-
Richmond Must Fall
- The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, October 1864 (Civil War Soldiers and Strategies)
- Narrated by: Claton Butcher
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Richmond Must Fall
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
In the fall of 1864, the Civil War's outcome rested largely on Abraham Lincoln's success in the upcoming presidential election. As the contest approached, cautious optimism buoyed the President's supporters in the wake of Union victories at Atlanta and in the Shenandoah Valley. With all eyes on the upcoming election, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant conducted a series of large-scale military operations outside Richmond and Petersburg, which have, until now, received little attention.
In Richmond Must Fall, Hampton Newsome examines these October battles in unprecedented scope and detail. The narrative begins with one of Lee's last offensive operations of the war at the Darbytown Road on October 7, 1864, and ends with Grant's major offensive on October 27 to seize the South Side Railroad, the last open rail line into the Confederate stronghold at Petersburg.
The October 1864 operations offer important insights into the personalities and command styles of Lee and Grant, including Lee's penchant for audacity and overwhelming thirst to strike a blow against his opponent even against bitter odds and Grant's willingness to shoulder heavy responsibility in the face of great risk. The narrative explores the relationships within the high command of both armies, including Grant's sometimes strained partnership with the cautious George Meade.
Drawing on an array of original sources, Newsome focuses on the October battles themselves, examining the plans for the operations, the decisions made by commanders on the battlefield, and the soldiers' view from the ground. At the same time, he places these military actions in the larger political context of the fall of 1864. With the election looming, neither side could afford a defeat at Richmond or Petersburg.
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
On to Petersburg
- Grant and Lee, June 4-15, 1864
- By: Gordon C. Rhea
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 48
On to Petersburg follows the Union army's movement to the James River, the military response from the Confederates, and the initial assault on Petersburg, which Rhea suggests marked the true end of the Overland Campaign. Beginning his account in the immediate aftermath of Grant's three-day attack on Confederate troops at Cold Harbor, Rhea argues that the Union general's primary goal was not - as often supposed - to take Richmond, but rather to destroy Lee's army by closing off its retreat routes and disrupting its supply chain.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Important to understanding the Overland Campaign
- By Jimbo on 12-29-19
By: Gordon C. Rhea
-
A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg, Volume 1
- From the Crossing of the James to the Crater
- By: A. Wilson Greene, Gary W. W. Gallagher - foreword
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 25 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
Grinding, bloody, and ultimately decisive, the Petersburg Campaign was the Civil War's longest and among its most complex. Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee squared off for more than nine months in their struggle for Petersburg, the key to the Confederate capital at Richmond. Featuring some of the war's most notorious battles, the campaign played out against a backdrop of political drama and crucial fighting elsewhere, with massive costs for soldiers and civilians alike.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Confederate Lost Cause Propaganda in Disguise
- By pamela on 12-18-20
By: A. Wilson Greene, and others
-
Chancellorsville
- By: Stephen Sears
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
- Length: 23 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 218
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 188
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 184
A former editor of American Heritage, Stephen W. Sears has collected a wealth of new sources for this definitive portrait of one of the most dramatic battles of the Civil War. Using scores of letters and diaries written by soldiers from both Union and Confederate armies, Sears’ narrative history seeks to strip away the gloss of later commentary and restore the battle of Chancellorsville to its original voices.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
It's a Wonderful Tool
- By Drake M. Davis on 08-23-14
By: Stephen Sears
-
To the Gates of Richmond
- The Peninsula Campaign
- By: Stephen Sears
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 158
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 139
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 139
It was the largest campaign ever attempted in the Civil War: the Peninsula campaign of 1862. General George McClellan planned to advance from Yorktown up the Virginia Peninsula and destroy the Rebel army in its own capital. But with Robert E. Lee delivering blows to the Union army, McClellan’s plan fell through at the gates of Richmond.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Magnificent chronicle of mismanagement
- By Triceracop on 10-08-13
By: Stephen Sears
-
The Early Morning of War: Bull Run, 1861 (Campaigns and Commanders Series)
- By: Edward G. Longacre
