Aug. 6, 7:30 p.m. CST: Civil War Talks Presents John Horn on His New Book, "Lee Besieged" (Savas Beatie, 2025)

At 7:30 p.m. CST, Civil War Talks will present me talking about my new book, Lee Besieged: Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2025).  The meeting ID is 858 6322 3883.  The link is                     

https://us02web.zoom.us/w/85863223883?tk=qsPOo8vH5YmyqdIqDNf5RJoNVknugmSn-i-nP8XMLoY.DQgAAAAT_djSSxZOVFdXMG1PRVNkS2o1LWxtTEYxbW9BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The book has garnered significant praise:

I’ve edited more than half a million words on the Civil War, but this book is something else.  Elegantly written, deeply researched, it abounds with judicious assessments of commanders at all levels.  More than a thousand quotes from participants on both sides take you back in time like no other book I have ever read.  Don’t miss it!

--Keith Poulter, publisher North & South magazine

The Second Petersburg Offensive of late June 1864 is among the least understood operations of the entire campaign.  Through exhaustive research, engaging prose, and thoughtful analysis, John Horn provides the most detailed account yet written of this Union effort to conquer the Cockade City.

--A. Wilson Greene, author of A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg

John Horn has added considerably to our knowledge of the Petersburg campaign with Lee Besieged:  Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864.  It is the first book that deals with Grant's ill-fated second offensive and is yet another excellent volume by Horn.

--Sean Michael Chick, author of The Battle of Petersburg, June 15-June 18, 1864

Horn has added a much-needed volume to his extensive writings and study of the Petersburg Campaign.  Grant’s second offensive is often overlooked and hard to comprehend but through scholarly research and writing, Lee Besieged:  Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864, takes the reader through all aspects of the offensive, providing enjoyment and understanding to the Civil War enthusiast.  First-hand accounts proliferate in the narrative adding powerful insights into the struggle and fighting of June 1864.

--Jerry Netherland, Petersburg Battlefields Foundation

This is tactical battle action at its finest. Horn's explanation for the context and consequences of every decision is grounded in hundreds of primary sources and supported by 40 original maps. Lee Besieged is the first full-length book to put Grant's second effort into its proper perspective -- not only in the context of the Petersburg siege and the Civil War, but in the context of warfare's history.

Critique: Comprehensive, meticulously researched, exceptionally well written, featuring numerous B/W illustrations. two Appendices (Strength, Casualties, Effectiveness & The Orders of Battle), a twenty-six page Bibliography, and a seventeen page Index, "Lee Besieged: Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18 - July 1, 1864" by John Horn is essential reading and a welcome addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library American Civil War History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and Civil War history buffs that this hardcover edition of "Lee Besieged" from Savas Beatie is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $20.95).

--Midwest Book Review

To purchase your copy, please click on this link.

Midwest Book Review Gives "Lee Besieged" a Stellar Review

Midwest Book Review says about "Lee Besieged:"

"This is tactical battle action at its finest. Horn's explanation for the context and consequences of every decision is grounded in hundreds of primary sources and supported by 40 original maps. Lee Besieged is the first full-length book to put Grant's second effort into its proper perspective -- not only in the context of the Petersburg siege and the Civil War, but in the context of warfare's history.

"Critique: Comprehensive, meticulously researched, exceptionally well written, featuring numerous B/W illustrations. two Appendices (Strength, Casualties, Effectiveness & The Orders of Battle), a twenty-six page Bibliography, and a seventeen page Index, "Lee Besieged: Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18 - July 1, 1864" by John Horn is essential reading and a welcome addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library American Civil War History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and Civil War history buffs that this hardcover edition of "Lee Besieged" from Savas Beatie is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $20.95)."

To purchase a copy of "Lee Besieged," just click on the links.

 

Yet Another Very Positive Review of "Lee Besieged," This One from the United Kingdom

Nigel Lambert, a distinguished author on the Petersburg Campaign from the United Kingdom who frequently publishes in Emerging Civil War, recently posted a very positive review of "Lee Besieged" on Amazon UK:

"5.0 out of 5 stars A Captivating Read
"Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 July 2025
"Having read John Horn’s previous excellent Petersburg books, I looked forward to reading his latest offering. And unsurprisingly, it did not disappoint. Horn skilfully carries the reader along the intricate actions of Grant’s 2nd Petersburg Offensive. The detailed bibliography highlights the thoroughness of the research and includes information from many rare sources. The maps are clear and help readers visualize the geography and troop movements. Until quite recently, historians have largely overlooked The Petersburg Campaign. This book contributes to John Horn’s excellent Petersburg portfolio and helps bring to life this fascinating campaign. This is a “must buy” for anyone interested in the final months of the war in the Eastern Theatre, and valuable to anyone interested in Grant, Lee and the Civil War in Virginia."

To purchase a copy of "Lee Besieged," just click on the link.

My Current Speaking Schedule, Mainly About My Most Recent Book, "Lee Besieged."

 

For at least the next year, my speaking engagements will mainly be about my most recent book, Lee Besieged: Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2025). To purchase a copy, please click the link above and then click the email address that appears. My current schedule is as follows:

Aug. 6, 2025: CivilWarTalk. "Lee Besieged." 8:30 p.m. EST. Virtual.*

Sept. 10, 2025: Central Ohio CWRT. "Lee Besieged." La Navona, 154 N. Hamilton Rd., Gahanna, OH. 7:00 p.m. EST. In person.

Oct. 22, 2025: The Dupuy Institute's Fourth Historical Analysis Annual Conference. "Livermore, Dupuy, and the Campaign of 1864." Pike & Gallows Conferance Center, 1934 Old Gallows Road, Tyson's Corners, VA, third conference room. 9:00 a.m. EST. In person.

Dec. 10, 2025. Civil War Warriors CWRT (Los Angeles). "Lee Besieged." 7:00 p.m. PST. Virtual.*

Dec. 28, 2025: Dan Sickles CWRT (NYC). "Lee Besieged." 7:00 p.m. EST. Virtual.*

Jan. 9, 2026: Kenosha Civil War Museum. 5400 1st Avenue, Kenosha, WI. 12:00 p.m. CST. In person.*

Jan. 16, 2026. CWRT Congress. "Lee Besieged." 7:00 p.m. Virtual.*

March 12, 2026: Old Baldy CWRT (Philadelphia). Camden County's William G. Rohrer Center, 1889 Marlton Pike East, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003. "Lee Besieged." 7:15 p.m. EST. In Person.*

June 13, 2026. Central Louisiana CWRT. "Lee Besieged." 6:00 p.m. CST. Virtual.*

 Aug. 27, 2026. South Suburban CWRT. Aurelio's Pizza, 19836 Wolf Road, Mokena, IL. "Lee Besieged." 7:00 p.m. CST. In Person.*

*Thanks for your help with this, Sarah Closson and SavasBeatie!

I Will Still Sell Brand New, Autographed Copies of "The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864" for $20.00

On June 28 Amazon.com had my book, The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2015), on sale for $49.98 new, $42.91 used.  The price when published in 2015 was $32.95.

Today Amazon.com has the book on sale for $53.67 new, $53.66 used.

I will still sell autographed copies for $20.00, and will ship media mail for free in the United States.  If you want a copy of this esteemed book, just send a check or money order to John Horn at 16710 Oak Park Avenue, Tinley Park, IL 60477. Or send money and your address to me on paypal.com at johnedwardhorn@gmail.com. 

This is still the only book focused entirely on the August 1864 fighting around Petersburg, Grant and Lee at the War's crisis. It is the revised edition of my book The Destruction of the Weldon Railroad: Deep Bottom, Globe Tavern, and Reams Station, August 14-25, 1864 (H. E. Howard, 1991). Just by attacking on August 14, Grant reminded Lee that he did not face Little Mac, Pope, Burnside, or Hooker.

Praise for The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864

Grant's Fourth Offensive at Petersburg...is excellently covered in John Horn's The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864.  This revised, expanded edition of his original 1991 book ranks as the foremost study of the Fourth Offensive.  It belongs in every Civil War Library.

