Civil War Book News

The Mexican War Diary and Correspondence of George B. McClellan

2009-12-11T10:40:00.003-05:00

by Thomas W. Cutrer

From the publisher:
In his standard reference work on the Civil War, Generals in Blue, Ezra Warner declared George B. McClellan (1826-1885) "one of the most controversial figures in American military history." In this revealing book, Thomas W. Cutrer provides the definitive edition of McClellan's detailed diary and letters from his service in the Mexican War (1846-1848), during which he began the rise that culminated in his being named general in chief of the Union forces and commander of the Army of the Potomac early in the Civil War.

McClellan graduated second in his class from West Point in 1846 and served as a second lieutenant in Company A of the prestigious Corps of Engineers, the only formation of combat engineers in the United States Army. The company participated in Major General Winfield Scott's invasion of Mexico, playing a prominent role in the siege of Vera Cruz and the battles of Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, and Chapultepec and in the capture of Mexico City. Although only twenty-one years old at the war's end, McClellan earned brevet promotions to first lieutenant and then captain for his efforts.

McClellan's colorful diary and frequent letters to his socially and politically prominent Philadelphia family provide a wealth of military details of the campaign, insights into the character of his fellow engineers--including Robert E. Lee and P. G. T. Beauregard--and accounts of the friction that arose between the professional soldiers and the officers and men of the volunteer regiments that made up Scott's command. A courageous, indefatigable, and superbly intelligent young man, McClellan formed close personal loyalties in those years. His diaries also reveal a man contemptuous of those he perceived as less talented than he, quick to see conspiracies where none existed, and eager to place upon others the blame for his own shortcomings and to take credit for actions performed by others.

On the banks of the Rio Grande during his first weeks with the army, McClellan wrote in his diary: "I came down here with high hopes, with pleasing anticipations of distinction, of being in hard fought battles and acquiring a name and reputation as a stepping stone to a still greater eminence in some future and greater war." Carefully edited by Thomas W. Cutrer, these diary entries and letters do indeed trace McClellan's rapid development as a soldier and leader and put on full display the talent, ambition, and arrogance that characterized his career as general and politician.

Thomas W. Cutrer is professor of history and American studies at Arizona State University West in Phoenix. He is the author, editor, or coeditor of seven other books, including Brothers in Gray: The Civil War Letters of the Pierson Family, which he coedited with T. Michael Parrish.

From CWBN
The release date of this book is not known, although it falls within this month.

Becoming American Under Fire: Irish Americans, African Americans, and the Politics of Citizenship During the Civil War Era

2009-11-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

by Christian G. Samito

From the publisher:
In Becoming American under Fire, Christian G. Samito provides a rich account of how African American and Irish American soldiers influenced the modern vision of national citizenship that developed during the Civil War era. By bearing arms for the Union, African Americans and Irish Americans exhibited their loyalty to the United States and their capacity to act as citizens; they strengthened their American identity in the process. Members of both groups also helped to redefine the legal meaning and political practices of American citizenship.

For African American soldiers, proving manhood in combat was only one aspect to their quest for acceptance as citizens. As Samito reveals, by participating in courts-martial and protesting against unequal treatment, African Americans gained access to legal and political processes from which they had previously been excluded. The experience of African Americans in the military helped shape a postwar political movement that successfully called for rights and protections regardless of race. For Irish Americans, soldiering in the Civil War was part of a larger affirmation of republican government and it forged a bond between their American citizenship and their Irish nationalism. The wartime experiences of Irish Americans helped bring about recognition of their full citizenship through naturalization and also caused the United States to pressure Britain to abandon its centuries-old policy of refusing to recognize the naturalization of British subjects abroad.

As Samito makes clear, the experiences of African Americans and Irish Americans differed substantially-and at times both groups even found themselves violently opposed-but they had in common that they aspired to full citizenship and inclusion in the American polity. Both communities were key participants in the fight to expand the definition of citizenship that became enshrined in constitutional amendments and legislation that changed the nation.

From CWBN
The release date of this book is not known, although it falls within this month.

The Battle of Okolona: Defending the Mississippi Prairie

2009-11-27T10:24:00.000-05:00

by Brandon H. Beck

From the publisher:
In February 1864, General William Sooy Smith led a force of over seven thousand cavalry on a raid into the Mississippi Prairie, bringing fire and destruction to one of the very few breadbaskets remaining in the Confederacy. Smith's raid was part of General William T. Sherman's campaign to march across Mississippi from Vicksburg to destroy the railroad junction at Meridian. Both Smith and Sherman intended to burn everything in their path that could aid in the Southern war effort. It was a harbinger of things to come in Georgia, South Carolina and the Shenandoah Valley.

But neither reckoned with General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest's small Confederate cavalry force defeated Smith in a running battle that stretched from West Point to Okolona and beyond. Forrest's victory prevented Smith from joining Sherman and saved the Prairie from total destruction.

Join Civil War historian Brandon Beck as he narrates this exciting story, with all the realities and color of cavalry warfare in the Deep South. Also included is a brief guided tour of the extant sites, preserved for future generations by the Friends of the Battle of Okolona, Inc.

The Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference

2009-11-24T10:28:00.000-05:00

by Margaret E. Wagner, Gary W. Gallagher, and Paul Finkelman

From the publisher:
The authoritative, illustrated single-volume reference work on the Civil War, arranged thematically and sponsored by the country's national library.

"This work's highly credentialed editors and contributors were able to draw on the vast and rich Civil War resources of the Library of Congress" - Library Journal

"Anyone wanting to find information on books, people, monuments, battlefields, organizations, or reenactments will find a starting point here." - Booklist

From CWBN
This is a reprint edition.

Columbus, Georgia, 1865: The Last True Battle of the Civil War

2009-11-22T10:35:00.000-05:00

Charles A. Misulia

From the publisher:
In this work, Charles A. Misulia, a lifelong student of the Civil War and expert on the Battle of Columbus, provides a comprehensive study of the Easter Sunday, April 16, 1865, conflict. The struggle occurred in the dark of night, extended over a mile and half through a series of forts and earthworks, and was finally decided in an encounter on a bridge a thousand feet in length.

Misulia presents the first complete account of this battle, examining and recounting in depth not only the composition and actions of the contending forces, which numbered some three thousand men on each side, but meticulously detailing the effect of the engagement on the city of Columbus and its environs. As such, this book fills in an important detail in the grand account of our cataclysmic national struggle and also adds a significant chapter to the history of an important regional city.

In addition, Misulia bravely takes on the long-vexing question of which encounter should be seen as the last 'battle' of the Civil War and argues persuasively that Columbus, Georgia, qualifies for this distinction on a number of counts.

"For We Shall Meet Again..." Letters and Diaries of the Civil War

2009-11-21T10:19:00.000-05:00

From the publisher:
This is a collection of correspondence and diary entries of the Civil War, written by soldiers, sweethearts, wives, brothers, and friends who may never have seen each other after they were written.

It is impossible to find a more reliable source of information on any historical period other than first-hand accounts. Countless hours can be spent hunched over tomes of data, strategic maps, theories, as well as lectures and essays on America's bloodiest conflict written by top contemporary historians, but in the end perhaps more can be learned from one letter written home from a 19 year old volunteer to his mother.

This diverse collection of letters and diary entries ranges from the upper echelon of field command and high society to the average undereducated field hand. We read the Confederate's famous own General T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson's letters to his friend Francis McFarland, as well as Private Newton Scott writing to his parents in Iowa. We get insights into everyday army life and camp conditions from the banal to the horrific. Most importantly we get pure emotion bled straight into the letters, often from soldiers directly after combat, recounting in great detail that which no human being should have to endure.

Diary entries which span the course of the war can show quite a change in heart and mind as the years drag by and hopes of a quick end to the war diminish month by month. Those surviving pieces of history we are lucky to still have, which are now housed in museums and private historical collections many times handed down through families. They give us a glimpse of the past, and an idea of the greater whole of an era stricken with grief and national tragedy. They take us as close as we can get to the reality of one of America's most fierce and tragic periods.

The Battle of Port Royal

2009-11-21T10:15:00.000-05:00

by Michael D. Coker

From the publisher:
November 1861. The South was winning the Civil War. Fort Sumter had fallen to the Confederates. The Federal army was routed at Manassas. The blockade of Southern ports was a farce; commerce and weapons flowed almost as freely as before the war. There were stirrings of interest from foreign powers in recognizing the Confederacy and brokering a forced peace accord. The Federals needed to turn the tide. The largest fleet ever assembled by the United States set its sights on the South Carolina coast for this much-needed victory.

On November 7, 1861, this mighty weapon of war engaged two undermanned and outgunned forts in Hilton Head in a clash called the Battle of Port Royal. Join historian Michael Coker as he tells the story of this largely forgotten battle, a pivotal turning point in the war that defined our nation.

The Confederacy's Secret Weapon: The Civil War Illustrations of Frank Vizetelly

2009-11-20T10:10:00.000-05:00

by Douglas W. Bostick

From the publisher:
Sent to the United States as a war correspondent for the Illustrated London News, Frank Vizetelly quickly found himself in hot water with the Federal secretary of war when his depictions of Bull Run hit the papers. He was forbidden access to the Union army, so he took up with the Confederates instead, covering the Civil War from Charleston to the Mississippi and north to Virginia, becoming a favorite among the soldiers and even, at times, acting as a spy.

His articles and sketches shaped the views of the English regarding the war, creating support for the Southern cause throughout Great Britain. Join Civil War historian Douglas W. Bostick as he relates the many engagements and battles covered by Vizetelly, including Charleston, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, the March on Richmond and the early Mississippi campaigns, all accompanied by the artist's engravings and reported in his own lively words. Vizetelly's remarkable story has never been properly told until now.

James Bourland: Hangman or Hero?

2009-11-19T10:03:00.000-05:00

by Evault Boswell

From the publisher:
Branded by historians as the "Hangman of Texas" because of his participation in the event known as the "Great Gainesville Hanging", James Bourland may have prevented northeast Texas from becoming a separate state, faithful to the Union. As Provost Marshall he uncovered a plot to overthrow the Confederate government by the "Peace Party" who planned to capture the arsenals at Sherman and Gainesville, Texas and with the aid of the Federal Army in Arkansas, invade Texas.

