Very well written of the early part of the Civil War. Starting with neutral states of Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee, small battles settled with Missouri and Kentucky staying with the union and Tennessee divided. Had the North had better generals in the 1961-62 period, the War could have ended, how it would settle out, a question. But the Generals got better and the last book of the Trilogy , will tell the end of the tale.

2nd book in this Civil War trilogy by Bruce Catton. Phenomenal 5⭐️

Incredibly detailed history of the Civil War. Excellent.

First published in Great Britain in 1963. I agree with LA Times review: "Once more Bruce Catton demonstrates almost uncanny ability to translate this annealing national experience into a folk saga . . . ought to be required reading for every American." Dense. Fascinating. Elegantly written. Includes index and copious notes and bibliography. Still, I underlined.

It took me a while to finish it but I finished it and it was worth it.

I have not yet read a finer, more lucidly written and insightful narrative of the Civil War than Catton's.

Terrible Swift Sword picks up where The Coming Fury left off, and it would be correct to say this book absolutely serves as a readable in-depth Civil War history.

This volume begins with an examination of the war from the civilian perspective. President Lincoln is attempting a balancing act by keeping the war's narrow focus on bringing the South back into the Union while (for the time being) putting off the question of slavery, while men in his Cabinet (William Seward, Salmon Chase) and the Congress (Thaddeus Stevens and other abolitionists) want a more aggressive stance taken toward the issue. Lincoln urges compensated emancipation, pointing out it would be much less expensive than carrying on the increasingly devastating war for even three more months, but once this offer was, despite his urging, spurned by the border states, he moves more and more in the direction of full emancipation.

The Army of the Potomac's controversial general, George McClellan, whose self-aggrandizement is brazenly apparent in letters to his wife, comes across badly. To hear Catton recount the condescending language he used to describe peers in various letters, including references to superiors like Lincoln, it is apparent D.C. was not big enough for the top hat and the mustache. As the Civil War drags into year two and the Northern public begins to push for more decisive, bolder action, there begins to be a growing suspicion McClellan is hesitant to attack the Confederate military not out of strategy purposes, but out of sympathy with their cause. While no fan of McClellan, Catton points out the irony in these accusations lodged against the Army of the Potomac's leader: a swift end to the war would have been better for McClellan's supposed sympathies had he truly wanted to see the Union as well as slavery remain intact. After all, a rapid end to the war might have still kept alive the chance the South would sign a deal whereby they rejoined the United States while maintaining slavery in their borders. (Such a rapid end was obviously not forthcoming). It is these political aspects of the war that Catton attends to with as close of an eye for detail as the military ones.

McClellan's ultimate failure in his attempt to end the war via invasion of the peninsula takes up a lot of space. The Seven Days Battle, fought as part of this Peninsula Campaign which was supposed to bring the Confederacy to its knees, is certainly not a proud moment of fighting for the Army of the Potomac. The collapse of this campaign made it even more apparent to the country's leadership that the war very well might be a long one, and some officers underneath McClellan-possibly egged on by borderline-seditious statements of his own--were thought to have considered overthrowing the civilian leadership in D.C. and installing McClellan as a sort of military dictator. This reflects how much distrust there was in 1862 between the Army of the Potomac and Lincoln's White House. The fact that McClellan's men were more loyal to him than their own government made the idea of removing him from his post an even trickier one to implement. Ultimately, this would be done when the leadership determined that he failed to aggressively follow up on the victory at Antietam.

The delicate internationalist situation is taken into consideration as well. Charles Francis Adams, U.S. minister to England, was well aware of how close England came to recognizing the Confederacy. The blockade during the war and subsequent denial to their mills of desperately needed Southern cotton was not looked on too kindly by the British. Absent an overarching moral crusade (and a victory) behind the war's ruthless fighting, many were concerned the British would extend recognition, if not active assistance, to the Southern government.

Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee begin to assert their abilities on the battlefield in Terrible Swift Sword. Although Lee's initial campaign in what would become West Virginia left much to be desired, Catton shows how much Jefferson Davis came to rely on him to hold the Army of Northern Virginia together. And on the Union side, Ulysses S. Grant begins to build on his Forts Henry and Donelson momentum during the Battle of Shiloh. The brutal fighting at that site in southern Tennessee is covered in ample detail, providing a haunting recounting of what made the Civil War warfare so monstrous.

The taking of Forts Jackson and St. Philip by Admiral David Farragut in the spring of 1862 ensured Union control of New Orleans, and this memorable moment for the U.S. Navy is walked through in step-by-step fashion.

The manner in which the book balances a focus on both the western and Virginian theaters is admirable; this allows the reader to get a full picture of what was going on across many, many miles of action during the Civil War. Ultimately, Lincoln and his Cabinet decided to wait to make the Emancipation Proclamation's official announcement until after a big, propaganda-achieving victory was achieved. And this win comes toward the end of volume two: Antietam, the agonizing September 1862 battle day still remembered as a costly Union victory and the bloodiest day in United States history, creates a feeling in the North that momentum might very well be turning. Outnumbered more than two to one, Robert E. Lee would make the questionable decision to take his men to battle against their enemy near Antietam Creek in Maryland, and despite the best efforts of men in units led by Jeb Stuart, John B. Hood, and Stonewall Jackson, the fighting of George McClellan, Joe Hooker, and Edwin V. Sumner's men ended up denying the Confederates a win north of the Potomac.

