I Own Both Volumes of Wilson Greene's "Campaign of Giants," Highly Recommend Them, and I Look Forward to the Third

       

Our friend, the late, great Dr. Richard J. Sommers, the gracious author of the classic Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg: The Battles of Chaffin's Bluff and Poplar Spring Church, September 29-October 2, 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2014), a standard-setter for research, said of A. Wilson Greene's first volume of a projected three volume history of the Petersburg Campaign, "So vast a campaign deserves vast coverage; at long last it finds such coverage in this book. This first volume and the two which will follow make A Campaign of Giants the most important book ever written on the Petersburg Campaign."

Gordon C. Rhea, author of On to Petersburg: Grant and Lee June 4-15, 1864 (Louisiana State University Press, 2017), called Wilson's first volume "a masterpiece of the highest order" and wrote of the projected trilogy, "This book will doubtless stand as . . . the definitive word on the Petersburg Campaign for years to come."

William Marvel, co-author of The Petersburg Campaign: The Battle of the Crater, "the Horrid Pit," June 25-August 6, 1864 (H.E. Howard, 1989), wrote of Wilson's first volume, "The longest and most decisive operation of the Civil War is not likely to ever undergo a more thorough or insightful examination."

I agree with all of the above respecting both volumes. I own them both and recommend both of them to all students of the the Civil War and the Petersburg Campaign, one of the Civil War's longest campaigns and practically a small war in itself with about twice as many casualties as Gettysburg. This well written and superbly researched history will be the last word on the Petersburg Campaign for many years.

John Horn

Author, The Petersburg Campaign: June 1864-April 1865 (Combined Books, 1993)

_____, The Siege of Petersburg: The Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2015)

_____, The Petersburg Regiment in the Civil War: A History of the 12th Virginia Infantry from John 

                Brown's Hanging to Appomattox, 1859-1865 (Savas Beatie, 2019)

_____, Lee Besieged: Grant's Second Petersburg Offensive, June 18-July 1, 1864 (Savas Beatie, 2025)                 to purchase a copy click here

_____, Vicksburg's Craters, And Why Grant Did Not Apply Their Lesson at Petersburg (work in    progress)