Forty men were hanged on the big elm in Gainesville and the rebellion was over. But Bourland also served his adopted state by fighting Indians who made raids on the citizens of northeast Texas. He also dealt with the "Brush Brigade" which consisted of men in Texas who were unhappy with the Confederate conscription act and hid out in the tangled thickets of northeast Texas to avoid fighting for either side.

He was accused of being harsh on his own men and allowing captured prisoners to be killed, but in the end, he was exonerated and given a Presidential pardon. He was called a good friend or a great hater. But was he a hangman or a hero?

History of the 19th Army Corps of the Union Army During the American Civil War

2009-11-18T09:57:00.000-05:00

Richard B. Irwin

From the publisher:
The Nineteenth Army Corps of the Union Army was comprised of the Federal troops allocated to the Department of the Gulf. It commenced active operations in 1863 first engaging the enemy at Fort Bisland and Irish Bend in Louisiana followed by the investment of Port Hudson. Thereafter it took part in Bank's Red River Expedition where it engaged at the Battles of Sabine Cross Roads and Pleasant Hill. In 1864 the 1st and 2nd Divisions transferred to Virginia and thence to Maryland. The 19th also fought with distinction at Opequon, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. Before the war was won it was engaged in further actions at Fort Blakely, Spanish Fort and Mobile. This is an essential unit history of an army corps during the American Civil War and provides much vital information for the student of the period.

Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington

2009-11-16T15:50:00.000-05:00

by Benjamin Franklin Cooling III and Walton H. Owen II

From the publisher:
At the start of the Civil War, federal troops constructed a ring of defensive fortifications around Washington, D.C. The forts saw limited military action, but many historians credit their deterring presence with saving the U.S. capital from a Confederate takeover. If the city wasn't impregnable, it was pretty close. This helpful book provides a full description of these forts--many of which have since been destroyed by farmers and suburban development. Several remain, however, such as Ft. Foote, Ft. Stevens, Ft. Ward, and Ft. Marcy (which became semi-famous in 1993 as the place where former White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster shot himself). Civil War buffs won't want to miss visiting these lesser-known but significant sites--and they won't want to miss this book, either.

Tennessee's Civil War Battlefields: A Guide to Their History and Preservation

2009-11-15T15:47:00.000-05:00

by Randy Bishop

From the publisher:
The battles depicted in this comprehensive book had in impact on the outcome of the Civil War. Through firsthand documents, maps, and more than 150 photographs, the historical significance of each site is emphasized. Details on the level of preservation of each battlefield, including Shiloh and Chattanooga, are included.

Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth

2009-11-15T13:38:00.000-05:00

by Finis L. Bates

In this 1907 book, lawyer Finis L. Bates reveals that his client John St. Helen disclosed to Bates his true identity - claiming to be Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. History tells us that 26-year-old Booth was killed by Federal authorities at the Garrett Farm in Virginia shortly after the 1865 crime. Based on conversations with St. Helen and evidence he himself gathered, Bates contends that Booth escaped, took on new identities, and died by his own hand (under the alias David E. George) in 1903 at the age of 64. This is a fascinating read filled with compelling details.

Silent Runs the Creek: Two Bare-faced boys March to Sharpsburg at Antietam Creek to Face the Bloodiest Day's Battle in the Civil War (novel)

2009-11-11T13:33:00.000-05:00

by Frank Garey and John Pajot

From the publisher:
In this novel, two young Confederate soldiers become friends as they march and fight their way through deadly battles to face that fateful day at Sharpsburg on Antietam Creek. Lang, a well-to-do physician's son, and Zeb, a poor mountain boy, despite different backgrounds, must depend on each other to try to survive and in the process become steadfast friends. Survival becomes their objective in this horrible and protracted Civil War. As ordinary foot-soldiers, Lang, Age 19 and Zeb, only 16, reveal their innermost thoughts and emotions as they trudge along dusty roads, muddy fields and battlefields strewn with the mortally wounded. Their emotions, no doubt, are the same as those three million other participants caught up in this bloody Civil War.

Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign

2009-11-05T09:15:00.000-05:00

by William L. Shea

From the publisher:
On Sunday, December 7, 1862, two armies collided at an obscure Arkansas hamlet named Prairie Grove in a desperate battle that effectively ended Confederate offensive operations west of the Mississippi River. In Fields of Blood, historian William L. Shea offers a gripping narrative of the events surrounding Prairie Grove, one of the great unsung battles of the Civil War.

Shea provides a colorful account of a grueling campaign that lasted five months and covered hundreds of miles of rugged Ozark terrain. In a fascinating analysis of the personal, geographical, and strategic elements that led to the fateful clash in northwest Arkansas, he describes a campaign notable for rapid marching, bold movements, hard fighting, and the most remarkable raid of the Civil War. After months of intricate maneuvering punctuated by five battles in three states, armies led by Thomas C. Hindman and James G. Blunt met one last time at Prairie Grove. The costly daylong struggle was a tactical draw but a key strategic victory for the Union, as the Confederates never again seriously attempted to recover Missouri or threaten Kansas.

Historians have long ignored the complex campaign that ended in such spectacular fashion at Prairie Grove, but it is at last brought to life in these pages.

