Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War

The final year of the Civil war was one of the greatest turning points in American history. S.C. Gwynne’s vivid, deeply researched account opens in March 1864 as U.S. Grant takes command of the Union armies. It delves into all the personalities and factors in the drive to the wars end which climaxed in a series of monumental and emotionally devastating events. Here are the resourceful Clara Barton, intrepidly saving countless soldiers from horrific death; the rumpled, anxious, and genius Grant; ideologue William Tecumseh Sherman;  a frustrated Lincoln, driven to approve massively destructive campaigns to end the war; African-American Union troops whose courage tipped the balance for the Union; the increasingly detached Jefferson Davis; and the somber Lee, finally forced to surrender at Appomattox; as well as less-familiar figures who played important roles in this epic, stirring history. As the notable author Hampton Sides says, “The interwoven stories build on each other like a Greek tragedy.”