Book Review: Lincoln’s Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War

Lincoln’s Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War. By Michael Vorenberg. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2025. Hardcover, 438 pp. $35.00.

Reviewed by Greg M. Romaneck

It is quite likely that if you ask an American when did the Civil War end, they will, in all probability, respond, “When Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.” Over the years, the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia to Union forces led by General Grant on April 9, 1865, has become a historic touchstone moment that shines out as a prime example of what has come to be labeled American Exceptionalism. In this analysis of American history, actions such as the Confederate surrender are held up as evidence that in U.S. history, qualities such as selflessness, courage, and reason are ingrained in the very fabric of the nation’s heritage. Yet, as readers of Michael Vorenberg’s Lincoln’s Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War will discover, both the end of the American Civil War and the mythology that grew out of it are not quite congruent with actual events.

In Lincoln’s Peace, the author takes his reading audience on a complex journey through the waning days of the Civil War. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox is shown to be a significant happening, but surely not the end of America’s bloodiest war. One week after Lee’s surrender, a bloody battle was fought at Columbus, Georgia. The day after that struggle, generals Johnston and Sherman began the process of codifying the surrender of the Army of Tennessee, then stationed in North Carolina.

It was not until May 10 that Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Federal cavalrymen. Two days later, Confederate forces in Texas won a skirmish at Palmito Ranch in what can be called the last military engagement of the Civil War. On May 26, 1865, the largest Confederate army in the Trans-Mississippi sector laid down their arms.

The following June 19, slaves in Galveston first learned of their emancipation in what has come down through the years as Juneteenth. Finally, on June 23, the last large-scale Confederate force under the command of General Stand Watie surrendered in Indian Territory. All of these events played out after the surrender at Appomattox, but somehow remain both historically ignored occurrences that in no way could be justly viewed as the final acts of the war.

Through the use of primary sources and careful analysis of period documents, Vorenberg paints a picture of the vagaries linked to just when the end of the Civil War did actually occur. While it is relatively easy to pinpoint the cessation of large-scale battles waged by opposing armies, other factors are far less clear. In particular, Vorenberg focuses on the plight of African Americans who, while emancipated by law, struggled in the face of re-emergent white supremacism, oppression, and horrific violence. This perhaps most troubling part of the unfinished business of the conflict represents the saddest aspect of the incomplete conclusion of the war. As Vorenberg notes, “the Civil War was not over for everyone by the Summer of 1865. If we continue to insist that the Civil War was a war to destroy slavery—and we should insist this—then how justified are we in saying that the war was over for anyone by then.” (151)

Throughout Lincoln’s Peace, readers are provided a fascinating analysis of historical events that generally have been either overlooked or disconnected from one another. In this way, Vorenberg presents topics such as the decayof  Andrew Johnson’s presidency, the abandonment of newly freed people, the fate of Native Americans on the western plains, the growth of southern terrorist groups, and the decline of the Republican Party, as interwoven elements linked to the wartime goals of the North.

Written with a combination of thorough research and a deftness for narrative history, Vorenberg’s book is one that will challenge commonly held beliefs. Readers who do not like to have their assumptions challenged may be resistant to some of Vorenberg’s conclusions. However, most historians, or general readers, should come away from this skillfully written book with new perspectives about facts they thought were settled truths but actually never happened.

The war did not end at Appomattox, with Johnston’s surrender to Sherman in North Carolina, or even after the last Confederate army capitulated. In short order, an insurgency began which whittled away at the keynote elements of the Union victory. This “endless war” perspective lies at the heart of Michael Vorenberg’s new and engaging work. In a nutshell, the author of Lincoln’s Peace drafts a historical paradox which he describes in this way: “Peace was not made at Appomattox. It was the one paradox hanging above all the others. The Civil War ended in Wilmer McLean’s parlor. Then it went on.” (49) Some elements of this “going on” of the Civil War remain with Americans to this very day, a fact that makes books such as Lincoln’s Peace valuable points for reflection and rethinking.

Greg M. Romaneck is retired after working for 34 years as a professional educator and consultant. During those years he held positions such as special education teacher, assistant principal, elementary principal, adjunct professor, director of special education, student teaching supervisor, and associate superintendent. Mr. Romaneck has also trained as a counselor and worked in areas such as crisis intervention, mediation, problem solving, and conflict resolution.  Greg has had several books and numerous articles published on a variety of subjects such as Education, Psychology, Self-Improvement, Backpacking, Eastern Philosophy, Civil War history, Poetry, and Bible studies. Greg has also had nearly 3,500 book reviews published by Childrenslit.com, a popular source of information for educators, librarians, and parents regarding books for younger readers and has reviewed Civil War books for four decades for a variety of publications and magazines. Most recently Greg was the featured book reviewer for more than a decade with the Civil War Courier. Greg resides in DeKalb, Illinois and enjoys spending time with his family & friends, hiking, kayaking, backpacking, reading, and writing.