Background
Rafuse, Ethan Sepp was born on September 13, 1968 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States. Son of Robert W. Rafuse, Junior and Diane Nester Rafuse.
(More than 800 men lost their lives and 2,700 were wounded...)
More than 800 men lost their lives and 2,700 were wounded. Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson earned his legendary nickname "Stonewall" here as fellow Confederate General Barnard Bee, later fatally wounded in the battle, shouted, "Yonder stands Jackson like a stone wall!" Both the North and the South believed that a single victory in this first major battle would decide the war before it barely started. Yet the first battle of Manassas, or Bull Run, has not received nearly the same attention as the other major clashes of the Civil War. A Single Grand Victory is a highly readable, concise, comprehensive narrative by Ethan S. Rafuse, professor of history at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Rafuse worked as a park ranger at Bull Run, where he gained great familiarity with the site and the literature on this battle. His new book incorporates insights offered in recent scholarship on Civil War military, political, and cultural history. The author describes the factors that led President Abraham Lincoln to order an offensive against Confederates at Manassas Junction at a time when his most prominent military men advised against it. The war policies of both the Union and Confederate sides are explained. Rafuse offers descriptions and analysis of the individuals involved and the circumstances that influenced the manner in which the campaign was conducted. He covers the critical events and operational and tactical decisions that shaped the campaign's course and outcome. In addition, A Single Grand Victory provides insights into American life in the nineteenth century by examining what motivated men to fight in 1861 and describing what led both North and South to expect the war would be a short one. Southerners had anticipated that one victory like Bull Run would persuade the North to abandon the effort to restore the Union by force. Northerners believed support for the Confederate rebellion was so shallow that one battle would end the war. Civil War buffs will enjoy this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0842028765/?tag=2022091-20
( Even though he defeated Robert E. Lee in the Civil War'...)
Even though he defeated Robert E. Lee in the Civil War's greatest battle, George Gordon Meade has never enjoyed a prominent place in the pantheon of Union war heroes. To most students of the Civil War, he is merely the man who was lucky enough to benefit from Confederate mistakes at Gettysburg, but whose shortcomings as a commander compelled Abraham Lincoln to bring in Ulysses S. Grant from the West to achieve victory. In this, the first book-length study of the general to appear in a generation, Ethan S. Rafuse challenges the notion that Meade was simply the last in a long line of failed Union commanders in the East. Instead, George Gordon Meade and the War in the East offers a balanced, informative, and complete, yet concise, reconsideration of the general's life and career. It also provides keen analysis of the military and political factors that shaped operations in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and delineates the sources of tension between Washington and the Army of the Potomac high command that played such an important role in shaping the war in the Eastern Theater. This study will appeal to anyone with an interest in Meade and the politics of command in the Civil War, and encourage reconsideration of traditional interpretations of the Union war effort in the East.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1893114368/?tag=2022091-20
( In September 1862 the Confederate Army of Northern Virg...)
In September 1862 the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac conducted one of the truly great campaigns of the Civil War. At South Mountain, Harpers Ferry, and Antietam, North and South clashed in engagements whose magnitude and importance would earn this campaign a distinguished place in American military history. The siege of Harpers Ferry produced the largest surrender of U.S. troops in the nation’s history until World War II, while the day-long battle at Antietam on September 17 still holds the distinction of being the single bloodiest day of combat in American history. This invaluable book provides a clear, convenient, stop-by-stop guide to the sites in Maryland and West Virginia associated with the Antietam campaign, including excursions to Harpers Ferry and South Mountain. Thorough descriptions and analyses, augmented with vignettes and numerous maps, convey the mechanics as well as the human experience of the campaign, making this book the perfect companion for both serious students of the Civil War and casual visitors to its battlefields.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080323970X/?tag=2022091-20
( The generalship of Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's gre...)
The generalship of Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's greatest commander, has long fascinated students of the American Civil War. In assessing Lee and his military career, historians have faced the great challenge of explaining how a man who achieved extraordinary battlefield success in 1862–1863 ended up surrendering his army and accepting the defeat of his cause in 1865. How, in just under two years, could Lee, the Army of Northern Virginia, and the Confederacy have gone from soaring triumph at Chancellorsville to total defeat at Appomattox Court House? In this reexamination of the last two years of Lee's storied military career, Ethan S. Rafuse offers a clear, informative, and insightful account of Lee's ultimately unsuccessful struggle to defend the Confederacy against a relentless and determined foe. Robert E. Lee and the Fall of the Confederacy describes the great campaigns that shaped the course of this crucial period in American history, the challenges Lee faced in each battle, and the dramatic events that determined the war's outcome. In addition to providing readable and richly detailed narratives of such campaigns as Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, Spotsylvania, and Appomattox, Rafuse offers compelling analysis of Lee's performance as a commander and of the strategic and operational contexts that influenced the course of the war. He superbly describes and explains the factors that shaped Union and Confederate strategy, how both sides approached the war in Virginia from an operational standpoint, differences in the two sides' respective military capabilities, and how these forces shaped the course and outcome of events on the battlefield. Rich in insights and analysis, this book provides a full, balanced, and cogent account of how even the best efforts of one of history's great commanders could not prevent the total defeat of his army and its cause. It will appeal to anyone with an interest in the career of Robert E. Lee and the military history of the Civil War.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0742551261/?tag=2022091-20
Rafuse, Ethan Sepp was born on September 13, 1968 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States. Son of Robert W. Rafuse, Junior and Diane Nester Rafuse.
Bachelor in History, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 1991. Master of Arts in History, George Mason University, 1993. Doctor of Philosophy in History and Political Science, University Missouri, Kansas City, 1999.
History and political science instructor Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, Kansas, 1996—2001. Lecturer, history University Missouri, Kansas City, 1997—2001. Park ranger Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia, 1998, Harry S. Truman National History Site, Independence, Missouri, 1999—2001.
Assistant professor, history United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, 2001—2003. Associate professor, military history United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 2004—2009, professor, military history, since 2009.
( In September 1862 the Confederate Army of Northern Virg...)
(More than 800 men lost their lives and 2,700 were wounded...)
( Even though he defeated Robert E. Lee in the Civil War'...)
( The generalship of Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's gre...)
Member of Society Civil War Historians, Society Military History, Phi Alpha Theta.
Married Rachel Corinne Lee, May 22, 1998. 1 child Corinne Lee.