This Astounding Close: The Road to Bennett Place

This first-of-its-kind reference book presents detailed information on the structure, composition and casualties of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during its entire four year history, 1861-1865. Readers will know at a glance who commanded each unit, and when. Unit strengths and casualties are given for the Army's major campaigns. Meticulously compiled from the 128 volumes of the Official Records, this reliable source provides a comprehensive record of the Army's development, from its formation to its demise.

Robert E. Lee gave Joseph E. Johnston an impossible task. Federal armies under Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman had rampaged through Georgia on their ÒMarch to the SeaÓ and now were cutting a swath of destruction as they marched north from Savannah through the Carolinas. Locked in a desperate defense of Richmond and Petersburg, there was little Lee could do to stem ShermanÕs tideÑso he turned to Johnston. The one-time hero of Manassas had squabbled for years with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, eventually leading to his removal during the Atlanta Campaign. The disgraced Johnston had fallen far. Yet Lee saw his old friend and professional rival as the only man who could stop ShermanÑthe only man who could achieve the impossible. ÒJ.E. Johnston is the only officer whom I know who has the confidence of the army,Ó Lee told Davis. Back in command, Johnston would have to assemble a makeshift forceÑincluding the shattered remnants of the once-vaunted Army of TennesseeÑthen somehow stop the Federal juggernaut. He would thus set out to achieve something that had ever eluded Lee: deal a devastating blow to an isolated Union force. Success could potentially prolong the most tragic chapter in American history, adding thousands more to a list of casualties that was already unbearable to read. Historians Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt, co-authors of Bloody Autumn: The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 and Hurricane from the Heavens: The Battle of Cold Harbor, now turn their considered gaze toward the long-forgotten battles of Averasboro and Bentonville. Written in the accessible style that has become the hallmark of the Emerging Civil War Series, Calamity in Carolina: The Battles of Averasboro and Bentonville includes more than a hundred illustrations, new maps, and thought-provoking analysis to tell the story of the last great battles of the war in the West.

A valuable reference guide to South Carolina during the Civil War that includes a detailed Confederate States chronology

A record of literary properties sold at auction in the United States.