Rating: 
Summary: Gripping!
Review:
This is Sears as his best.
The Peninsula Campaign of 1862 was the largest campaign of the Civil War and one of the bloodiest. Of the 250,000 men who were engaged, only a fraction had ever been in battle before. One in four was killed, wounded or missing by the time the fighting ended.
Unlike most Civil War battles which lasted at most a few days. this engagement lasted 3 long, miserable, unholy months. That the Union Army was so close to the Capital of the Confederacy that they could see the Richmond church steeples, it is truly amazing that that this continuous series of major engagements ended in a complete Union withdrawal.
Long the subject of controversy Union General George McClellan's performance is truly mysterious. It is almost as if, once ensconced in front of his objective, he felt the Confederates would surrender like gentlemen should and the War would be tidily concluded. He never considered a possible change of command.
This is the story not of George McClelland but of Robert E. Lee, a man who would take more chances, quicker, than any other field commander on either side until the emergence of Ulysses S. Grant. Taking command of Southern forces at a point in time when the Confederacy is all but lost, he launches a series of battles, now commonly referred to as The Seven Days, that drives Union forces away from Richmond and so effectively bottles them up that is it ultimately removed in an amphibious operation. That Robert E. Lee simply decimates his command, losing six of the seven battles fought is not an issue. The Confederacy is saved and lives to fight on for another 3 years.
To the Gates of Richmond is as good as it gets. You will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Clear, compelling description of a confusing campaign
Review: "To the Gates of Richmond" provides an excellent description of the complicated and too-often-overlooked series of battles on the Peninsula before Richmond in early 1862. Sears brings the same matter-of-fact narrative style he used so effectively in the classic "Landscape Turned Red" and his more recent "Chancellorsville," while seasoning the story with ample quotations from diaries and letters of soldiers and officers who served in the campaign. The result is a clear description of a series of battles that were often both ill-conceived and poorly executed, without bogging down in a dry, minute-by-minute "microhistory" approach.Sears's expertise on George McClellan is especially welcome here, and he provides damning evidence and hard but fair criticism of the competence of the "Young Napoleon", who was so afraid of losing a battle that he deliberately and repeatedly removed himself far away from the battlefield. He also provides considerable insight into the lapses of Stonewall Jackson, who was "not himself" during the Seven Days, and chronicles the rise of Robert E. Lee and the birth of the Army of Northern Virginia. Finally, the book is also supplemented by clear (if somewhat amateurish) maps and a generous supply of contemporaneous sketches and watercolors by observers of the campaign. I highly recommend this as a very welcome addition to any Civil War bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Sears is a lucid writer and this is a great story
Review: Carnage and confusion, much like Shiloh and Manassas, reign in this campaign. Some of the rare instances where the confederates created situations where they outnumbered the union troups yet still resorted to the napoleonic charges through ravine and up hill.
Sears is a no frills writer and that is good. The story is told in a clear and interesting fashion. He is a writer not apparently in the McPherson, Robertson, Davis high level exposure group, yet I look forward to reading his Landscape Turned Red, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg books for I feel he mostly trumps those mentioned.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent History of Failed Opportunities
Review: In To The Gates of Richmond : The Peninsula Campaign, Stephen W. Sears once again proves that he is the preeminent author of Civil War histories. Like his histories of the The Battle of Antietam in Landscape Turned Red or of the Battle of Chancellorsville, Sears has an enviable way of setting forth both the feel of the battles and the raw history that one needs to fully understand the battles and campaigns of the Civil War. In To The Gates of Richmond, Sears does a masterful job of describing the thought process of McClellan and Lee as well as the line soldiers on both sides. If one wants to get a true feel of what it was like to be on the Peninsula in 1862, then this is the book for you. The theme of the book is lost opportunities for both the Union and the Confederacy. The Peninsula Campaign is probably the only time in the history of the Civil War where each side had an ability to end the conflict on terms that were advantageous. For the Union, a victory and the capture of Richmond, probably would also have resulted in the destruction of the main Southern Army. For the Confederacy, if Lee had been able to cut off and destroy the Union Army, as Lee wanted to do, the Union would have been left with no effective force to stop an advance on Washington. However, errors on both sides led to three more years of death and destruction. For Lee it was the problem of a new command, with subordinates