BATTLE OF THE CRATER by Newt & ForstchenGingrich - SIGNED FIRST EDITION BOOK
See all titles by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen
With The Battle of the Crater, New York Times bestselling
authors Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen take readers to the
center of a nearly forgotten Civil War confrontation, a battle that was
filled with controversy and misinterpretation even before the attack
began. Drawing on years of research, the authors weave a complex
narrative interweaving the high aspirations of African American troops
eager to prove themselves in battle and the anxiety of a President who
knows the nation cannot bear another major defeat.
June
1864: the Civil War is now into its fourth year of bloody conflict with
no end in sight. The armies of the North are stalled in fetid trenches
outside of Richmond and Atlanta, and the reelection of Abraham Lincoln
to a second term seems doomed to defeat—a defeat that will set off the
call for an end to the conflict, dismembering the Union and continuing
slavery.
Only one group of volunteers for the Union cause
is still eager for battle. Nearly two hundred thousand men of color
have swarmed the recruiting stations and are being mobilized into
regiments known as the USCTs, the United States Colored Troops. General
Ambrose Burnside, a hard luck commander out of favor with his
superiors, is one of the few generals eager to bring a division of these
new troops into his ranks. He has an ingenious plan to break Fort
Pegram, the closest point on the Confederate line, defending
Petersburg—the last defense of Richmond—by tunneling forward from the
Union position beneath the fort to explode its defenses. Burnside needs
the USCTs for one desperate rush that just might bring victory.
The
risks are high. Will Burnside be allowed to proceed or will
interference from on high doom his plan to failure? The battleground
drama unfolds through the eyes of James Reilly—famed artist,
correspondent, and friend of Lincoln, who has been employed by the
president to be his eyes and ears amongst the men, sending back an
honest account of the front. In so doing, he befriends Sergeant Major
Garland White of the 28th USCT regiment, an escaped slave and minister
preparing his comrades for a frontal assault that will either win the
war, or result in their annihilation.
The Battle of the Crater
is Gingrich and Forstchen’s most compelling fact-based work yet,
presenting little known truths, long forgotten in the files of
correspondence, and the actual court of inquiry held after the
attack. The novel draws a new and controversial conclusion while
providing a sharp, rousing and harshly realistic view of politics and
combat during the darkest year of the Civil War. This must-read work
rewrites our understanding of one of the great battles of the war, and
the all but forgotten role played by one of the largest formations of
African American troops in our nation’s history.