Windmill Point (Stempel)

Windmill Point 
Jim Stempel, 2016
Penmore Press
419 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781942756507


Summary
The American Civil War simply explodes to life in this stunning new novel by Civil War expert and novelist, Jim Stempel.

As best-selling author, Mark Waldman (Words Can Change Your Brain) writes: "Jim Stempel’s Windmill Point captures the dreadful fury and desperate humanity of the American Civil War with a power and immediacy few authors have been able to achieve."

Set in the late spring of 1864, Windmill Point is a gripping account that vividly brings to life two desperate weeks during the spring of 1864, when the resolution of the Civil War was balanced on a razor’s edge.

At the time, both North and South had legitimate reasons to conclude they were near victory.  Ulysses S. Grant firmly believed that Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was only one great assault away from implosion, while Lee knew that the political will in the North to prosecute the war was on the verge of collapse.

Jim Stempel masterfully sets the stage for one of the most critical periods of the Civil War, contrasting the conversations of decision-making generals with chilling accounts of how ordinary soldiers of both armies fared in the mud, the thunder and the bloody fighting on the field of battle.  The result is a stunning achievement.

As American author John Danielski writes, "Brutal yet sentimental, grandly sweeping yet highly intimate, this is a splendid book for those who truly wish to understand the great and terrible spectacle that was the American Civil War," while radio host and critic, Dr. Wesley Britton, writing for Book Pleasures states simply that "I can easily say that Windmill Point is now my favorite novel dealing with the War Between the States." (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1948
• Where—Westfield, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.A., The Citadel
• Currently—lives in western Maryland


Personal
For some thirty-five years Jim has lived with his family at a country location overlooking the Blue Ridge in Western Maryland. His wife, Sandie, teaches physics and astronomy at nearby McDaniel College, while his three children—a daughter and two sons—have moved on to professional careers.  An avid athlete for most of his life, Jim helped coach his children in baseball and basketball while they were young, while an active runner and handball player himself.

Writing Life
A student of the human condition, Jim is the author of seven books that include satire, psychological, scholarly works of historical nonfiction, and historical fiction. His novel Albemarle was nominated for the James Fenimore Cooper Prize in Historical Fiction. His articles have been featured in a wide range of literary journals including Concepts in Human Development, the New Times, and the History News Network. His literary website can be reached at www.jimstempelbooks.com

Jim began writing in college, was a member of the school literary society, and had his first short stories published in the college literary magazine. He then had a number of short works of fiction accepted by a range of literary journals before his first novel, a satire titled American Rain was published in 1992 to considerable critical praise. Booklist, for instance, called American Rain "wonderful reading and great for the heart," while the West Coast Review of Books gave it a Four Star rating and claimed "Lovers of political satire may consider this book a masterpiece because of Stempel’s sly wit and insight." Jim Cox, writing for the Midwest Book Review declared "Jim Stempel’s American Rain is one of the finest novels to emerge from small press publishing this year."

Stempel then turned his attention to the nonfiction topics of science, psychology, and spirituality in his 2001 analysis of modern, emerging spirituality titled When Beliefs Fail; A Psychology of Hope. Of Stempel’s analysis, Dr. Larry Dossey wrote "We are on the hinge of history with a new view of reality taking shape before our eyes. For a captivating glimpse of this emerging worldview, When Beliefs Fail is highly recommended, while Ken Wilber called it "a warm, lively, and altogether accessible introduction to the growth and development of human consciousness from birth to enlightenment."

The study of human growth and psychology led naturally to the conundrum of human warfare, which Jim addressed in his 2012 analysis titled The Nature of War; Origin and Evolution of Violent Conflict, which delved into the psychological origins of human violence and warfare. Writing for Choice: Current Reviews For Academic Libraries, D.M. Digrius suggested that The Nature of War "offers ripe fruit by which to contemplate humanity’s future," while American author, Mark Waldman (Words Can Change Your Brain) insisted that "This is the most intelligent, penetrating, and insightful study of human warfare I’ve ever read."

Jim Stempel is also considered an authority on the Eastern campaigns of the American Civil War. His articles on the topic have appeared in North & South, Military History Now, and the History News Network. He has authored two nonfiction books on the Civil War (The Battle of Glendale; The Day the South Nearly Won The Civil War, and The CSS Albemarle and William Cushing), along with the historical fiction work titled Albemarle. Stempel’s Civil War works are routinely praised. Of Glendale, for instance, critic Hank Demond, writing for the Not Too Late Show wrote that "The suspense is bone-rattling and the storyline chilling. That’s why us history buffs salivate over books like this. You learn the realities of battle while your imagination runs wild." Likewise, the Lone Star Book Review gave The CSS Albemarle a "Wow!" rating, and exclaimed "This is a very exciting naval story and will hold the reader’s attention through-out."  Jim’s latest Civil War novel, Windmill Point, was released by Penmore Press in late March, 2016. (From the author.)