Record of service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War, 1861-1865

2009-11-04T09:13:00.000-05:00

From the publisher:
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses.

General Sherman's Christmas: Savannah, 1864

2009-11-03T11:20:00.000-05:00

by Stanley Weintraub

From the publisher:
General Sherman's Christmas opens on Thanksgiving Day 1864. Sherman was relentlessly pushing his troops nearly three hundred miles across Georgia in his "March to the Sea," to reach Savannah just days before Christmas. His methodical encroachment of the city from all sides eventually convinced Confederate general W. J. Hardee, who had refused a demand for surrender of his troops, to slip away in darkness across an improvised causeway and escape to South Carolina. In freezing rain and through terrifying fog, equipment-burdened soldiers crossed a hastily built pontoon bridge spanning the mile-wide Savannah River.

Three days before Christmas, the mayor, Richard Arnold, surrendered the city, now populated mostly by women, children, and the slaves who had not fled. General Sherman then telegraphed to Abraham Lincoln, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah with 150 heavy guns & plenty of ammunition & also about 25.000 bales of cotton."

The fight for Savannah took place as its inhabitants were anxiously preparing for Christmas. Weintraub explores how Christmas was traditionally feted in the South and what remained of the holiday to celebrate during the waning last full year of the war. Illustrated with striking period prints, General Sherman's Christmas captures the voices of soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict, as they neared the end of a long war.

From CWBN
The release date of this book is not known, although it falls within this month.

Missouri's War: The Civil War in Documents

2009-11-03T09:08:00.000-05:00

by Silvana R. Siddali

From the publisher:

Civil War Missouri stood at the crossroads of America. As the most Southern-leaning state in the Middle West, Missouri faced a unique dilemma. The state formed the gateway between east and west, as well as one of the borders between the two contending armies. Moreover, because Missouri was the only slave state in the Great Interior, the conflicts that were tearing the nation apart were also starkly evident within the state.

Deep divisions between Southern and Union supporters, as well as guerrilla violence on the western border, created a terrible situation for civilians who lived through the attacks of bushwhackers and Jayhawkers.

The documents collected in Missouri's War reveal what factors motivated Missourians to remain loyal to the Union or to fight for the Confederacy, how they coped with their internal divisions and conflicts, and how they experienced the end of slavery in the state. Private letters, diary entries, song lyrics, official Union and Confederate army reports, newspaper editorials, and sermons illuminate the war within and across Missouri's borders.

Missouri's War also highlights the experience of free and enslaved African Americans before the war, as enlisted Union soldiers, and in their effort to gain rights after the end of the war. Although the collection focuses primarily on the war years, several documents highlight both the national sectional conflict that led to the outbreak of violence and the effort to reunite the conflicting forces in Missouri after the war.

Silvana R. Siddali is an assistant professor of history at Saint Louis University. She is the author of From Property to Person: Slavery the Confiscation Acts.

Slavery and the Supreme Court, 1825-1861

2009-11-03T09:05:00.000-05:00

by Earl M. Maltz

From the publisher:
During America's turbulent antebellum era, the Supreme Court decided important cases--most famously Dred Scott--that spoke to sectional concerns and shaped the nation's response to the slavery question. Much scholarship has been devoted to individual cases and to the Taney Court, but this is the first comprehensive examination of the major slavery cases that came before the Court between 1825 and 1861.

Earl Maltz presents a detailed analysis of all eight cases and explains how each fit into the slavery politics of its time, beginning with The Antelope, heard by the John Marshall Court, and continuing with the seven other cases taken before the Roger Taney Court: The Amistad, Groves v. Slaughter, Prigg v. Pennsylvania, Strader v. Graham, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Ableman v. Booth, and Kentucky v. Denison.

Case by case, Maltz identifies the political and legal forces that shaped each of the judicial outcomes while clarifying the evolution of the Court's slavery-related jurisprudence. He reveals the beliefs of each justice about the morality of slavery and the judicial role in constitutional cases to show how their actions were determined by a complex interaction of political and doctrinal considerations. Thus he offers a more nuanced understanding of the antebellum federal judiciary, showing how the decision in Prigg hinged on views about federalism as well as attitudes toward human freedom, while the question of which slaves were freed in The Antelope depended more on complex fact-finding than on a condemnation of the slave trade. Maltz also challenges the view that the Taney Court simply mirrored Southern interests and argues that, despite Dred Scott, the overall record of the Court was not particularly proslavery.

Although the progression of the Court's decisions reflects a change in the tenor of the conflict over slavery, the aftermath of those decisions illustrates the limits of the Court's ability to change the dynamic that governed political struggles over such divisive issues. As the first accessible account of all of these cases, Slavery and the Supreme Court, 1825-1861 underscores the Court's limited capability to resolve the intractable political conflicts that sharply divided our nation during this period.

Saving Savannah: The City and the Civil War

2009-11-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

by Jacqueline Jones

From the publisher:
In this masterful portrait of life in Savannah before, during, and after the Civil War, prize-winning historian Jacqueline Jones transports readers to the balmy, raucous streets of that fabled Southern port city. Here is a subtle and rich social history that weaves together stories of the everyday lives of blacks and whites, rich and poor, men and women from all walks of life confronting the transformations that would alter their city forever. Deeply researched and vividly written, Saving Savannah is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the Civil War years.

