New Book Guides Readers through “Hell Itself”: The Civil War’s Battle of the Wilderness

EL DORADO HILLS, CA:  April 13, 2016 – Savas Beatie recently announced the release of new book, Hell Itself: The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-7, 1864, by author Chris Mackowski, which guides the reader over the battlefield that soldiers called one of the “waste places of nature” and “a region of gloom”—the Wilderness of Virginia, seventy square miles of dense, second-growth forest known as “the dark, close wood.”

Here, in the spring of 1864, the Civil War escalated to a new level of horror. Ulysses S. Grant, commanding all Federal armies, opened the campaign with a vow to never turn back. Robert E. Lee, commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, moved into the Wilderness to block Grant’s advance. Immovable object intercepted irresistible force—and the Wilderness burst into flame. Driven by desperation, duty, confusion, and fire, soldiers on both sides marveled that anyone might make it out alive. It was, one Union soldier later said, “hell itself.”

For more than a decade, Chris Mackowski has guided visitors across the battlefields of the Overland Campaign. Now in Hell Itself he invites readers of the Emerging Civil War Series to join him in the Wilderness—one of the most storied battlefields of the entire Civil War.

“I’m especially excited that the series is finally closing out the Overland Campaign,” said Mackowski. “I realize the sequence is a little off, having the book about the first battle appear last, but if readers are as excited as I am about it, then it’ll definitely be worth the wait. Next up: Kris White, Dan Davis, and I are going to go full-throttle on our Gettysburg series. Look for the next one of those books later this year.”

About the Author: Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., is the editor-in-chief of Emerging Civil War (www.emergingcivilwar.com) and the author of more than a dozen books. A professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, New York, he’s also historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property located on the Spotsylvania battlefield. Chris is a former historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, which includes the Wilderness battlefield.

About Savas Beatie LLC: Savas Beatie LLC is a leading military and general history publishing company. Read more about Hell Itself, including excerpts from the book and an interview with the author: http://tinyurl.com/hxxvvyd .

Contact: Michele Sams, Savas Beatie LLC
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 916-941-6896, Fax: 916-941-6895