Book Reviews
Stempel takes us inside the minds of field commanders, such as George Armstrong Custer, as well as snipers, artillery officers, cavalry riders, and simple grunts. We come to know many of these soldiers very well as they endure the heat, homesickness, and exhaustion of war. Stempel paints the shifting settings with the sounds and smells of what is happening on the frontline, in the camps, and in the tents of the commanding officers. We hear the clang of canteens and smell the cooking fires, at least when there are rations to cook. We see the impact of devastating artillery barrages, cringe at deadly blunders, and experience the resulting carnage on the fields. .I can easily say Windmill Point is now my favorite novel dealing with the War Between the States.
Dr. Wesley Britton – Book Pleasures


Stempel’s approach may be similar to Shaara’s, but he is a much better wordsmith than Shaara. His prose has the evocative power of Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote. His battle descriptions are brutal, gritty, and compelling. You almost feel compelled to duck as you read. You can hear the boom of cannons, smell the gun smoke, and feel the ground vibrating from the feet of thousands of soldiers..Brutal, yet sentimental, grandly sweeping, yet highly intimate, this is a splendid book for those who truly wish to understand the great and terrible spectacle that was the American Civil War.
John Danielski - Author, Active’s Measure


Jim Stempel’s Windmill Point captures the dreadful fury and desperate humanity of the American Civil War with a power and immediacy few authors have been able to achieve. I recommend it highly for anyone interested in a vivid portrayal of that violent crucible from which our modern society ultimately emerged.
Mark Robert Waldman - Executive MBA Faculty, Loyola Marymount and Author of Words Can Change Your Brain


Jim Stempel, quite masterly, allows you to gaze out from the eyes of the great generals and what is going through their minds as well as ordinary soldiers. Jim paints such vivid evocative pictures, that I felt that I was advancing to the enemy lines with the threat of artillery and gunpowder flaying my nostrils, my ears twitching as men were felled beside men, the screams of the dying and the thump as the regiments marched and charged over hallowed ground.. I want to thank Jim for educating me about a battle I did not know about and for nourishing the love that I have for the people of America and its history.
English Author, David Cook, The Soldier’s Chronicles

Discussion Questions
1.Windmill Point begins with the convergence of both Federal and Confederate armies on a point east of Richmond, Va. What is the name of that point, and why did both sides consider it to be of considerable strategic importance?

2. Wyman White was a member of the 2nd US Sharpshooters. What test did White have to pass in order to qualify for the Sharpshooters?

3. How did Cold Harbor get its name, and what did the name signify?

4. One June 3, 1864 the Army of the Potomac assaulted the Confederate works at Cold Harbor and was violently repulsed.  This assault had been delayed for twenty-four hours, allowing the Confederates crucial extra hours to improve their defenses. What had caused the Federals to delay?

5. Ulysses S. Grant was able to closely monitor the Federal assault at Cold Harbor while well behind the lines at a specially erected central command post. What technological innovation made this possible?

6. After the Federal disaster at Cold Harbor, Grant found himself in a difficult strategic situation. If he withdrew and moved north he faced a problem, while if he moved south he faced another range of difficulties. What were the strategic difficulties that Grant was faced with?

7. After the violent repulse of the Federal Army at Cold Harbor, General Robert E. Lee had reason to believe that Grant’s Army of the Potomac might well be in a state of near mutiny. Why did Lee have reason to believe this?

8. What strategic ploy did Grant devise in order to greatly reduce Lee’s ability to detect a Federal withdrawal from Cold Harbor?

9. While Robert E. Lee had a healthy regard for the strength of the Federal Army, he also feared that the Confederate Army faced defeat by means of another “antagonist.” What was that other “antagonist”?

10. Ulysses Grant dispatched Phil Sheridan with a force of some 10,000 cavalrymen on a raid into Western Virginia. What did Grant hope to accomplish by means of Sheridan’s raid?

11. Lee realized that he might win the war if the morale of the Northern people faltered, but he also realized that he could not allow Grant to force the Confederate Army back across the James River. If that were to occur, Lee realized that the Confederacy would then face almost certain defeat. Why?

12. Grant’s scouts picked a location for crossing the James River that went from Wilcox’s Landing to Windmill Point. Why was that location chosen?

13. Grant’s chief-of-staff, Andrew Humphreys, suggested a tactical maneuver designed to hold the Confederate Army firmly in place while the Army of the Potomac escaped unmolested across the James River. What was that maneuver, and did it work?

14. Wade Hampton was able to prevent Grant from executing an important part of his grand design. What aspect of Grant’s design was foiled, and how did Hampton achieve that success?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)

top of page (summary)