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William D. Matter

If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania (Civil War America) Hardcover – October 14, 1988

by William D. Matter (Author)

6 ratings

Part of: Civil War America (159 books)

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The termination of the war and the fate of the Union hung in the balance in May of 1864 as Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac clashed in the Virginia countryside--first in the battle of the Wilderness, where the Federal army sustained greater losses than at Chancellorsville, and then further south in the vicinity of Spotsylvania Courthouse, where Grant sought to cut Lee's troops off from the Confederate capital of Richmond.

This is the first book-length examination of the pivotal Spotsylvania campaign of 7-21 May. Drawing on extensive research in manuscript collections across the country and an exhaustive reading of the available literature, William Matter sets the strategic stage for the campaign before turning to a detailed description of tactical movements. He offers abundant fresh material on race from the Wilderness to Spotsylvania, the role of Federal and Confederate calvary, Emory Upton's brilliantly conceived Union assault on 10 May, and the bitter clash on 19 May at the Harris farm. Throughout the book, Matter assesses each side's successes, failures, and lost opportunities and sketches portraits of the principal commanders.

The centerpiece of the narrative is a meticulous and dramatic treatment of the horrific encounter in the salient that formed the Confederate center on 12 May. There the campaign reached its crisis, as soldiers waged perhaps the longest and most desperate fight of the entire war for possession of the Bloody Angle--a fight so savage that trees were literally shot to pieces by musket fire. Matter's sure command of a mass of often-conflicting testimony enables him to present by far the clearest account to date of this immensely complex phase of the battle.

Rigorously researched, effectively presented, and well supported by maps, this book is a model tactical study that accords long overdue attention to the Spotsylvania campaign. It will quickly take its place in the front rank of military studies of the Civil War.

Print length

471 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date

October 14, 1988
Dimensions

6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0807817813
ISBN-13

978-0807817810
Lexile measure

1380L
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Review

Weaves massive scholarship into a superb narrative that finally makes clear, for the first time, the critical events at Spotsylvania 125 years ago.--Robert K. Krick

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The University of North Carolina Press; First Edition (October 14, 1988)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 471 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807817813
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807817810
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1380L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.9 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,003,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9,383 in U.S. Civil War History
- #48,211 in U.S. State & Local History
- #58,932 in Engineering (Books)

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Dr. S. R. Hill Jr.

Only fair

Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2013

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I've read a lot on this war and I'd put this work in the bottom third. To be fair, it may be because the resources don't exist to prepare a good treatment of Spotsylvania but I doubt it. There is a wealth of letters and journals scattered in numerous library holdings which could be unearthed by a conscientious researcher. He doesn't do a very good job. He seems to be following a formula: for every march, for every encampment he is going to give us the placement by corps or division, whether it makes any difference or not.

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Bruce

Quick, Cheap and Easy

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2012

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A teacher by training and experience, I am an armchair researcher hobbyist who knows the value of locating and securing solid resource material. Unfortunately this usually means long and fruitless digging through obscure sources and often paying premium prices. Over the years I have seen AMAZON.com go from "good" to "better" with steady improvement and my latest purchase is an excelent example. From the time that I identified my copy of "If it takes all Summer" to receiving it in the mail, I could not have waited more than a week. Personally I would have rated the condition of the book as "excellent" rather than "very good" but needless to say I was very, very happy with how the entire process went. Well done.

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J. Coggeshall

Thorough and well written.

Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2019

Thirty years after it was released, "If It Takes All Summer" still ranks as perhaps the best study ever produced on the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. It is tedious at times as it is very detailed. I would not recommend it for a novice student of the Civil War. However, it is a fine study of this extremely intense engagement that saw the most sustained close-quarters combat ever to occur on this continent. The author uses tons of original sources to give the story a very human touch. It is also refreshing that this work was done before the advent of the pro-Grant school of revisionism that overwhelmed the later attempts to cover this campaign objectively.

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If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania (Civil War America) Hardcover – October 14, 1988

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