--Richard J. Sommers, author of Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg


A superior piece of Civil War Scholarship.

--Edwin C. Bearss, former Chief Historian of the National Park Service and award-winning author of The Petersburg Campaign: Volume I, The Eastern Front Battles and Volume II, The Western Front Battles


It's great to have John Horn's fine study of August 1864 combat actions (Richmond-Petersburg style) back in print....Utilizing manuscript and published sources, Horn untangles a complicated tale of plans gone awry and soldiers unexpectedly thrust into harm's way.  This new edition upgrades the maps and adds some fresh material.  Good battle detail, solid analysis, and strong characterizations make this a welcome addition to the Petersburg book shelf.

--Noah Andre Trudeau, author of The Last Citadel: Petersburg, June 1864-April 1865

In the course of writing my Civil War novels, there's always a book that proves especially resonant for a given subject.  This time, John Horn's The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864, drew me back again and again.  It was a true labor of love for Mr. Horn to write about three battles in which the rest of us, wrongly, have shown but little interest:  Second Deep Bottom, Globe Tavern and (Second) Reams Station.  His recently revised and expanded edition is, as my old drill sergeant used to say, "Mighty fine, mighty fine."

--Ralph Peters, Fox News commentator and award-winning author of Cain at Gettysburg, Hell or Richmond, and Valley of the Shadow in the Author's Note to his forthcoming novel, The Damned of Petersburg

I highly recommend this book to the student of the Petersburg Campaign....John Horn's new edition of The Siege of Petersburg excels at filling in the gap of what what many other histories of the last two years of the war have failed to do.

--Matthew Bartlett, Gettysburg Chronicle


In cases where I own both editions of a book, I like to give prospective readers information on the differences to help them decide if the second edition is worth it.  In this particular case, it absolutely is....interested readers will what is essentially a new book to buy on Grant's Fourth Offensive.  Horn's volume stands alongside Sommers on the Fifth, Newsome on the Sixth, and Greene on the Ninth.

--Brett Schulte, The Siege of Petersburg Online


This important scholarship is very readable and balanced, has insightful analysis and permits the serious student and the novice to realize what happened and why ....This reviewer strongly recommends this book and suggests that it become part of every enthusiast's library.

--David Marshall, amazon.com


SavasBeatie should be saluted for encouraging the author to revisit and update his book.  This is an excellent military study that anyone with an interest in the campaign or the war in Virginia will want.

--John Foskett, Civil War News


Everyone interested in the Civil War should read Horn's chapter 13 which is a model of how to examine the various levels of warfare and the ultimate meaning of this campaign.

--Edgar Raines, Goodreads

I hope the book is selling well: it is an excellent campaign history, full of clear explanation, dramatic stories, and incisive analysis.  I especially appreciated the summary chapter, where Horn gave evaluations of all the key players.

--Dr. John G. Selby, author of Virginians at War 

Sample Maps

Hampton Newsome drew the 22 maps for The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864.  Besides co-editing Civil War Talks with Dr. John Selby and me, Hampton is the author of Richmond Must Fall on Grant's Sixth Offensive at Petersburg, October 27, 1864,

Order Your Copy Now!

Another Good Early Review for Lee Besieged on the Anniversary of One of the Fights the Book Describes.

Booknotes gave Lee Besieged a good early review today.  It's June 23, the anniversary of the bite Mahone took out of the Vermont Brigade on this date in 1864.  For a glance at the review, please click the link above and when it appears on the redirect notice as well.

Finest Hours, Darkest Hours: How I Talk About "Lee Besieged: Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864"

When I talk about one of my books at a Civil War Round Table, I like to talk about a soldier from the round table's state, if possible.  I also like to approach the components of my forthcoming book from Savas Beatie, Lee Besieged: Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864, in that fashion, because each of those components possesses a challenging complexity for a 45 minute talk.  Those components are principally the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road and the Wilson-Kautz Raid.  Recently I added a refinement and approached the Wilson-Kautz Raid at Raleigh Civil War Round Table by discussing the raid in terms of "Barringer's Finest Hours." I plan to approach the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road in a similar fashion.