- Narrated by: Aaron Killian
- Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 41
When Union and Confederate forces squared off along Bull Run on July 21, 1861, the Federals expected this first major military campaign would bring an early end to the Civil War. But when Confederate troops launched a strong counterattack, both sides realized the war would be longer and costlier than anticipated. First Bull Run, or First Manassas, set the stage for four years of bloody conflict that forever changed the political, social, and economic fabric of the nation. It also introduced the commanders, tactics, and weaponry that would define the American way of war through the turn of the twentieth century.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best book of this early battle
- By Bradley Behrhorst on 09-02-22
-
Bloody Spring
- Forty Days That Sealed the Confederacy's Fate
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 324
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 297
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 296
In the spring of 1864, Robert E. Lee faced a new adversary: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Named commander of all Union armies in March, Grant quickly went on the offensive against Lee in Virginia. On May 4th, Grant's army struck hard across the Rapidan River into north central Virginia, with Lee's army contesting every mile. They fought for 40 days until, finally, the Union army crossed the James River and began the siege of Petersburg. The campaign cost 90,000 men - the largest loss the war had seen.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Skip this! Get Catton's Stillness at Appomattox
- By BVerité on 10-19-14
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
On to Petersburg
- Grant and Lee, June 4-15, 1864
- By: Gordon C. Rhea
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 48
On to Petersburg follows the Union army's movement to the James River, the military response from the Confederates, and the initial assault on Petersburg, which Rhea suggests marked the true end of the Overland Campaign. Beginning his account in the immediate aftermath of Grant's three-day attack on Confederate troops at Cold Harbor, Rhea argues that the Union general's primary goal was not - as often supposed - to take Richmond, but rather to destroy Lee's army by closing off its retreat routes and disrupting its supply chain.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Important to understanding the Overland Campaign
- By Jimbo on 12-29-19
By: Gordon C. Rhea
-
A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg, Volume 1
- From the Crossing of the James to the Crater
- By: A. Wilson Greene, Gary W. W. Gallagher - foreword
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 25 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
Grinding, bloody, and ultimately decisive, the Petersburg Campaign was the Civil War's longest and among its most complex. Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee squared off for more than nine months in their struggle for Petersburg, the key to the Confederate capital at Richmond. Featuring some of the war's most notorious battles, the campaign played out against a backdrop of political drama and crucial fighting elsewhere, with massive costs for soldiers and civilians alike.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Confederate Lost Cause Propaganda in Disguise
- By pamela on 12-18-20
By: A. Wilson Greene, and others
-
Chancellorsville
- By: Stephen Sears
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
- Length: 23 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 218
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 188
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 184
A former editor of American Heritage, Stephen W. Sears has collected a wealth of new sources for this definitive portrait of one of the most dramatic battles of the Civil War. Using scores of letters and diaries written by soldiers from both Union and Confederate armies, Sears’ narrative history seeks to strip away the gloss of later commentary and restore the battle of Chancellorsville to its original voices.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
It's a Wonderful Tool
- By Drake M. Davis on 08-23-14
By: Stephen Sears
-
To the Gates of Richmond
- The Peninsula Campaign
- By: Stephen Sears
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 158
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 139
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 139
It was the largest campaign ever attempted in the Civil War: the Peninsula campaign of 1862. General George McClellan planned to advance from Yorktown up the Virginia Peninsula and destroy the Rebel army in its own capital. But with Robert E. Lee delivering blows to the Union army, McClellan’s plan fell through at the gates of Richmond.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Magnificent chronicle of mismanagement
- By Triceracop on 10-08-13
By: Stephen Sears
-
The Early Morning of War: Bull Run, 1861 (Campaigns and Commanders Series)
- By: Edward G. Longacre
- Narrated by: Aaron Killian
- Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 41
