Second Friday Lecture: Lee Beseiged

Friday, January 9  |  12pm – 1pm  |  Presented by: Mr. John Horn

The nine-month siege of Petersburg was the longest continuous operation of the Civil War. Large-scale Union “offensives”—grand maneuvers that triggered some of the large-scale battles—broke the monotony of siege warfare. John Horn’s program and book, Lee Beseiged, provide explanations for the context and consequences of every decision and are grounded in hundreds of primary sources and supported by 40 original maps. His new book is the first to put Grant’s second effort into its proper perspective—not only in the context of Petersburg’s siege and the Civil War, but in the context of warfare’s history.

Chicago native John Horn majored in English and Latin at New College (Sarasota, Florida) and has practiced law around Chicago since graduating Columbia Law School in New York in 1976. In addition to many articles, he has written three other books about Petersburg, Virginia’s soldiers, and the siege of that city, and co-edited another.