not of his own choosing and with many of those subordinates failing to live up to expectations. For Stonewall Jackson, the Peninsula Campaign was far from his finest hour. From failing to communicate with Lee, to not having his troops arrive on time, to not pushing forward where there was a clear advantage, Jackson�s failures assisted the Union Army in escaping the �traps� that were being set by Lee. However, the blame is not placed solely on Jackson and his fellow Generals. Sears properly criticizes Lee for his overly complicated battle plans, especially given his unfamiliarity with the command. Sears greatest criticisms are rightfully saved for McClellan. Like in the Battle of Antietam, McClellan great caution turned a real numerical superiority into an imaginary disadvantage. Where McClellan should have been driving forward and bringing Lee to battle, his incorrect belief that he was outnumbered two to one forced him to take the defensive and almost led to the destruction of the Army that he truly loved. The plain fact is that McClellan may have been the right General to have formed the Army of the Potomac, but as a battlefield leader he was a disaster. From his ordering retreats when they were not necessary, to his failure to establish a clear chain of command during battles, to his penchant for not being in the field when battles were taking place, and for his failures to take advantage of opportunities presented him, Sears systematically outlines the deficiencies of the General that was once known as the Young Napoleon. This is a very good book, especially for those who are interested in the personalities of those that led the armies into battle. It is very readable and draws a fine balance between presenting the facts that one needs to be aware of as well as the personalties of the leasers and common soldiers that fought the battles.
Rating:
Summary: Great Campaign Analysis
Review: Sears (as usual) does a great job of covering all the logistics and numbers surrounding the lengthy Peninsula campaign, and it's necessary since the campaign's principal source, George Brinton McClellan, was deluding himself throughout 1862. Each battle is covered in very good detail and the maps are easy enough to follow. Sears does a good job covering every folly, from Johnston's mixeded up plan for Seven Pines to McClellan's disgraceful disappearance act on the Galena. As always, plenty of primary source information from the common soldier gives a good idea what the marches and other hardships were like. And every reader will put down the book completely disgusted with George McClellan.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Study of the War's First Major Campaign
Review: Sears' abililty to weave strategy, politics, and personalities against the backdrop of a major Civil War campaign will keep the reader's interest from beginning to end. Sears spares no criticism of the mistakes made on both sides: 1. The South (Jackson's secretiveness and unwillingness to communicate, Lee's difficulty in coordinating attacks as the new general of the newly-named Army of Northern Virginia, Gustavus Smith's indadequacy as Joseph Johnston's replacement after the latter's wounding, Joseph Johnston's negative and critical tendencies). 2. The North (McClellan's overcautious attitude despite numerical superiority, Washington politicians' tendency to meddle too much into military affairs, incompetencies of several corps and division commanders). The battle narratives are interesting and lack the dry content or overly bloody descriptions of other Civil War titles by other authors. The only reason I did not give the book was the maps. While adequate, they lacked the detail (often went down only to the brigade level while other books have gone down to the regimental level) and were not enough. Unfortunately, an insufficient lack of maps seems to be a consistent theme in Civil War campaign studies. In my humble opinion, sufficient maps (in detail and number) often help to clarify troop movements during battles and give the reader an overview of the importance of terrain during battle. Complaint aside, I highly recommend "To the Gates of Richmond" as the definitive study of the war's first (and could have been the only one had McClellan been more aggressive) major campaign. Read and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Why the war did not end in 1862
Review: The Civil War should have ended in 1862 with the Peninsula Campaign. McClellan had far superior numbers (despite his opposite claim) and shouldnt have had a problem destroying the Army of Northern Virginia. But one has to remember that we're dealing with McClellan here. McClellan could have had an army of half a million and he still would have said he was outnumbered. He was, without a doubt, one of the worst generals in U.S. history. This was my second book by Sears (the first one was Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam) and he is the best Civil War historian that I have discovered thus far. The Seven Days battles have always confused me a bit, but he made them as clear as day. He did a wonderful job with describing the mood of the soldiers as well, instead of only focusing on the battles or the generals. Sometimes the actual people who fought in the war are ignored. I recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Impressive modern scholarship on Peninsula battles...
