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Never Call Retreat

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The third book in Catton's centennial trilogy of the Civil War, "Never Call Retreat" is a moving account of the war from Fredericksburg (Dec 1862) until the end of the war.

Catton does not devote the amount of ink to events that Shelby Foote did in his trilogy, for example, but Catton more than compensates by his beautiful writing style. As a work of literature, if nothing else, "Never Call Retreat" is worth the read.

But there is more. Because of his eloquence, and his passion for the subject, Catton has produced an account truly worthy of the poignant subject matter. If the reader does not weep as Catton describes Lincoln's assassination, or Stonewall Jackson's death, then he cannot be moved to tears by written words.

Catton portrays the war as a living organism, which, like Frankenstein's monster, got loose from its creators, and almost pulled the house down with it.

Catton's centennial trilogy ("Coming Fury," "Terrible Swift Sword," "Never Call Retreat") is an admirable place for the average person to begin a study of the Civil War.

Because of its poetic qualities, however, it is also a must read for the professional historian. All too often, historians have no heart in their writing. Perhaps a good dose of Catton might cure thatŠ

In "Never Call Retreat", the third volume of his Centennial History of the Civil War, Bruce Catton writes of the last two years of that horrendous conflict. As he did in his first two volumes in the Centennial triology, Catton effectively covers the social and political aspects of the war, as well as the military. A work of this scope is, of necessity, a top-down view of the Civil War, focussing on the principal commanders and their subordinates. Yet, Catton is able to impart to his readers the confusion of battle; we can almost smell the powder smoke and hear the racket of musketry. As always, he writes with an elegance and an eloquence that many historians aspire to, but most cannot hope to match. Catton never loses sight of the war's ultimate, and higher, purpose and he poignantly brings home to us the human cost of our bloodiest conflict. Perhaps nowhere is this sense of loss brought home more forcefully than in this passage about Lincoln's assassination:

"No one will ever know what Abraham Lincoln would have done--with Stanton's scheme for military government, with radicals like Wade and Sumner and Stevens, with any of the separate aspects of the intricate problem that lay ahead--because it was at this delicate moment (about half-past ten on the night of April 14) that Booth came on stage with his derringer. Booth pulled the trigger, and the mind that held somewhere in cloudy solution the elements that might some day have crystallized into an answer for the nation's most profound riddle disintegrated under the impact of a one-ounce pellet of lead: the heaviest bullet, all things considered, ever fired in America. Thinking to destroy a tyrant, Booth managed to destroy a man who was trying to create a broader freedom for all men; with him, he destroyed also the chance for a transcendent peace without malice and with charity for all. Over the years, many people paid a high price for this moment of violence".

Four decades after its publication, this book, and the two that precede it, still stands as one of the best introductions to the war that defines us to this day.

My husband received Bruce Catton's American Civil War Trilogy as a gift and he said that he didn't want to see it end. After finishing Volume 3, Never Call Retreat, I agree with him completely. I can understand why it remains so popular almost 50 years from when it was first published. The Civil War trilogy is a scholarly work, but reads more like a novel.

Never Call Retreat starts after the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) and the author will take us through some of the most momentous events to take place during the Civil War including the Emancipation Proclamation, the Battle of Gettysburg, the fall of Vicksburg, the siege of Charleston, the presidential election of 1864, Sherman's March to the Sea, the surrender at Appomattox, and Lincoln's death. He also shows how even before the war was over, Lincoln was debating reconstruction and how the Confederate states could best be reunited with the Union. But it's the additional information that Catton provides that makes these books so interesting. He tells us about the deficiencies of the southern railroads and how that handicapped the Confederacy. He relates how the Union and the Confederates still traded goods (especially cotton) despite being at war. He gives examples of how military technology was more advanced than the soldiers using it. All of these different facets provide a more in-depth understanding of the war.

Where Catton is especially talented is in analyzing the characters he writes about. In book one, Lincoln begins to stumble through his presidency. By book three, his genius shows through and he is in commanded of everything from his cabinet to the military. Catton also is a good judge of military leadership. Lee and Grant were brilliant, but many of the officers on both sides were uninspired, reticent and lacking in military skills. In Never Call Retreat, the Confederates are especially plagued by poor leadership in the Western Campaign. "John B. Hood was uncomplicated, and when they gave him Joe Johnston's army, he assumed that he was expected to go out and fight. This he did, and as a result the South lost 20,000 good soldiers, Atlanta, the presidential election and most of what remained of the war."

Catton also has a special skill in taking complicated situations and describing them with simple eloquence. In talking about the Gettysburg Address, he writes that Lincoln "spoke of liberty and equality instead of victory, as if these words alone could give meaning to what had been done here, and instead of dedicating the ground he called upon those who stood there to dedicate themselves to something that might justify all that Gettysburg had cost them." In describing the end of the war, he writes that after Appomattox, Lee "rode straight into legend and took his people with him...The cause that failed became The Lost Cause, larger than life, taking on color and romance as the years passed, remembered with pride and heart-ache but never again leading to bloodshed. Civil Wars have had worse endings than this."

