The Month that Saved America...

“Appomattox was not preordained…And yes, if paradoxically, these were Lee’s finest hours, and they were so, too, were they Grant’s greatest moments.” Jay Winik

A Review of April 1865, The Month That Saved America

Our next stop on my journey reading through the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die brings us to Civil War ravished America for the epic history nonfiction book, April 1865, The Month That Saved America by Jay Winik. I am not being hyperbolic when I say this is the best book on the American Civil War that I have ever read up this point in my life. My reading of this great book of history regarding that pivotal month gave me another perspective regarding the leaders of the Civil War. I appreciate a book that assists in broadening my horizons and modifying my thinking. April 1865 is twenty years old and was originally released in 2001. This work of history/biography is approximately 400 pages long and is jammed packed with facts, anecdotes and analysis. The book is a compelling read and I learned so much. I highly recommend this book especially if the Civil War is not your favorite topic in history to study because the book encapsulates the leaders of that time period with their backstory and you learn the decision making process.

The author is telling the dramatic story of the last month of the American Civil war, through the eyes of the main leaders including Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis as well as other prominent players such as William Sherman, Andrew Johnson, Jay Johnston, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and John Wilkes Booth. What is very clear to me is how lucky the nation was for that ending, and the ending was very much in doubt to the last moment. On April 1st, 1985, no one could say that the end was coming. Honestly, the fact the war ended and some semblance of a country came out of it was the work of one man who commanded respect on both sides: Robert E. Lee. The story left me wanting to learn more and more about these men, the Men Who Fought the American Civil War. The story shows differences in leadership styles. An example of which was the way President Lincoln reacted to the generous surrender terms that General Grant offered General Lee and how President Johnson reacted to the terms that General Sherman gave General Johnston.

The story begins with the history of secession and revolution in the building of the United States. From the Revolution to the Whiskey Rebellion to the Hartford Convention, the tenuousness of Union was always a reality and a major concern. The right to secede really had not been tested up to that point, states went to the brink and some combination of conciliation and federal strength always pulled the states until 1860. While I disagree somewhat with the premise, the author I believe discusses in great detail a political and historical theory that the country prior to the Civil War was a nation of states where everyone swore allegiance to their particular state at least in the South—thus bringing an understanding of why Robert E. Lee could not fight against Virginia or for that matter why William T. Sherman could not fight against Ohio.

The early sections of the book come from the point of view of Robert E. Lee. To be candid, I have never been sympathetic to the Lee legend. However, I was very wrong. Lee did the United States a wonderful service at the end of the Civil War and this book takes great pains to show that. I agree that the surrender at Appomattox was not pre-ordained. The Civil War could have gone on for decades more if Lee did not surrender his Army. Lee could have decided to prolong the war, fighting a Vietnam-style guerrilla warfare battle from the mountains in Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia. The Union may have given up from years of fighting and attacks. But Lee refused to participate and the was the fatal blow to the confederate cause, saying it was against his Christian religion. So General Lee, not knowing if Grant would immediately arrest him, surrendered honorably. Grant also being an honorable man and a masterful combination of appeasing politician and tactician—knew how to treat this. Lee and Grant met several times that week of the surrender, Grant even proposing to send Lee to Washington to meet with President Lincoln. Lee did not and would not speak for the Confederate government and thus demurred and returned to his wife in Richmond. An interesting fact since the United States did not recognize the Confederacy as a political entity, there could be no surrender of that entity, so there could only be military surrenders.

I was fascinated by the backstories and historical facts that I learned about the main characters. The most fascinating segment of this story to me was the sections discussing John Wilkes Booth and the very flamboyant and ultimately almost very successful plot to decapitate the American Government. John Wilkes Booth was Abraham Lincoln’s favorite actor. As an actor, Booth was such a celebrity throughout the country, he could freely travel unmolested between the lines appearing one night in Albany and the next week in Charleston. According to Mr. Winik, “By 1864, he was earning $20,000 a year double what Robert E. Lee was making as general in chief of the Confederate armies”. A modern equivalent would be Brad Pitt or Meryl Streep assassinating a political leader. Another strange face was that Booth was romantically involved and so say engaged to Lucy Hale, the daughter of Senator John P. Hale (R-NH). Booth was from a Maryland family, who were all Unionists. Yet Booth is a zealot for the South, but he has no ties to it. I find Booth so perplexing, and I do have my theories.

Several other tidbits I learned from this history, like Lincoln offering Robert E. Lee command of the Union Army at the outbreak of the war, Jefferson Davis offered a commission to William T. Sherman, who was known as an ardent racist with southern loyalties. Jefferson Davis was a kind and generally generous master of his plantation, who thought everyone treated their slaves as well as he did. Because of Davis's known generosity and leniency, he was viewed suspiciously by his friends and neighbors. Another face, Robert E. Lee did not own slaves. This book is filled with interesting facts that taught me a lot and changed my perspective on the Men who Fought the Civil War. As an American who embraces diversity of opinion, I recommend this book to every history lover like myself.