Radical Sacrifice
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€28.50
1861 Shenandoah Valley Campaign
A01=William Marvel
Abraham Lincoln
Albert Sidney Johnston
Army of the Potomac
Author_William Marvel
balloon reconnaissance
Bleeding Kansas
Category=DNBH
Category=DNXM
Category=NHK
Charles P. Stone
Civil War
Edwin M. Stanton
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Fitz John Porter
Gaines's Mill
George B. McClellan
James A. Garfield
John A. Logan
John Brown
John Pope
Joseph Holt
Malvern Hill
Mexican War
Peninsula Campaign
politically motivated prosecutions
Radical Republicans
Robert E. Lee
Robert Patterson
Second Bull Run
Stonewall Jackson
Thaddeus S. C. Lowe
Utah War
West Point
Zachariah Chandler
Product details
- ISBN 9781469688435
- Weight: 748g
- Dimensions: 155 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 01 Feb 2025
- Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Born into a distinguished military family, Fitz John Porter (1822-1901) was educated at West Point and breveted for bravery in the war with Mexico. Already a well-respected officer at the outset of the Civil War, as a general in the Union army he became a favorite of George B. McClellan, who chose him to command the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Porter and his troops fought heroically and well at Gaines's Mill and Malvern Hill. His devotion to the Union cause seemed unquestionable until fellow Union generals John Pope and Irvin McDowell blamed him for their own battlefield failures at Second Bull Run. As a confidant of the Democrat and limited-war proponent McClellan, Porter found himself targeted by Radical Republicans intent on turning the conflict to the cause of emancipation. He made the perfect scapegoat, and a court-martial packed with compliant officers dismissed him for disobedience of orders and misconduct before the enemy. Porter tenaciously pursued vindication after the war, and in 1879 an army commission finally reviewed his case, completely exonerating him. Obstinately partisan resistance from old Republican enemies still denied him even nominal reinstatement for six more years.
This revealing new biography by William Marvel cuts through received wisdom to show Fitz John Porter as he was: a respected commander whose distinguished career was ruined by political machinations within Lincoln's administration. Marvel lifts the cloud that shadowed Porter over the last four decades of his life, exposing the spiteful Radical Republicans who refused to restore his rank long after his exoneration and never restored his benefits. Reexamining the relevant primary evidence from the full arc of Porter's life and career, Marvel offers significant insights into the intersections of politics, war, and memory.
This revealing new biography by William Marvel cuts through received wisdom to show Fitz John Porter as he was: a respected commander whose distinguished career was ruined by political machinations within Lincoln's administration. Marvel lifts the cloud that shadowed Porter over the last four decades of his life, exposing the spiteful Radical Republicans who refused to restore his rank long after his exoneration and never restored his benefits. Reexamining the relevant primary evidence from the full arc of Porter's life and career, Marvel offers significant insights into the intersections of politics, war, and memory.
Award-winning historian William Marvel is the author of many books about the American Civil War, including Lincoln's Autocrat: The Life of Edwin Stanton and, most recently, Lincoln's Mercenaries: Economic Motivation among Union Soldiers during the Civil War.
