"Gordon Rhea's new book " Topic

Like me, I'm sure many of you are fans of Gordon Rhea. His books on the Overland Campaign are well-researched and highly readable narratives. The last one was published in 2007.

After years of research, he's just released a new book titled LEE'S ARMY DURING THE OVERLAND CAMPAIGN: A NUMERICAL STUDY. Drawing from Southern newspapers as a heretofore under-utilized resource, he has helped to give us a very different understanding of the toll this campaign took on Lee's army.

Link to the publishers' site on this book:
link

It should be noted that Gordon Rhea's contribution consists only of writing the foreward to the book. When I saw your post thread topic, my heart nearly jumped for joy thinking that this would be an announcement of his long-delayed book on the crossing of the James River and the commencement of the Petersburg campaing. Sigh.

The initial confrontation between Union general Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate general Robert E. Lee in Virginia during the Overland Campaign included the pivotal battles of Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. Yet this crucial engagement has only recently received the same degree of scrutiny as other Civil War battles. In Lee's Army during the Overland Campaign, Alfred C. Young III makes a significant contribution to that study by providing for the first time accurate information regarding the Confederate side throughout the conflict.

While the strength and casualties in Grant's army remain uncontested, historians know much less about Lee's army because of poor record keeping by the Confederates as well as an inordinate number of missing or lost battle reports. The complexity of the Overland Campaign, which consisted of several smaller engagements in addition to the three main clashes, led to considerable historic uncertainty regarding Lee's army. Significant doubts persist about the army's capability at the commencement of the drive, the amount of reinforcements received, and the total of casualties sustained during the entire campaign and at each of the major battles.

The prevailing narrative depicts Confederates as outstripped nearly two to one and portrays Grant suffering losses at a rate nearly double that of Lee. Many Civil War scholars contend that the campaign proved a clear numerical victory for Lee but a tactical triumph for Grant. Young's decade of research, however, contests that notion with new statistical data.

Through careful and thorough analysis of information compiled from the National Archives and personal estates Young challenges common assumptions about the Overland Campaign, showing clearly that Lee's army stood far larger in strength and size and suffered much higher casualties than previously believed.

yes the author is Alfred C. Young III. I have the book.

rmcaras, what is your take on the book?
Good history? Well written? I'm interested.

Sorry about the misinformation. It was not deliberate, but rather hastily typed after getting an email from a friend about the book. Still, the book looks intriguing and worth a further look.

ARRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !