This is the story of the last desperate, heartbreaking, cruel year of the Civil War. In the winter of 1864, the Army of the Potomac stood at the crossroads. The old army, fired with the spirit of men who had joined out of love of country and who had long since become disillusioned, was gone. The new army, made up of mercenaries, bounty-jumpers, and a hard core of seasoned and embittered veterans, had lost sight of its original goal of radiant victory and had become a ruthless machine of war. Its leader was General Ulysses S. Grant, a seedy little man who instilled no enthusiasm in his followers and little respect in his enemies.
Opposing Grant and the Army of the Potomac was Robert E. Lee, the last great knight of battle. He was a god to his men and scourge to his antagonists.
The stage was set. Somehow everyone knew that from now on there would be little glory in victory; little pity in defeat. With unmatched brilliance, Bruce Catton takes the reader through the battles of the Wilderness, the Bloody Angle, Cold Harbor, the Crater, and on through the horrible months to a moment at Appomattox. He makes Grant, Meade, Sheridan, and others come alive in all their failings and triumphs and humanness.
For the writing of A Stillness at Appomattox Mr. Catton won the National Book Award for distinguished non-fiction, the citation for which reads:
"Mr. Catton has combined historical accuracy with poetic insight to present the story of the Army of the Potomac in the final year of the Civil War. Writing from the point of view of the citizens who found themselves soldiers he has reaffirmed the great American tradition of a peace-loving people who, faced with necessity, can also produce greatness in war."
—from the dust jacket
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