Summary Of A Stillness At Appomattox By Bruce Caton

The book ,A Stillness at Appomattox, written by Bruce Catton in 1953, was an enlightening history of the last year of the war as Union general U. S. Grant led the Army of the Potomac against Confederate general Robert E. Lee to finish the American Civil War. Catton vividly describes the plight of the common soldier while keeping the overview of the war in perspective. He effectively creates a mood of misguidance and loss that is felt in more recent conflicts as well as the Civil War. A highly accredited author, Catton creates an effective story that brings the emotions of the front with the motives of the high command. Bruce Catton emphasized the misguided feeling felt during the war throughout the book by detailing the lack of effective

On top of this, the broad idea was to use brute force to overcome Lee's army, which is reasonable from an overview standpoint, but is much less popular with the common soldier. This generated a distrust for the command, and a feeling of loss. Additionally, most of the commanders were trained in traditional tactics involving charges and open field battles, ill-suited to the trench warfare that had appeared during the war. The pointless charges wasted soldiers, and destroyed loyalty within the army. Catton also shows the seemingly pointless nature of the war by showing occasions in which the soldiers from both sides would call a truce and share resources during the war. This shows that the troops no longer considered the enemy as inhuman. Many soldiers remarked that the enemy knew the soldiers better than the officers, who were patriotic comparatively, did. Additionally, the book pointed out disputes between different generals, which disrupted the war and led to inferior decisions. For example, Grant was unable to fire Butler because if he did, the general may run for president, which could

He received a Pulitzer Prize for A Stillness at Appomattox, and has written three trilogies on the subject. He specializes in writing in the narrative style, giving personal insight into characters, but maintaining accuracy with overall figures. His book was from the Union perspective, but with his unique writing style, he managed to avoid limiting his bias to only favor one side. He made the reader respect the brutality of war, and yearn for peace while understanding the reasons for the war. Catton used his tremendous experience to portray vivid images of both the Confederate and Union sides of the