The author of seven previous books, Jacqueline Jones teaches American history at the University of Texas–Austin. Among her numerous awards are the Taft Prize, the Brown Memorial Prize, the Spruill Prize, the Bancroft Prize (for Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow), and, in l999, a MacArthur Fellowship. Saving Savannah won the Georgia Historical Society’s 2009 Malcolm Bell, Jr. and Muriel Barrow Bell Award.

Devil's Dream: A Novel About Nathan Bedford Forrest

2009-11-03T08:50:00.000-05:00

by Madison Smartt Bell

From the publisher:
From the author of All Souls’ Rising which The Washington Post called “A serious historical novel that reads like a dream,” comes a powerful new novel about Nathan Bedford Forrest, the most reviled, celebrated, and legendary, of Civil War generals.

With the same eloquence, dramatic energy, and grasp of history that marked his previous works, Madison Smartt Bell gives us a wholly new vantage point from which to view this complicated American figure. Considered a rogue by the upper ranks of the Confederate Army, who did not properly use his talents, Forrest was often relegated to small-scale operations.

In Devil's Dream, Bell brings to life an energetic, plainspoken man who does not tolerate weakness in himself or in those around him. We see Forrest on and off the battlefield, in less familiar but no less revealing moments of his life: courting the woman who would become his wife; battling a compulsion to gamble; overcoming his abhorrence of the army bureaucracy to rise to its highest ranks. We see him treating his slaves humanely even as he fights to ensure their continued enslavement, and in battle we see his knack for keeping his enemy unsettled, his instinct for the unexpected, and his relentless stamina.

As Devil's Dream moves back and forth in time, providing prismatic glimpses of Forrest, a vivid portrait comes into focus: a rough, fierce man with a life fill of contradictions.

"Brave, accomplished and utterly compelling, seamed with passages of haunting, lyrical beauty." –Kirkus

MADISON SMARTT BELL is the author of fourteen previous works of fiction, including Soldier’s Joy and Anything Goes. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up collecting bullets on the same fields where many of Forrest's battles were fought. He now lives in Baltimore.

Army Life: From a Soldier’s Journal

2009-11-02T11:15:00.000-05:00

by A.O. Marshall

From the publisher:
In 1884, when Albert O. Marshall published Army Life, a memoir of his service as a private in the Thirty-Third Illinois Regiment, twenty years had passed since his 1864 discharge. Marshall left the journal untouched at publication, and today it is a journal that is rare in what it is not. This memoir is not a complete story of the Thirty-Third (known as the “Normal Regiment” because many of its soldiers were from Illinois State Normal University), nor is it a complete roster of regiment members, nor a list of killed and wounded.

Army Life is not, even, a purely military account written from an officer’s point of view. It is the story of a twenty-year-old private whose engaging writing belies his age but also allows his youth to shine through. Marshall tells of the battles he fought and the games he played, of his friends, fellow soldiers, and officers, and of the regiment’s activities in Missouri and Arkansas, at Vicksburg, and in Louisiana and on the Texas Gulf Coast. Enhanced with careful editing and thorough annotations, this journal Marshall carried faithfully to every mustering out is a rich and important Civil War memoir.

Albert O. Marshall was born in 1840 on a farm in Illinois. He served in the Thirty-Third Illinois Regiment for three years, after which he became a lawyer and was elected to a four-year term in the state senate and later to the county court as a circuit court judge.

For Honor, Glory, and Union: The Mexican and Civil War Letters of Brig. Gen. William Haines Lytle

2009-11-01T11:03:00.000-05:00

by William Haines Lytle

From the publisher:
A pro-states' rights Democrat with strong family ties to Kentucky, William Lytle volunteered for service in the Mexican War in 1847. This collection of his letters details the ferocity of action on the Western front and offers a glimpse of the interaction between Union officers and civilians.

"A remarkable, engaging work of superb scholarship, and an invaluable contribution to the growing body of Civil War literature.-- The Midwest Book Review" -- The Midwest Book Review

"Carter's edition of the letters of General William Lytle helps us understand why many partisan Democrats who despised abolitionists and Republicans, supported states' rights, and respected southerners and the South, decided to fight and, in Lytle's case, die for what they believed to be their nation.-- Van Hall" -- Van Hall

"This is one book that should be on the shelf of every Civil War buff or scholar as a prime example of the so many promising young lives lost in the war.-- West Virginia History" -- West Virginia History

From CWBN
This is the first paperback edition of a previously published hardback.

History of the Civil War 1861-1865

2009-11-01T10:58:00.000-05:00

by James F. Rhodes

From the publisher:
This landmark study of the most traumatic era in American history won a Pulitzer Prize in 1918 for its concise, clear-minded survey of the Civil War from political and economic perspectives. From "the great factor in the destruction of slavery"-the election of Abraham Lincoln as President in 1860-to the "twenty thousand men in Wall Street" who sang to celebrate the war's end four years later, Rhodes, a self-taught historian, lends a distinctive voice to his retelling of the war. All students of the upheaval and disorder of the period will appreciate this enduring and unusual perspective on it.

