This Astounding Close

The Road to Bennett Place

By Mark L. Bradley

432 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 41 illus., 8 maps, appends., notes, bibl., index

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-5701-4
    Published: February 2006
  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-8078-2565-5
    Published: September 2000
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-7706-7
    Published: December 2006
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7143-5
    Published: December 2006

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Even after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, the Civil War continued to be fought, and surrenders negotiated, on different fronts. The most notable of these occurred at Bennett Place, near Durham, North Carolina, when Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee to Union General William T. Sherman. In this first full-length examination of the end of the war in North Carolina, Mark Bradley traces the campaign leading up to Bennett Place.

Alternating between Union and Confederate points of view and drawing on his readings of primary sources, including numerous eyewitness accounts and the final muster rolls of the Army of Tennessee, Bradley depicts the action as it was experienced by the troops and the civilians in their path. He offers new information about the morale of the Army of Tennessee during its final confrontation with Sherman's much larger Union army. And he advances a fresh interpretation of Sherman's and Johnston's roles in the final negotiations for the surrender.

About the Author

Mark L. Bradley is author of Last Stand in the Carolinas: The Battle of Bentonville. He lives in Graham, North Carolina.
For more information about Mark L. Bradley, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"One of those truly outstanding works that no casual reader will fail to enjoy or serious student of the Civil War want to miss."--Civil War News

"Bradley's book is readable, interesting, and informative."--Journal of American History

"A remarkable book which shows years of painstaking research and a talent to weave the essence of the situation into an easily read and followed story. . . . Serious scholars of the Civil War will find This Astounding Close a valuable study."--On Point

"Belongs on the shelf of every Civil War buff."--Blue & Gray Magazine

"A well-documented and careful analysis of the political and military situation within which Sherman and Johnston maneuvered and negotiated in the six weeks after Bentonville. It is an interesting story, told with considerable skill. . . . Bradley is to be commended for a well-written and impressively researched monograph on a long ignored subject."--Civil War History

"A superb study that incorporates the best of new military history."--Civil War Book Review