The Civil War may have ended in 1865, but as long as Bruce Catton's works are still in print, he will continue to turn younger generations into Civil War buffs. What better way can there be to honor our nations past?

"Never Call Retreat" concludes Bruce Catton's trilogy of the Civil War in the same excellent fashion which the reader enjoyed in the first two volumes, "The Coming Fury" and "Terrible Swift Sword" (see my Amazon reviews). Once again, Catton explains the war from all aspects, Northern and Southern, Military and Political, Social and Economic.

Beginning in December, 1862, this volume takes us through the siege of Vicksburg, the battles of Gettysburg and those around Atlanta, the March to the Sea and the destruction of the Army of Northern Virginia and the dissolution of the Confederacy. Each theatre of the War is covered in its turn. The campaigns are described, not only as battles but as the wars of supply, command staffing and maneuver. The gradually increasing role of U.S. Grant is apparent as the book progresses.

The war is shown, not only as a military contest, but as a political struggle as well. Abraham Lincoln is seen in his struggles against Copperheads, such as Clement Vallandingham. The pressure from the Radical Republicans forced Lincoln had to balance the need to advance the rights of blacks while maintaining the support of Unionists who were not willing to accompany Emancipation with political enfranchisement. The contending forces within Lincoln's cabinet as well as those in Congress and in the states are carefully studied.

Jefferson Davis' vain efforts find the right combination of generals and to rally his countrymen in support of the war merits our sympathy. The twin challenges of despair and desertion were beyond even Davis' impressive powers of persuasion.

One figure who earned some admiration from me is General George B. MacClellan. I had always viewed MacClellan as an unsuccessful general and a political opportunist. Through this trilogy I came to see MacClellan as, a poor general, to be sure, but a politician who adhered to a consistent platform of support for the war and Union, but without any support for emancipation or equality for blacks.

One figure who did not improve his standing in my estimation was General Ben Butler, the Massachusetts Pro-War Democrat whose combination of military incompetence and arrogance was tolerated only so long as it was outweighed by his political usefulness. Once Lincoln was reelected, Butler was given a well earned ticket home.

Throughout this book, as in the first two volumes, we see Union Wars aims gradually shift from that of Union, regardless of Emancipation, to Union with Emancipation. Catton skillfully weaves the story of the inexorable shift in Northern opinion on the subject of Emancipation which forced this shift in war aims.

At the end of the book we see the wrap-up of the War and a hint at the challenges of Reconstruction and healing, the effects of which we still struggle with today.

At the end of this book I have a much deeper understanding of the Civil War than I had when I started the trilogy. For this, among other reasons, I recommend this book and series to everyone.

Bruce Catton's Civil War trilogy, as I have noted previously, is essentially a Northern counterpart to the more Southern-oriented Shelby Foote. Catton writes with considerable eloquence, and this third volume, which covers the last two years of the war, from Fredricksburg to Appomattox Court House, is perhaps the best. Since he's covering the politics of the war most carefully, and more or less skimming the military features, or at least the battles, this book covers those two years in some ways rather cursorily. In other ways it's very detailed, and in either case it's very entertaining.

This volume covers essentially McClellan's successors in Virginia, starting with Burnside and moving on through Hooker, Meade, and eventually Grant. In the West, Grant's continued rise is chronicled in the first half, and by the end we're of course following Sherman across Georgia. All of the major battles, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Vicksburg, and so forth, get good coverage, though as I've said it tends to be pretty short, as Catton is much more interested in the politics and strategy of the war than he is in the battles. His discussion of Lincoln's evolution from a cautious war leader in the first book to a more-or-less full-on abolitionist (not as radical as some, though) is particularly good.

I heartily recommend this first book as much as the first two. Should be required reading for Civil War buffs, alongside Foote.

I was a bit disappointed with this third and final book in Bruce Catton's Centennial History of the Civil War. Don't get me wrong, it is a remarkably good work but I found it a little redundant. Perhaps it is because the three books in this series were meant to be read either individually or in sequence and in order to satisfy both goals, a fairly significant amount of material regarding slavery, changing public attitudes and the politics, both North and South, had to be repeated for a third time. These redundancies, not apparent when the books are read on an individual basis, necessarily rise to the surface despite Mr. Catton's best efforts to deliver the information with a fresh and innovative approach when the trilogy is read close together. This certainly is not Catton's fault but is a necessary by-product of the publisher's desire to satisfy two diverse audiences. This said, if you read these books sequentially and in close proximity to each other as I did, skimming those parts that become noticeably redundant in this, the third book, will likely yield a better experience.

The organizational comment aside, the history that Mr. Catton narrates which is unique to the period this book covers, from Fredericksburg to the war's conclusion, is first rate. I found Catton's analysis of Grant's Vicksburg campaign, Rosecrans and Grant's central Tennessee struggles and the Chancellorsville through Petersburg operations particularly instructive. The maps are excellent and materially aid the narrative. Catton's continuing analysis of the primary participants, Lincoln, Davis, Grant and Lee remain decidedly evenhanded. Seldom does Catton take individual participants to task but he does give Confederate General Braxton Bragg a bit of a well deserved keel hauling for his inexplicable conduct at Chickamauga and Chattanooga and I was delighted to see him give Union General George Thomas materially more credit for his actions subsequent to Chickamauga than other historians generally award. Moreover, Catton covers the smaller engagements of the war, like Morris Island, Charleston Harbor and Mobile, particularly well with insightful and detailed scrutiny.

