Book Review : Bruce L . Brager ’ s Grant ’ s Victory : How Ulysses S . Grant Won the Civil War
Robert Young , PhD
The Saber and Scroll Journal • Volume 9 , Number 3 • Winter 2020
Associate Professor , Department of History and Military History American Military University
Grant ’ s Victory : How Ulysses S . Grant Won the Civil War , by Bruce L . Brager . Lanham , Maryland : The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group , Inc ., 2020 . ISBN 9780811739191 . Notes . Index . Bibliography . Pp . 167 . Hardcover $ 20.85 , Electronic version available .
Bruce L . Brager is a writer of the
US Civil War , having previously published titles including Here He Stands : The Story of Stonewall Jackson , Petersburg , and Monitor vs . Merrimack . In Grant ’ s Victory : How Ulysses S . Grant Won The Civil War , Brager demonstrates the major differences between the Chancellorsville and Wilderness campaigns , specifically the change in leadership from General Joseph Hooker to General Ulysses S . Grant . Brager dedicates most of this work to a synopsis of the campaigns in the Civil War ’ s Eastern Theater , with an emphasis on leadership deficiencies in the Army of the Potomac . It does leave the reader at times in its early pages wondering when Grant will enter the discussion , as Grant is not really mentioned until the
Chancellorsville chapter , and then only because he was squeezing Vicksburg at the same time .
Given the work ’ s title , one would expect major decisions or moments initiated by Grant to dominate its pages . They do not . Progressing from chapter to chapter , it seems like a concise though typical history of the Civil War in the East , most of it from the Union perspective . The text portion of the book is 133 pages , and three-quarters of that seem unrelated to Brager ’ s title . Once the chapter on the Wilderness Campaign begins , the reader still wonders how this could possibly be “ Grant ’ s Victory .” Finally , Brager states that the moment Grant decided to head south after several repulses by Robert E . Lee
205 doi : 10.18278 / sshj . 9.3.15