Grant vs. Lee: The Graphic History of the Civil War's Greatest Rivals During the Last Year of the War — Wayne Vansant

Grant vs. Lee tells the dramatic story of the final year of the Civil War in Virginia - a bloody and unyielding fight for both sides - through the eyes of the two greatest Civil War generals: the North's Ulysses S. Grant and the South's Robert E. Lee. The long and violent campaigns that took place from 1864-1865 (the Overland Campaign, Petersburg Campaign, and Appomattox Campaign) represent the beginning of modern warfare. By this point of the war, both sides employed seasoned and hardened soldiers who looked past the Victorian sensibilities of the gentleman soldier and understood that there would be no falling back. By the end of 1864, both sides built trenches and mounted attacks to break each other's lines. There was a stalemate that winter. Grant's forces had superior numbers and supplies and by March 1865 they pushed Lee's army out of the trenches at Petersburg and took Richmond, the Confederate capital. Lee's dwindling forces retreated west, looking for food and other Southern forces to help continue the fight. After a bitter final battle at Sailor's Creek, Lee's army was surrounded by Union forces at Appomattox Court House. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant and the Civil War was over. Beautifully illustrated and vastly researched, Grant vs. Lee is a dramatic, illustrated introduction to one of the most pivotal years in American history.