When Union and Confederate forces squared off along Bull Run on July 21, 1861, the Federals expected this first major military campaign would bring an early end to the Civil War. But when Confederate troops launched a strong counterattack, both sides realized the war would be longer and costlier than anticipated. First Bull Run, or First Manassas, set the stage for four years of bloody conflict that forever changed the political, social, and economic fabric of the nation. It also introduced the commanders, tactics, and weaponry that would define the American way of war through the turn of the twentieth century.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best book of this early battle
- By Bradley Behrhorst on 09-02-22
-
Bloody Spring
- Forty Days That Sealed the Confederacy's Fate
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 324
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 297
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 296
In the spring of 1864, Robert E. Lee faced a new adversary: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Named commander of all Union armies in March, Grant quickly went on the offensive against Lee in Virginia. On May 4th, Grant's army struck hard across the Rapidan River into north central Virginia, with Lee's army contesting every mile. They fought for 40 days until, finally, the Union army crossed the James River and began the siege of Petersburg. The campaign cost 90,000 men - the largest loss the war had seen.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Skip this! Get Catton's Stillness at Appomattox
- By BVerité on 10-19-14
By: Joseph Wheelan
-
Kennesaw Mountain
- Sherman, Johnston, and the Atlanta Campaign
- By: Earl J. Hess
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 127
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 111
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
While fighting his way toward Atlanta, William T. Sherman encountered his biggest roadblock at Kennesaw Mountain, where Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Tennessee held a heavily fortified position. The opposing armies confronted each other from June 19 to July 3, 1864, and Sherman initially tried to outflank the Confederates. His men endured heavy rains, artillery duels, sniping, and a fierce battle at Kolb’s Farm before Sherman decided to attack Johnston’s position directly on June 27.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Thorough and detailed.
- By MAC24211 on 09-06-20
By: Earl J. Hess
-
Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle
- By: Kenneth W. Noe
- Narrated by: Tom Sleeker
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
On October 8, 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed near Perryville, Kentucky, in what would be the largest battle ever fought on Kentucky soil. The climax of a campaign that began two months before in Northern Mississippi, Perryville came to be recognized as the high water mark of the western Confederacy. Some said the hard-fought battle, forever remembered by participants for its sheer savagery and for their commanders' confusion, was the worst battle of the war, losing the last chance to bring the Commonwealth into the Confederacy.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Pitiful narration
- By Charles on 10-22-17
By: Kenneth W. Noe
-
Shiloh
- In Hell before Night
- By: James Lee Mcdonough
- Narrated by: Gary D. MacFadden
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
Colorful, dramatic, blundering, and tragic - these are some of the adjectives that have been applied to the two-day engagement at Shiloh. This battle, which bears the biblical name meaning “place of peace,” was one of the bloodiest encounters of the Civil War. The Union colonel, whose words give the present book its title, foretold the losses when he told his men: “Fill your canteens Boys! Some of you will be in hell before night….” Fought in the early spring of 1862 on the west bank of the Mississippi state line, Shiloh was, up to that time, the biggest battle of American history.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Overall not bad
- By J. on 02-02-19
-
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
- By: Allen C. Guelzo
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 22 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 687
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 617
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 605
From the acclaimed Civil War historian, a brilliant new history–the most intimate and richly readable account we have had–of the climactic three-day battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), which draws the reader into the heat, smoke, and grime of Gettysburg alongside the ordinary soldier, and depicts the combination of personalities and circumstances that produced the greatest battle of the Civil War, and one of the greatest in human history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Fresh Look at a Famous Battle
- By W. F. Rucker on 07-03-13
By: Allen C. Guelzo
-
Born to Battle
- Grant and Forrest: Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga: The Campaigns that Doomed the Confederacy
- By: Jack Hurst
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
Born to Battle examines the Civil War’s complex and decisive western theater through the exploits of its greatest figures: Ulysses S. Grant and Nathan Bedford Forrest. These two opposing giants squared off in some of the most epic campaigns of the war, starting at Shiloh and continuing through Perryville, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga - battles in which the Union would slowly but surely divide the western Confederacy, setting the stage for the final showdowns of this bloody and protracted conflict.
