Text by Gordon C. Rhea, photographs by Chris E. Heisey
Illustrated, maps, note on sources, 134 pp., 2007. Louisiana State University Press, 3990 W. Lakeshore Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70808, $39.95 plus shipping.
Reviewer: Frank Piatek
Frank Piatek graduated from Geneva College with a B.A. in history. He received his J.D. from Duquesne University in 1972. He is a member of several reenactment groups and past president of the Mahoning Valley Civil War Round Table.
Review:
The confluence of history and the arts is best exemplified in this offering. It combines the cogent writing of the foremost authority on U.S. Grant’s 1864 Overland Campaign with the evocative images of photojournalist Chris C. Heisey.
Gordon C. Rhea has long been known for his excellently detailed tactical renditions of the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna and Cold Harbor. Here, he distills that scholarship into a short generalized overview that even the casual reader would find appealing.
His fast-paced account of the horrific fighting at this stage of the war, as Grant moved inexorably toward Richmond, and the destruction of Lee’s army is punctuated with quotations from the participants and provides the undercurrent for Heisey’s talents.
Rhea sets up the background for the campaign as well as his analysis of its significance. He gives Grant some latitude despite that federal commander’s huge losses and assesses which antagonist was more successful from several perspectives.
Rhea forgoes footnotes to keep the focus on the images, but a list of further readings is valuable for the general reader. His Order of Battle, like the clear color maps of Steven Stanley, is drawn to the brigade level.
Stanley’s maps not only depict the individual battles, but also the general movements of the armies in successive operations between those engagements. They are beautifully done. Some period photographs and sketches are also included.
The book’s highlight is the artistic imagery of the battlefields created by Heisey’s photographs. His masterful use of color and texture along with creative composition of the landscapes captures the mood to complement Rhea’s narrative.
From the close-up of a clover with water droplets (the former being symbolic of the Union Second Corps’ insignia) taken at the Mule Shoe to the red-blood hue of the sky at the McGhee Farm near Cold Harbor, there is no doubt that Heisey is affected emotionally.
Yet while the images are remarkable as examples of creative photography, they are also a fitting, respectful, and compassionate tribute to the sacrifices of the men who fought on those now beautifully depicted fields.
Kudos also to the publisher for using a 10 x 12 inch coffee table-style format with glossy pages. This allows a stunning reproduction of Heisey’s images and Stanley’s maps. Even more importantly, the contributions of everyone in this project serve as an inspiration for preservation of the sites featured in the book. Not many with a similar motive have achieved that goal so vividly as is seen here.