Shipwreck of Their Hopes

This is a great book. The book moves fast, lots of details. Its nice to read about the western battles for a change.

This review could apply to all of Cozzin's Trilogy on important battles that have been largely overlooked ( Stone's River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga ). The author takes great care in describing the military and political movements that led up to the battles themselves as well as the aftermath. Consequently, there is a good flow from one book to the next. The reader can easily follow the progress of armies, corps, divisions, and brigades, along with their leaders, from Perryville to Missionary Ridge. The battles themselves are presented in great detail, down to the regimental and sometimes company level. In the first two battles especially, Cozzins emphasizes the fact that many tactical decisions were made at levels far below the high command. While this added much to the confused fighting on both sides, it also demonstrates the difference that a skilled commander like General Grant can make in an army's success. After reading many other books on the Chatanooga campaign, I was never clear on the exact route of the "Cracker Line" or the movement of Hooker's and Sherman's troops to the field of battle. This book leaves no doubt. I agree with the legion of other readers in their criticism of the quality and quantity of maps. I found myself hunting through the books to find maps which displayed the movements and stages of battle described in text and was often left disappointed. Thumbnail bios on the major participants are provided in what seem to be the most appropriate spots in the books without distracting the reader from the overall flow. Cozzins is highly critical of Bragg, Rosecrans, Longstreet, Hooker, and (deservedly) the Confederacy's Jefferson Davis. It's no wonder that both sides simply wasted men and materials in accomplishing nothing until Grant and Sherman appeared on the scene, although the stabilizing influence of George Thomas - the "Rock of Chickamauga" - deserves to be cast in a more favorable light. Personalities and even personality conflicts, notably that which existed between Grant and Thomas and between Bragg and everybody, are emphasized. The reader is left with an awareness of how individuals' traits can affect the outcome of war. It is small wonder that the first two, essentially drawn, battles have escaped the scrutiny of most authors, but Chattanooga was one of the major turning points of the war. It lifted the depression in the North which followed the fiasco at Chickamauga and, as the title implies, cost the Confederacy its last hope of survival. The battle elevated Grant to supreme command after Lincoln could no longer ignore the fact that his finest general was the quiet man in the West. And the concentration of Union forces at Chattanooga provided the makings of Sherman's well-documented triumphs in Georgia and beyond. All in all, an essential trilogy for understanding the campaign in eastern Tennessee.

A good read and a great overview if this battle and the personalities, factors and forces involved. Certainly not one of Grant's or Sherman's Finest hours though.

Finally someone has explained, accessably, why the Chattanooga siege lasted so long. A brilliant cap to Peter's Middle Tennessee series. I hope he can concentrate now on Tullahoma.

Shipwreck of their Hopes is a fine finish to this very important trilogy about the key Battles in the West. While it "suffers" from the same flaws as the first two books, and does require that one actually use ones brain when reading, it more than makes up for these "flaws" by the very high level of detail. The three books, when put together, are a comprehensive history and a definite read for anyone who wants to be able to understand the Civil War.