The win at Antietam, combined with a failed chance for Braxton Bragg to notch a victory over Don Carlos Buell's men and force a pro-Southern uprising in Kentucky, dealt a blow to the Southern cause. They were still picking up the pieces from these catastrophes as the book ends. The dire financial situation faced by the South-hemmed in by its allegiance to states' rights during a war that required a powerful central government to win--meant Terrible Swift Sword end on a sour note for Jefferson Davis and the states he led.

This is a terrific book. Bruce Catton picks apart the second year of the Civil War with an eagle eye for information, all of it told in a format that keeps readers wondering how each succeeding battle will be recounted.

-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado

The second in Bruce Catton's outstanding trilogy detailing the US Civil War. I listened to it as an audiobook, which occasionally made things a little hard to follow in terms of the details of battles, etc. Fortunately, there are many good maps available (from wikipedia, etc), which work quite well. I listen to books primarily when I'm running or walking, and it's a little tricky to be looking at a map while I'm doing that. But this is more a problem with my method of listening than anything else.
Overall, this is an excellent book and I recommend it to anyone who wants to delve into Civil War history.

What I'm about to say might seem a little silly in regard to a three-volume history, but here goes ....

I wish it were longer. There's plenty of detail and depth. It's just that the story is so compelling and the storytelling so magnificent, I wish Catton could tell us more.

HH

Brilliant and highly recommended for those who want the details in their American Civil War account. May be read singly or as the second in Catton's trilogy.

Catton's trilogy was written as a Centennial History for the 100th year of Union victory and the preserved integrity of the United States of America. His writing reflects the time period, as a strong historian with a nevertheless very Caucasian focus to his work. "People" means white folk when he does the talking, and to be fair, in 1965, unless a writer was a person of color, this was the unfortunate tendency. Nevertheless I give this work five stars, because I have done quite a bit of reading about this bottomless topic, and he taught me a great deal.

Before you set off to read it, though, whether by itself or as the second volume of a trilogy, look at the subject and the page count. Don't read it if you are still separating Stanton from Seward or McClernand from McPherson. Be ready.

That said, I never really understood before that the Cumberland Gap is also the Wilderness Road (so, Daniel Boone meets the Civil War, sort of). I hadn't completely understood that US forces were poised on the border of Kentucky, which had (ridiculously it seems now) attempted to remain neutral between the warring factions, way too much land right there in the middle, but they gave it a go, and said that the first army to cross into Kentucky was the enemy, so Lincoln said to wait till the Confederacy crossed, and the rest is history. And before reading this trilogy, I didn't realize that there was ever a thought over fighting for West Virginia, which was silly of me. In a time where almost every square foot of the border (and eventually beyond) was a source of contention, why would I have believed that West Virginia could leave Virginia, with all of its resources, and no effort have been made by the Confederacy to keep it? And because McClellan took the (physical) high ground before the opposing forces could get there, he got to be the grand pooh-bah of the Union army, after humiliating poor old Scott whose Anaconda Plan was actually very good.

In fact, McClellan really wanted all the power all of the time, and the nasty-tempered letters he sent back to the missuz (oh how many of us think our correspondence will be kept private?) show that he not only wanted to control the army, but he wanted to be either dictator or president long before the re-election of Lincoln was in question. His slowness and reluctance to do battle with his slave-holding pals down south looks more treasonous the more I read about it. Catton builds a compelling case. But Lincoln had to be very careful in replacing him, as Catton documents it, because the attitude had entrenched itself down into the other officers and to a smaller (but weaker) extent, the rank and file. Ultimately, when Lincoln unseated McClellan, it was the rank and file that pulled the army through to the other side when McClellan weighed the matter to see whether his army would march against its own president to install him in personal, powerful splendor. I tremble to think what might have happened had McClellan been more fortunate, and Lincoln less savvy.

I most of all enjoyed a quote by Lincoln that says it all, and which I don't recall seeing elsewhere. When a representative of Louisiana Unionists sought his reassurance regarding slavery in 1862, Lincoln responded, "It may as well be understood once and for all, that I shall not surrender this game leaving any available card unplayed."

Well played, President Lincoln, and well written, Mr. Catton. Onward to the last volume in the series!

This trilogy is wonderful. Catton is a fantastic writer. I really enjoyed reading these books.

This book is almost 50 years old, but it does well. I'm sure that more modern scholarship has added a lot since this was published, but it's a good overview. One lesson for modern times, is that the dependence on often untrained volunteers added so much to the carnage, the confusion, and the length of the war. I imagine this is even more true today. Many times both Union and Confederate Armies had little time to develop the skills they needed to work together and succeed on the battlefield. Luckily, both sides suffered from the problem. It's also striking to note how revered some of the Confederate Generals are, but their records may be spotty at best. Lee was a skilled General, but his skill never did allow the South to win, he succeeded only in prolonging the war, insuring that slavery was ended, de jure, and increased the suffering, and destruction, brought on the rebel states. With so many wanting to preserve statues to these men, this is the legacy we should remember, not the tenacity of "Stonewall" Jackson, or Robert E Lee's tactical brilliance, but that they chose to fight to continue slavery, and set back the South even further.