A Stillness at Appomattox

Summary

Catton follows the Army of the Potomac through the final brutal year of the Civil War, from the Wilderness and Cold Harbor to the long siege of Petersburg and Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Writing with the eye of a former newspaperman, he focuses on the ordinary soldiers who endured staggering casualties under Grant's relentless campaign. The narrative closes a celebrated trilogy and stands as a benchmark for popular Civil War history that reads like fiction yet stays grounded in fact.