The closing chapters of this book are quite extraordinary. When published in 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King's Civil Rights movement was still in something of a developmental stage and, at the time, was quite controversial. These final chapters make very clear that the ongoing struggles of suffrage and equality were the direct result of the Civil War's unfinished business, bold assertions given the date of publication. The section on the coming Southern reconstruction is quite poignant and underscores that at war's end no one, North or South, understood the implications of the freedoms won for all Americans through the deaths of over 600,000 of the men who were engaged in this contest.

America will always struggle with its future, seeking to make life better for all its citizens. We are not a country to pat ourselves on our backs for too long or spend too much time celebrating our achievements. We are never satisfied with the status quo. We consistently look to the future, seeking to reinvent a better version of ourselves.

Reaching for the future is what America is all about. Mr. Catton understood that and his ending to this book and the trilogy is not to be missed.

This is Bruce Catton's third book in his Civil War Trilogy - no doubt this is one of his best. This volume covers the war from Fredericksburg to the surrender at Appomattox, and finally the assassination of Lincoln. Catton's approach in this book is generally the higher level strategy and the politics of the war. In many ways, it is a President's approach to the war, as Catton explains the actions of both President Davis and Lincoln. The most amazing aspect of this volume is Catton's smooth, running account of all events of this war, fought on various fronts and parts of the country. A tough literary feat, and Catton does it superbly in this book!

I received a first addition, like the one pictured here. It is in pretty good conditioned, I am pleased to get a "collectable" if it can be classified as one.

"Never Call Retreat" is the third and final volume of Bruce Catton's classic Centennial History of the Civil War. This volume was published in 1965. Although the details may have been improved upon by later scholarship, "Never Call Retreat" endures as a superb reading experience based on Catton's matchless presentation of history as dramatic literature.

Catton picks up the narrative in December of 1862, with the bloody slaughter of Burnside's failed assault at Fredericksburg. Whatever chance for moderation might have ever been possible, the Emancipation Proclamation and the rising casualties create an remorseless tide toward total war.

In the West, Grant will grapple with the Confederate Fortress of Vicksburg, enduring a series of failures before finally and dramatically laying successful siege to that city. In the wake of Vicksburg, Grant will be directed to retrieve the failure of Chickamauga by breaking the Siege of Chattanooga. His success there will cause Lincoln to summon him to command of the Union Armies. Sherman will be left in the West to take Atlanta before marching to the sea through Georgia.

In the East, Burnside and Hooker will each have a turn as commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, and each will be badly beaten by Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. George Meade, summoned to the command of the Army of the Potomac as Lee invades the North, will be just good enough to hang on and win at the three day trial of Gettysburg. The arrival of Grant as supreme commander will presage a bloody year long struggle between the two great Eastern armies, ending in the Siege of Petersburg, where Lee's Army will slowly bleed nearly to death before finally surrendering at Appomattox in April 1865.

Catton does not neglect the politics, North and South, behind the fighting. In the South, Jefferson Davis struggles to forge a unified war effort with a Confederate Government too decentralized to marshal the necessary resources. Abraham Lincoln, his Union counterpart, struggles to bring the Union's superior resources to bear while maintaining a democracy and holding off a defeatist opposition. Linconl will win reelection in 1864 after surviving the darkest hours of the nation's will to reunite the country.

Catton's narrative moves easily between theaters of war, detailing the struggles of very human leaders in the face of great challenges while placing those struggles in the context of the great themes of the war. Catton's superb narrative captures the uniqueness of an American Civil War.

This book is highly recommended to the student of the Civil War and to the casual reader, both of whom will enjoy this volume and series.

I picked up a "vintage" paperback from 1967 in great shape. I was really pleased with Amazon and its vendor on this purchase.
Never Call Retreat is Bruce Catton's third book in his Civil War Trilogy - no doubt this is one of his best. This volume covers the war from Fredericksburg to the surrender at Appomattox, and finally the assassination of Lincoln. Catton's approach in this book is generally the higher level strategy and the politics of the war. In many ways, it is a President's approach to the war, as Catton explains the actions of both President Davis and Lincoln. The most amazing aspect of this volume is Catton's smooth, running account of all events of this war, fought on various fronts and parts of the country. A tough literary feat and Catton does it superbly in this book!

This last work of Bruce Catton's "American Civil War Trilogy" will not leave you disappointed. His work is especially compelling, interesting, historically accurate, exciting, and informative. I especially enjoyed his account of the war during the period of 1863, as this was such an important period of the war. I am unable to give the proper credit due this trilogy and will leave it to those more worthy of this task. When you reach the last page of "Never Call Retreat", you will wonder to yourself,"What can I read next that will be so important a work on the Civil war?"