Lee's Last Campaign

Short rations, stretched defences and failing confidence shape J. C. Gorman's account of the Confederate army's final campaign in Virginia. Returning to his command after time as a prisoner, the narrator finds exhausted troops holding the long lines around Richmond and Petersburg. He describes the pressure of constant firing, the movement of units between threatened positions and the uncertainty of soldiers who can hear fighting elsewhere but see only their own section of the field.

The account follows the retreat toward Appomattox through attacks on wagon trains, rear guard actions and marches lasting through the night. Gorman pays close attention to changing morale, from cheers for a successful counterattack to anxiety at distant cannon fire. His strongly sympathetic view of the Confederate troops gives the narrative a distinct perspective. Readers interested in the Civil War can study how one participant connects military movements with hunger, fatigue and hope.