March 8, 1862: a date best remembered

for the duel between the ironclads USS

Monitor and the CSA Merrimack at

Hampton Roads, was also the date of the

Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas--the most

important encounter in the Trans-

Mississippi Theater--while in Washington,

President Lincoln discussed the plans for

the invasion of Richmond with General

George McClellan, Commander of the

Army of the Potomac.

Until very recently warfare was, at best, a

collection of independent actions by

commanders in the field and their

subordinates. Without modern

communications general directives had to

be interpreted on the battlefield--there

was no way to check back with HQ. This

important concept is made clear in The

Civil War, Day by Day where we follow

the action chronologically, seeing the

different events happening on land, on sea

and in Washington and Richmond, often

very independent of one another.

Seven chapters follow the war between

the North and South, starting with the

origins of Secession, the five years of

bloody conflict, and finishing with the era

of reconstruction that followed the end of

hostilities in 1865.

It is only possible to fully appreciate

Jackson s "stonewalling" at Bull Run,

Grant s demand ff)r unconditional

surrender at Fort Donelson or Sherman s

decisive March to the Sea by examining