Glory Enough for All: The Battle of the Crater : A Novel of the Civil War - Softcover

Schultz, Duane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 031211219X ISBN 13: 9780312112196

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1994

Synopsis

Scrupulous historical accuracy and telling details mark a fictional recreation of a great Civil War tragedy as Union forces, deadlocked in trench warfare with the Confederates in Petersbury, Virginia, build a tunnel to try to blow up their opponents.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

From ace historian Schultz (Over the Earth I Come, 1992, etc.), a you-are-there Civil War novel, dripping in blood, guts, and irony, that details the tragic Battle of the Crater. It's July 1864 in the Union trenches outside Petersburg, Virginia. Both sides have so fortified their positions that to attack is suicide. Though stalemate prevails, an urgency exists. If Grant can't break through Lee's lines before the November elections, Lincoln could lose. Among the besiegers is Burnside's 48th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Led by Colonel Henry Pleasants, in civilian life a mining engineer, his men are mostly coal-miners. An idea is put to Burnside. Why not build a mine and blow up Cemetery Hill, high point and key to Confederate position? Then pour assault troops into the gap, take Petersburg, and the war will be over. Why not indeed? Because Burnside's boss, General Meade, resents him and doesn't want him to succeed. But his career in shambles, this his last chance, Burnside gives Pleasants the go-ahead. True militarists, Meade and Grant, learning of the mine's existence, don't order a halt. Failure will cost them nothing--the mine wasn't their idea. Much goes wrong. Meade's engineering expert does all he can to hinder the project. Rains arrive and water leaks on the powder, provided in insufficient quantity anyway. Instead of electrical wire and a battery needed for detonation, scrap fuse is supplied. The rebs learn of the tunnel and are searching for it. Hallelujah, the mine gets successfully dug. All is in readiness. Then at the 11th hour Meade orders that the men trained to spearhead the assault, coloreds, being not fit for real soldiering, be replaced with war-weary white troops. Schultz's histories read like fiction. Here, he takes the next step, metamorphosing history into exceedingly realistic and suspenseful fiction. Readers who prize good war stories won't be disappointed. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

Accomplished nonfiction writer Schultz ( Month of the Freezing Moon: The Sand Creek Massacre November 1864 ) has written a powerful fictionalized account of a pivotal Civil War battle. In July of 1864, Union and Confederate forces are locked in trench warfare at Cemetery Hill on the outskirts of Petersburg, Va. Both sides have experienced dreadful losses, but Lee's army is much more debilitated, unable adequately to replace either men or equipment. A stalemate could prolong the war, damaging Lincoln's chances of re-election and possibly hastening a truce. Against the odds--and over the objections of fellow Union officers--Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants digs a 500-foot tunnel under the Southern fort and, filling it with 8000 pounds of powder, creates an enormous crater. But petty politicking by Grant, Meade, Burnside and other Union officers turns what should have been a war-ending Union triumph into a disaster. Most tragically, the Fourth Division U.S. Colored Troops, scheduled to lead the attack which follows the explosion and the one unit best prepared to win the day, are held back until the last moment and then sent in too late, to horrible slaughter. Authentically detailed and tightly paced, this is an absorbing novel.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 031211219X
• ISBN 13: 9780312112196
• Binding: Paperback