The 111th New York Volunteer Infantry: A Civil War History

2009-10-31T12:54:00.000-04:00

by Martin W. Husk

From the publisher:
This regimental history follows the 111th New York Volunteer Infantry's service from muster through victory, with many first-hand accounts and primary sources. It provides details on the towns from which the regiment was organized and examines the men who served in its ranks. Battles in which the regiment fought, including Harper's Ferry, Gettysburg and Petersburg, are covered in detail, with close unit-level coverage as well as information on the overall strategy and the regiment's place in the greater conflict. An appendix covers in-depth the October 1864 capture of 83 111th soldiers by the Confederacy, following their imprisonment, ill-treatment, and eventual death or release.

Martin W. Husk is a project manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He lives in Cary, North Carolina.

Battles Without Bullets: Civil War Re-enactment and American Culture

2009-10-30T12:51:00.000-04:00

by Randal Allred

From the publisher:
Near the end of his life, Confederate soldier Berry Benson wrote a passage that many Civil War reenactors now consider the clearest evocation of what they do: "Who knows but again the old flags, ragged and torn, snapping in the wind, may face each other and flutter, pursuing and pursued, while the cries of victory fill a summer day? And after the battle, then the slain and wounded will arise and all will meet together under the two flags, all sound and well, and there will be talking and laughter and cheers, and all will say: Did it now seem real? Was it not as in the old days?"

Here, through anecdotes, interviews with participants, and a keen analysis of his subject, Allred offers insight to this uniquely American phenomenon. Allred first puts the practices of "living history" (including "living museums" and medieval pageants) into their cultural and political contexts, and then moves on to discuss the history of reenacting itself. Further chapters consider reenacting as a hobby and as a cultural community. Allred addresses various questions about reenactment: Why the Civil War? Why this particular way of honoring it? Is this a form of historical catharsis? What are the stories being "told" on these battlefields? The resulting study is both penetrating and entertaining.

RANDAL ALLRED is Associate Professor of Literature and Humanities at Brigham Young University, Hawaii. He is the author of the chapter of "Living History and Battlefield Reenactments" for The Greenwood Guide to American Popular Culture.

Orlando M. Poe: Civil War General and Great Lakes Engineer

2009-10-25T12:48:00.000-04:00

by Paul Taylor

From the publisher:
This is the first biography of Sherman's chief engineer and the man whose post-Civil War engineering work changed Great Lakes navigation forever.

Orlando M. Poe chronicles the life of one of the most influential yet underrated and overlooked soldiers during the Civil War.

After joining the Union Army in 1861, Poe commanded the 2nd Michigan Infantry in the Peninsula Campaign and led brigades at Second Bull Run and Fredericksburg. He was then sent west and became one of the Union heroes in the defense of Knoxville.

Poe served under several of the war's greatest generals, including George McClellan and William T. Sherman, who appointed him chief engineer to oversee the burning of Atlanta and Sherman's March to the Sea. Though technically only a captain in the regular army at the war's end, Poe was one of Sherman's most valued subordinates, and he was ultimately appointed brevet brigadier general for his bravery and service.

After the war, Poe supervised the design and construction of numerous Great Lakes lighthouses, all of which are still in service. He rejoined Sherman's staff in 1873 as engineer aide-de-camp and continued his role as trusted adviser until the general's retirement in 1884. Poe then returned to his adopted home in Detroit where he began planning his ultimate post-Civil War engineering achievement: the design and construction of what would become the largest shipping lock in the world at Sault St. Marie, Michigan.

Mining an extensive collection of Poe's unpublished personal papers that span his entire civil and military career, and illustrating the narrative with many previously unpublished photographs, Paul Taylor brings to life for the first time the story of one of the nineteenth century's most overlooked war heroes.

Paul Taylor is an insurance professional and author of four previous books on the Civil War: "Give My Love to All Our Folks": Civil War and Post-War Letters of Clinton DeWitt Staring and Charles E. Staring, Glory Was Not Their Companion: The Twenty-Sixth New York Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, He Hath Loosed the Fateful Lightning: The Battle of Ox Hill (Chantilly) September 1, 1862, and Discovering the Civil War in Florida: A Reader and Guide.

Robert E. Lee and the Fall of the Confederancy, 1863-1865

2009-10-25T12:44:00.000-04:00

by Ethan Rafuse

From the publisher:
In this reexamination of the last two years of Robert E. Lee's storied military career, Ethan S. Rafuse offers an insightful account of Lee's ultimately unsuccessful struggle to defend the Confederacy against a relentless and determined foe.

Robert E. Lee and the Fall of the Confederacy describes the great campaigns that shaped the course of this crucial period in American history, the challenges Lee faced in each battle, and the dramatic events that determined the war's outcome.

Burning Rails As We Pleased: The Civil War Letters of William Garrigues Bentley, 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

2009-10-25T12:42:00.000-04:00

by William Garrigues Bentley

From the publisher:
William Garrigues Bentley chose to leave the safety of home and family at age 19 and fight for the Union. He enlisted in the 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company G, in 1862 and served for three long years before being honorably discharged. His firsthand account details his day-to-day life as a soldier, the long marches around Kentucky, skirmishes with the Rebs, joining with Sherman's army in the Atlanta campaign then chasing Hood into Tennessee and fighting in the bloody battle at Franklin, and on to rejoin Sherman in the winter of 1865 for the final months of the Carolina campaign.

