battle of Petersburg. Many Civil War buffs recall General Robert E. Lee's words: "We must destroy this Army of Grant's before he gets to the James River. If he gets there it will become a siege, and then it will be a mere question of time."

This book provides in great detail the battle for Petersburg. It provides insights into General Beauregard's wise disposition of forces at the start of the battle, and his weak opponent, General "Baldy" Smith, who was quite tentative at that time. And the usually reliable Winfield Scott Hancock did not have one of his finer days at the outset.

There follow the tales: the well conceived breaking off of the engagement at Cold Harbor and Grant's subsequent movement across the James River to Petersburg; the pendulum swings, as Grant lengthened the Confederate trenches by attacking and lengthening his own trenches; the Battle of the Crater, a great lost opportunity (the final act of incompetence by General Ambrose Burnside, as he was relieved after his ineffectual generalship here); the Confederate raid on the Union's "beefsteak" by Wade Hampton; Gordon's desperate effort to break out; Sheridan's crushing defeat of Pickett at Five Forks; Grant's subsequent statement that "I have ordered a general assault along the lines."

Then, the race to Appomattox Station began. . . .

Sometimes, the tale becomes a bit stale. Overall, though, this is a very useful volume on the key siege at Petersburg.

I purchased this book with great anticipation. After reading it I am still anticipating being treated to a stratgic review of the final approach to this phase of the conflict. The author's treatment of the this part of civil war history seems disjointed.
We get snipets of various encounters between the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomic but with no indepth joining narrative explaining the context and the implication of the outcome. The maps are almost useless in format and connection with the current text. It is possible that Tredueau has done the best job possible with a meager record of this period of history. I still believe however that an opputunity exists for someone to tell a compelling story of this phase of the war.

This is the story of Sam Grant's third and final siege of the Civil War. His first two, at Ft. Donnellson and Vicksburg, were much shorter in duration, but like the other two this one would result in Grant's capturing his 3rd Confederate Army. No other General, North or South captured even one! This was not the final campaign of the war, but it is here at Petersburg, not Appomattox, where the South irrevocably loses the War for Southern Independence. It is here that Lincoln and Grant ensure that the United States remains one nation.

Having met defeat in every battle from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor, Grant borrows a page from his Vicksburg Campaign, sending Sheridan's cavalry north on a major diversion to hook up with Hunter, take Lynchburg and subsequently attack Petersburg from the North. In the meantime, Grant would cross the James River and invest Petersburg from the South. But Lee has other plans and Sheridan is stopped cold by Wade Hampton. So the planned pincer movement against Petersburg is foiled. However, so sound are Grant's tactics that he crosses the James undetected and misses capturing Petersburg in its entirety by just a few hours.

The result then is a siege against both Richmond and Petersburg. Grant continually stretches his battle lines north and west until they extend almost 100 miles, from northeast Richmond to southwest Petersburg. In the process he strangles not just Petersburg but the South's will to fight. This 292 day confrontation meant slow death for the once mighty Army of Northern Virginia. Petersburg is the story of disease, starvation, multiple Confederate defeats and desertions that all combined to sap the spirit of the Confederate soldier. After Petersburg all Southern theater commanders knew the game was up.

But most of all, it is the story of the Civil War's finest combat General inexorably grinding the rebellion into dust.

This book is a in-depth study of the Petersburg campaign in the Civil War.
Not fot the causul reader, but for anyone wishing to study the campaign in depth, this is the book for you.