Brigadier General Rufus C. Barringer (Finest Hours) was the outstanding brigadier of the entire offensive.  He was ironically nicknamed "Aunt Nancy" because he was a martinet. He fought magnificently against infantry on the first day of the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road on June 21, then saved the Confederate horse artillery batteries at the battle of The Grove (aka Nottaway Court House, aka Black's and White's) on the second day of the Wilson-Kautz Raid on June 23.  His arrival at the battle of Staunton River Bridge persuaded the Federals to call it a day, and with 300 of the 2,000 men and mounts that he had begun the fighting with on June 21, hounded the bluecoats on their way to their disasters at Sappony Church and First Reams Station on June 28 and 29.

Rufus C. Barringer (Library of Congress)

I plan to approach the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road similarly, in terms of "Mahone's Finest Hours," when talking to Civil War Round Tables in the future. Mahone made his mark on June 22, when with three brigades he routed three divisions of the crack II Corps, taking four guns and around 1,700 prisoners.  On June 23, he took his whole division, all five brigades, and mauled VI Corps, seizing about 500 prisoners.  On June 29, he took two of his brigades and joined in trapping the Wilson-Kautz raiders at First Reams Station, capturing guns and prisoners.

William Mahone (National Archives)

Of course, one soldier's finest hour is often another soldier's darkest hour.  Just as Barringer and Mahone had their finest hours during Grant's Seccond Petersburg Offensive, so other soldiers had their darkest hours during the same period.

Brigadier General Francis C. Barlow (Darkest Hours) had a terrible time. On June 21, Barringer's cavalry brigade stopped Barlow's hard-fighting division within a mile of the Weldon Railroad, its objective. On June 22, Mahone's rout of Barlow's division became known as "Barlow's Skedaddle" even though it was army commander Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's impatience that caused the stampede.  In the following month, Barlow would lose his wife to disease and in August he would show how profoundly the experience of June 22 had affected him.  Ordered to proceed with two divisions to the Darbytown Road crossing of Bailey's Creek without guarding his left flank, he dispersed four of the six brigades at his disposal to do exactly that, leaving him with only two to attack at the designated point.  He used them successively and unsuccessfully.

Francis C. Barlow (Library of Congress)

Brigadier General James H. Wilson (Darkest Hours) led two divisions of cavalry raiders against the railroads emanating southward and southwestward from Richmond and Petersburg. On June 23 he wrecked his primary objective, Burkeville, junction of the Richmond & Danville and South Side railroads, but failed to put icing on the cake by destroying High Bridge on the South Side Rail Road or Staunton River Bridge on the Richmond & Danville. Things became worse when Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton's cavalry halted the Federal raiders at Sappony Church on June 28.  They became stull worse when Wilson led his troopers into a trap at Reams Station, where Confederate forces under Mahone and Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee routed them on June 29, capturing all their guns and hundreds of prisoners.

James H. Wilson (National Archives)

General Meade had some of his darkest hours during the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, June 21-24, 1864. He had the good idea of moving II and VI corps together but events intervened; VI Corps could not pull two of its three divisions out of the trenches until the evening of June 21.  It was not his fault but he moved II Corps largely along that day. II Corps failed to reach the Weldon Railroad and forfeited the element of surprise. Things got worse on June 22.  He lost patience and ordered II Corps to move independently of VI Corps, most of which did not wake up and eat till midday.  Mahone piled into the gap thus created and routed II Corps, taking about 1,700 prisoners.  On June 23, Meade as usual tolerated insubordination from one of his corps commanders.  This time it was not Warren but Wright, and as a result Mahone mauled a division of VI Corps and took about 500 prisoners.  These were some of Meade's darkest hours of the war.

George G. Meade  (Library of Congress)

Taking the above approaches to the two actions that take up most of Lee Besieged should permit composition of a 45-minute talk that will not overwhelm either my audience or me.  

I'm prepared to talk to any Civil War Round Table that asks me to appear before it, either by ZOOM or in person.  Click on Lee Besieged if you want to purchase a copy.