By: Jack Hurst
-
The Seven Days
- The Emergence of Robert E. Lee and the Dawn of a Legend
- By: Clifford Dowdey
- Narrated by: Nicholas Tecosky
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 137
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 129
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 129
The Seven Days Campaign was a series of battles fought near Richmond at the end of June 1862. General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had routed General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. Depriving McClellan of a military decision meant the war would continue for two more years. The Seven Days depicts a critical turning point in the Civil War that would ingrain Robert E. Lee in history as one of the finest generals of all time.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The Seven Days:A different Title would work
- By Margaret Harley on 09-10-21
By: Clifford Dowdey
-
Lee and His Men at Gettysburg
- The Death of a Nation
- By: Clifford Dowdey
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
In this sweeping account Clifford Dowdey recreates one of the most important battles in U.S. history. With vivid and breathtaking detail, Lee and His Men at Gettysburg is both a historical work and an honorary ode to the almost 50,000 soldiers who died at the fields of Pennsylvania. Written with an emphasis on the Confederate forces, the book captures the brilliance and frustration of a general forced to contend with overwhelming odds and in-competent subordinates.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Solid book
- By Scooter Reviews on 12-08-17
By: Clifford Dowdey
-
Hearts Touched by Fire
- The Best of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War
- By: Harold Holzer
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett, Traber Burns, Robin Field, and others
- Length: 50 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
In July 1883, just a few days after the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, a group of editors at the Century magazine engaged in a lively argument: Which Civil War battle was the bloodiest battle of them all? One claimed it was Chickamauga, another Cold Harbor. The argument inspired a brainstorm: Why not let the magazine’s 125,000 readers in on the conversation by offering “a series of papers on some of the great battles of the war, to be written by officers in command on both sides.”
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A good audiobook with one big flaw
- By William M. on 12-03-15
By: Harold Holzer
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,025
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,762
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,755
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
OUTSTANDING! I'M PROUD TO BE A BLACK AMERICAN!!
- By The Louligan on 08-22-13
By: Shelby Foote
-
1777
- Tipping Point at Saratoga
- By: Dean Snow
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 115
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 113
In the autumn of 1777, near Saratoga, New York, an inexperienced and improvised American army led by General Horatio Gates faced off against the highly trained British and German forces led by General John Burgoyne. The British strategy in confronting the Americans in upstate New York was to separate rebellious New England from the other colonies.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very Interesting & Factual
- By ThatGuyOutWest on 06-08-18
By: Dean Snow
-
Lincoln's Lieutenants
- The High Command of the Army of the Potomac
- By: Stephen W. Sears
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 32 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 180
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 163
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 164
The high command of the Army of the Potomac was a changeable, often dysfunctional band of brothers, going through the fires of war under seven commanding generals in three years, until Grant came east in 1864. The men in charge all too frequently appeared to be fighting against the administration in Washington instead of for it, increasingly cast as political pawns facing down a vindictive congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Good, but not what I thought
- By Paul S. on 08-10-17
By: Stephen W. Sears
-
Southern Storm
- Sherman's March to the Sea
- By: Noah Andre Trudeau
- Narrated by: Eric Conger
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
Award-winning Civil War historian Noah Andre Trudeau has written a gripping, definitive new account that will stand as the last word on General William Tecumseh Sherman's epic march - a targeted strategy aimed to break not only the Confederate army but an entire society as well.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Sherman's Webfeet
- By Rick on 06-23-13
What listeners say about Richmond Must Fall
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Daniel
- 08-16-13
Dryer then the timber in the Wilderness
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
The author needed to insert color, anecdotes and reminiscences.
Has Richmond Must Fall turned you off from other books in this genre?
I have read dozens of books in this genre. This one is at the bottom of the list.
Would you be willing to try another one of Claton Butcher’s performances?
Never ever would I want to listen to this speaker. He over annunciates, over emotes and detracts from the content.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
This book had no redeeming qualities. The author seemed to have only a superficial knowledge of his subject and never went to what was happening on the ground.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mikey
- 04-25-20
Excellent Civil War Study
Very well done history on a somewhat overlooked period of the campaign around Petersburg in 1864.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!