Here is the first detailed and comprehensive study of the Army of the Potomac, the Union's largest and most important army in the field throughout the Civil War. It is the first volume in a multipart work that will be the Union counterpart to Douglas Southall Freeman's award-winning epic, Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command. Like Freeman, Russel H. Beatie meticulously examines the relationships and performance of the high-ranking officers of one army -- the Army of the Potomac -- as well as those who served in the satellite forces that also operated in the Eastern Theater. He draws almost entirely on manuscript sources, many previously unexamined, and thus reaches conclusions about the actions of the Union's prominent generals that differ -- often significantly -- from traditional historical thinking. - Jacket flap.