Review: The Civil War Virginia Peninsula Campaign of 1862 set the tone for the Union implementation of the war for the subsequent 2 years and Stephen Sears chronicles this series of battles magnificently in "To the Gates of Richmond". The overwhelming thrust of this book descrbes in great detail how inept a battle general George McClellan was and how his poliicies led to the ultimate withdrawal of the "Army of the Potomac" from the Richmond front. The reader gets a true feeling of frustration at McClellan right from the beginning as the campaign starts with the siege at Yorktown. The Federals far outnumber the Confederates in this initial phase, but McClellan opts to entrench his army in the face of a much weaker and somewhat exhausted "Army of Northern Virginia" just completing it's march down to the Peninsula from Manassas. Sears does a good job of documenting McClellan's lack of ability to obtain military intelligence but does a better job showing McClellan's lack of "the will to fight". And this isn't more evident than in the following battles at Williamsburg and Seven Pines/Fair Oaks...the Federals really had victory in their grasp, but because of the "defensive minded" leadership, the campaign continued on. An interesting debate on how long this faceoff at Richmond would have lasted can be had if Joe Johnston hadn't gotten wounded at Seven Pines and R.E. Lee hadn't taken over. Johnston was fairly "defensive-minded" himself and I'm sure that the campaign would not have followed the course that it ultimately did. Lee then, of course, initiated an offensive that started with Jeb Stuart's cavalry ride around the Federal entrenchments, proceeded on to the battles at Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, Savage's Station and Glendale before ending with the blood-bath at Malvern Hill and subsequent Union withdrawal to Harrison's Landing on the James River. Sears descibes each battle with just the right amount of military tactics and "real-person" accounts from the many journal/diary entries enclosed to give the reader a real feel for the action. His discussions of Longstreet's subversion of the plan at Seven Pines, the mysterious actions of Stonewall Jackson throughout the campaign, the bloody fighting and ultimate breakthrough by the Confederates at Gaines Mill and the standoffs at Savage's Station and Glendale adroitly precede the brilliant climax of the book at the "Guns of Malvern Hill" chapter and the amazing decision (by McClellan) to retreat to Harrison's Landing following the Malvern Hill victory. Sears continues his brilliant writing as he closes the book with the entrenchment at Harrison's Landing and subsequent withdrawal (ordered by Halleck and protested by McClellan) back up the Potomac. Sears proves himself to be one of the pre-eminent Civil War historians around today with this book and he should be considered an "essential" author in any reading of the conflict...I definitely look forward to reading his other books and would recommend this book very highly.
Rating:
Summary: Best book so far written on the overall Peninsula Campaign
Review: There is a problem with Civil War books today. The problem is that while there are many very qualified Civil War scholors writing books, a lot of these scholors aren't necessarily good writers. They have their facts down but when it comes to presenting those facts in a book they simply don't have the talent or the skills to present it in an entertaining form. The results are often books that put even ardent Civil War buffs to sleep. That's what makes Stephen Sears stand above the rest. He not only is a top notch scholor but he also is a very talented writer. The result are books that not only are very informative but enjoyable to read. The title of this book almost should be "George McClellan's Peninsula Campaign" because it's as much an examination of his command skills as it is the campaign itself. In 1862 McClellan was handed a historic opportunity. He was given a well trained and well supplied army and a chance to win the Civil War. He had Richmond in his sights when it all went wrong. Sears examines the entire campaign, from McClellan's appointment as commander of the Army of the Potomac to his army being forced to abandon the Peninsula. In short the entire campaign that set the table for the rest of the war.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive Account
Review: This is generally regarded as the very best account you will find of McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. Sears has a very enjoyable writing style and the action is fast paced. However, he doesn't get down to the regimental level of detail very often and the maps could be much better. I know many people don't really care to go quite into that level of detail, but I'm not most people! All in all though, if you only want one book on McClellan's Campaign, this one is it!
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