THE book for ACW geeks

[vtsaogames]

I recently finished "Lee's Army during the Overland Campaign: A Numerical Study" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B119JB8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

It is not for casual readers. But if (like me) you are a hog for ACW data, then this is the book. Over 10 years of excruciating research went into this. The Army of Northern Virginia is dissected by corps, division, brigade and briefly down to regimental level. Unit histories up through (and sometimes past) the Overland Campaign detail what those units did during the campaign. The author tracked individuals in many cases from ANV rosters, prisoner of war & exchange lists, pension applications and most important, casualty lists from southern newspapers. While ANV rosters were incomplete and in many cases lost, the other sources yielded a lot of info. Lee's army had considerably more men than previously noted, and suffered higher losses too. Incomplete and lost records played a part in the under-count, as did Early's Lost Cause mythology which required Lee only losing against incredible odds. It seems Lee had about as many troops as during the Gettysburg campaign. And nearby theaters were stripped of troops to feed the inferno, including heavy artillery units from the Richmond garrison. The difference was Grant refusing to back up, both armies flaying each other steadily.

The many maps are black and white line drawings, at least in the Kindle version. They don't have a lot of terrain info but much data on troop positions. They are not the sort of maps that suffer from the Kindle format, unlike many.

You want to know how to rate a particular brigade? You want to know how quickly prisoners were exchanged before the system broke down? Get this book.

Next, I hope the author writes a straight chronological history of the Wilderness, and possibly the other battles of the Overland Campaign.