His scholarship was impeccable and his writing was superb. See here and here.įor me, as a student of the war, Catton was indispensable. Even today, historians acknowledge our debt to Catton and his vivid writing. These have become true classics of the war, influencing an entire generation of students and historians. The third great trilogy was his Centennial History of the Civil War, The Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword, and Never Call Retreat.

Lincoln’s Army, Glory Road, and A Stillness at Appomattox. The three volumes in that series were, Mr. Catton wrote an outstanding history of the Army of the Potomac. Grant and the American Military Tradition. Catton also wrote a one-volume study of Grant, U.S.

Grant, Captain Sam Grant, it was Bruce Catton who took up the mantle of that biography, producing the next two volumes, Grant Moves South and Grant Takes Command. When Lloyd Lewis passed away after writing the first volume of a biography of Ulysses S. Some details of his life are here, here, here, and here.Ĭatton wrote two great trilogies of the Civil War and wrote two volumes of a third great trilogy. He learned to write as a journalist, learning how to capture a reader’s attention quickly and to keep it. More than one historian has taken Catton’s writing as a model for how to write history that engages the reader.īruce Catton, as a young boy, spoke with Union veterans of the Civil War and heard their stories of the war directly from them. His writing was clear and brought the actions to life in our imaginations. Bruce Catton was the gateway for a whole lot of people to study the Civil War.

Never call retreat by bruce catton