This book - compiled from a collection of 142 of Bentley's newly discovered letters and other documents - not only is an important historical record but also offers an insight into the political thoughts and feelings of the time. The book includes a complete roster of the 104th Ohio.

Barbara Bentley Smith is William Garrigues Bentley's great-granddaughter. She lives in North Carolina. Nina Bentley Baker is William Garrigues Bentley's great-granddaughter. She lives in North Carolina.

Confederate Sheet Music

2009-10-25T12:40:00.000-04:00

by E. Lawrence Abel

From the publisher:
During the American Civil War, songs united and inspired people on both sides. The North had a well-established music publishing industry when the war broke out, but the South had no such industry.

The importance of music as an expression of the South's beliefs was obvious; as one music publisher said, 'The South must not only fight her own battles but sing her own songs and dance to music composed by her own children'.

Southern entrepreneurs quickly rose to the challenge. This reference book is distinguished by three major differences from previously published works. First, it lists sheet music that is no longer extant (and listed nowhere else). Second, it gives complete lyrics for all extant songs, a rich source for researchers. And third, a brief historical background has been provided for many of the songs.

Each entry provides as much of the following as possible (staying faithful to the typography of each title page): the title as published, names of all lyricists, composers and publishers; dates of publication; cities of publication; and, if applicable, the names of catalogs or magazines in which the song appeared. Music published in Southern cities under Federal occupation is excluded.

E. Lawrence Abel teaches at Wayne State University, where he has received the honor of "Distinguished Professor." He is also the author of more than forty other books and his articles have been published in various popular and scholarly magazines and journals.

A Chickamauga Memorial: The Establishment of America's First Civil War National Military Park

2009-10-23T12:37:00.000-04:00

by Timothy B Smith

From the publisher:
A Chickamauga Memorial tells the full and fascinating story of how the country’s first federally preserved national military park came into being and how it paved the way for all that came afterwards, including preservation efforts today.

As Timothy B. Smith explains, most battlefield preservation and commemoration efforts before 1890 were done on a private and state level, with veterans’ groups and states marking unit positions on battlefields, most notably at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. In 1890, however, the federal government became involved on a large scale, ushering in a wave of battlefield preservation that would continue through the decades that followed.

The brainchild of Henry Van Ness Boynton, a Union officer and veteran of the battle, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park served multiple purposes as a commemorative memorial to the soldiers who had fought there as well as a military reservation for maneuver and study. As the former, Chickamauga played a prominent role in the reconciliation of the North and South, bringing together veterans from both sides. As the latter, the park played host to numerous military units during the Spanish American War as well as World Wars I and II. Perhaps the most important aspect, Smith contends, was the creation of historical memory in both. This process involved not only the historiography of the battles, but also how the battlefields themselves would be remembered, interpreted, and celebrated.

Timothy B. Smith teaches history at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He is the author of This Great Battlefield of Shiloh, The Untold Story of Shiloh, and The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation.

Lincoln under Enemy Fire: The Complete Account of His Experiences during Early's Attack on Washington

2009-10-23T12:31:00.000-04:00

by John Henry Cramer

From the publisher:
Originally published in 1948 but long unavailable, this intriguing book chronicles the strange events of midsummer 1864, when President Abraham Lincoln might well have succumbed to a Confederate bullet were it not for the fortuitously spoken words of a Union officer standing nearby.

The central story is fairly well known: In July, the Confederate Army contemplated an attack on Washington, D.C. The Union showed sufficient strength to discourage a full-blown Southern assault, but on July 11, skirmishes broke out near Fort Stevens, just a few miles from Washington. High government officials and the social elite from the area came to the fort to observe the battle. Among them was President Lincoln, along with his wife and at least two cabinet-level officers. During his visit, the president joined a few others on a walkway that ran along the top of one of Fort Stevens’s high defensive walls. Confederate sharpshooters opened fire on the group, and Lincoln was told to retreat to a safer location—in rather rude and emphatic terms, according to some accounts. Author John Henry Cramer frames Lincoln under Enemy Fire around two questions: Who told the president to get off the parapet, and what was said to persuade him to do so?

With this new edition, Cramer’s findings become available once again, complete with a new introduction by noted Lincoln scholar Charles Hubbard. Lincoln Under Enemy Fire, at its heart, is a book about Abraham Lincoln, and validates some assumptions about Lincoln that have developed since Cramer wrote the book. Much of Cramer’s attention is directed toward the various accounts—including eyewitness discrepancies and written communication—and this meticulous work shows a brilliant mind at work getting to the bottom of a historical mystery of the first order.

John Henry Cramer was professor of history at Youngstown College (now Youngstown State University). He was also the author of Lincoln in Ohio. He died in 1948.

The American Civil War: A Military History

2009-10-20T13:05:00.000-04:00

by John Keegan

From the publisher:
For the past half century, John Keegan, the greatest military historian of our time, has been returning to the scenes of America’s most bloody and wrenching war to ponder its lingering conundrums: the continuation of fighting for four years between such vastly mismatched sides; the dogged persistence of ill-trained, ill-equipped, and often malnourished combatants; the effective absence of decisive battles among some two to three hundred known to us by name. Now Keegan examines these and other puzzles with a peerless understanding of warfare, uncovering dimensions of the conflict that have eluded earlier historiography.

