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The Heart of Hell: The Soldiers’ Struggle for Spotsylvania’s Bloody Angle

byJeffry Wert

Jeffry Wert reconstructs the savage fighting at Spotsylvania's Mule Shoe on May 12, 1864, where Union and Confederate soldiers battled for nearly twenty-four hours around the Bloody Angle. Drawing on letters, diaries, and unit records, he follows men through rain, smoke, collapsing earthworks, close combat, confusion, courage, and exhaustion. The book connects individual experiences with Ulysses S. Grant's relentless strategy and Robert E. Lee's desperate defense. Wert presents the engagement as a concentrated example of the Civil War's human cost and the tactical transition toward sustained, fortified warfare.

Publisher

University of North Carolina Press

Publication date

2022

Format

Print edition

Pages

—

ISBN

9781469668420