by Bradley M. Gottfried
El Dorado Hills, Ca.: Savas Beatie, 2024. Pp. xiv, 306.
Illus., maps, orders of battle, notes, biblio., index. $39.95. ISBN: 1611217083
Mapping Second Bull Run
Following up his award-winning The Maps of Spotsylvania through Cold Harbor (2023), the prolific Bradley M. Gottfried gives us a similar treatment for the Second Bull Run Campaign, setting it into the framework of the war, following the movements of the armies, covering the battles in detail and the final moments of the armies, roughly from late August through early September, 1862.
The tenth volume in the Savas Beatie Military Atlas Series, the book is organized into six parts. These cover the background and preliminary movements, the Battle of Cedar Mountain, the events leading up to Second Bull Run, the fighting on August 28th and 29th, the fighting on the 30th, and the aftermath of the battle. Each part consists of several “map sets,” for a total of 122. Each map set has from two to nine full color maps with accompanying facing text. This integration of maps and text allows readers to follow events in more detail than in many histories, locating landmarks and the positions and movements of the troops of both armies, often a very small time scale – some maps cover events at fifteen minute intervals.
In addition to extensive research into primary sources, and particularly first-hand accounts and original battle reports, Gottfried consulted with National Park personnel familiar with the ground and other historians with an interest in the campaign.
Gottfried makes several interesting observations, noting that Lincoln realized McClellan “acted badly” toward Pope, wanting him to fail (p. 244). He concludes with a brief discussion of how the campaign led to Lee’s almost immediate decision to carry the war into Maryland.
An essential read for anyone studying the summer of ’62 in the Eastern Theatre, The Maps of Second Bull Run is an excellent companion for the historian or buff to take along on a walking tour of the ground over which the campaign unfolded.
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Our Reviewer: David Marshall has been a high school American history teacher in the Miami-Dade School district for more than three decades. A life-long Civil War enthusiast, David is president of the Miami Civil War Round Table Book Club. In addition to numerous reviews in Civil War News and other publications, he has given presentations to Civil War Round Tables on Joshua Chamberlain, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the common soldier. His previous reviews here include, A Fine Opportunity Lost, The Iron Dice of Battle: Albert Sidney Johnston and the Civil War in the West, The Limits of the Lost Cause on Civil War Memory, War in the Western Theater, J.E.B. Stuart: The Soldier and The Man, The Inland Campaign for Vicksburg, All for the Union: The Saga of One Northern Family, Voices from Gettysburg, The Blood Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah: The 1864 Valley Campaign’s Battle of Cool Creek, June 17-18, 1864, Union General Daniel Butterfield, We Shall Conquer or Die, Dranesville, The Civil War in the Age of Nationalism, “Over a Wide, Hot . . . Crimson Plain", The Atlanta Campaign, Volume 1, Dalton to Cassville, Thunder in the Harbor, All Roads Led to Gettysburg, The Traitor's Homecoming, A Tempest of Iron and Lead, The Cassville Affairs, Holding Charleston by the Bridle, and Chorus of the Union.
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Note: The Maps of Second Bull Run is also available in e-editions.
StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium
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