It was the largest campaign of the CivilWar, and as General GeorgeMcClellan described it to President Lincoln, it seemed flawless. With the Army of the Potomac behind him, McClellan planned to advance up the Virginia Peninsula and destroy the Rebel army in its own capital. But in the end General Robert E. Lee delivered unrelenting hammer blows to the Union army, and the grand campaign fell apart at the gates of Richmond. Stephen W. Sears, the award-winning author of Landscape Turned Red, blends impeccable research with literary grace in this groundbreaking study of the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. Expertly weaving together clear descriptions of battle, deft analysis of leaders, and eyewitness accounts from the diaries and letters of Union and Confederate soldiers, To the Gates of Richmond showcases all the reasons why Ken Burns, the producer of the PBS series The Civil War, calls Sears “one of our very best CivilWar historians.”“This book should stand as the reference on the subject in Civil War collections for years to come.”—ALA Booklist