While offering original and perceptive insights into psychology, ideology, demographics, and economics, Keegan reveals the war’s hidden shape—a consequence of leadership, the evolution of strategic logic, and, above all, geography, the Rosetta Stone of his legendary decipherments of all great battles. The American topography, Keegan argues, presented a battle space of complexity and challenges virtually unmatched before or since. Out of a succession of mythic but chaotic engagements, he weaves an irresistible narrative illuminated with comparisons to the Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and other conflicts.

The American Civil War is sure to be hailed as a definitive account of its eternally fascinating subject.

John Keegan was for many years senior lecturer in military history at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and has been a fellow at Princeton University and a visiting professor of history at Vassar College. He is the author of twenty books, including the acclaimed The Face of Battle and The Second World War. He is the defense editor of The Daily Telegraph (London). He lives in Wiltshire, England.

Atlas of the Civil War: A Complete Guide to the Tactics and Terrain of Battle

2009-10-20T12:29:00.000-04:00

by Stephen Hyslop (Author), Neil Kagan (Editor)

From the publisher:
In this one-of-a-kind atlas, scores of archival maps and dozens of newly created maps trace the battles, political turmoil, and great themes of America’s most violent and pivotal clash of arms. From the Antebellum South to Fort Sumter, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the fitful peace of Reconstruction, National Geographic’s Atlas of the Civil War displays eye-opening maps—and a gripping, self-contained story—on every spread.

Eighty-five rare period maps, many seen here for the first time, offer the cartographic history of a land at war with itself: from 19th-century campaign maps surveying whole regions and strategies to vintage battlefield charts used by Union and Confederate generals alike, along with commercial maps produced for a news-hungry public, and comprehensive Theater of War maps. In 35 innovative views created especially for this book, the key moments of major battles are pinpointed by National Geographic’s award-winning cartographers using satellite data to render the terrain with astonishing detail.

In addition, more than 320 documentary photographs, battlefield sketches, paintings, and artifacts bear eyewitness testimony to the war, history’s first to be widely captured on film.

Neil Kagan has contributed to numerous innovative illustrated books including the award-winning Voices of the Civil War and the best-selling Concise History of the World.

Stephen G. Hyslop has written several books on American and global history including Eyewitness to the Civil War.

Photographic Views of Sherman's March

2009-10-16T12:24:00.000-04:00

by George N. Barnard

From the publisher:
These haunting images of battlefields and ruined mansions reflect one of the Civil War's most devastating military campaigns.

Originally published in a now-rare collector's edition in 1866, this complete portfolio of works by the only photographer known to have accompanied Sherman on his march to the sea features 68 historic photographs.

U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth

2009-10-15T13:38:00.000-04:00

by Joan Waugh

From the publisher:
At the time of his death, Ulysses S. Grant was the most famous person in America, considered by most citizens to be equal in stature to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Yet today his monuments are rarely visited, his military reputation is overshadowed by that of Robert E. Lee, and his presidency is permanently mired at the bottom of historical rankings.

In an insightful blend of biography and cultural history, Joan Waugh traces Grant's shifting national and international reputation, illuminating the role of memory in our understanding of American history. She captures a sense of what led nineteenth-century Americans to overlook Grant's obvious faults and hold him up as a critically important symbol of national reconciliation and unity. Waugh further shows that Grant's reputation and place in public memory closely parallel the rise and fall of the northern version of the Civil War story — in which the United States was the clear, morally superior victor and Grant was the emblem of that victory. After the failure of Reconstruction, the dominant Union myths about the war gave way to a southern version that emphasized a more sentimental remembrance of the honor and courage of both sides and ennobled the "Lost Cause." By the 1920s, Grant's reputation had plummeted.

Most Americans today are unaware of how revered Grant was in his lifetime. Joan Waugh uncovers the reasons behind the rise and fall of his renown, underscoring as well the fluctuating memory of the Civil War itself.

Lincoln’s Proclamation: Emancipation Reconsidered (The Steven and Janice Brose Lectures in the Civil War

2009-10-15T13:35:00.000-04:00

by William Blair and Karen Younger (Editors)

From the publisher:
Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation is popularly regarded as a heroic act by a great American president. Widely remembered as the document that ended slavery, the proclamation in fact freed slaves only in the rebellious South (and not in the Border States, where slavery remained legal) and, effectively, only in the parts of the South occupied by the Union. Questions persist regarding Lincoln’s moral conviction and the extent to which the proclamation truly represented a radical stance on the issue of freedom.

The eight essays in this volume enrich our understanding of the proclamation by considering not only aspects of the president’s decision making, but also events beyond Washington. The proclamation provides a launching point for new insights on the consequences and legacies of freedom, the engagement of black Americans in their liberation, and the issues of citizenship and rights that were not decided by Lincoln’s document. Together the essays portray emancipation as a product of many hands, best understood when considering all the various actors, the place, and the time.

West Pointers and the Civil War: The Old Army in War and Peace

2009-10-15T13:14:00.000-04:00

Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh

From the publisher:
Most Civil War generals were graduates of West Point, and many of them helped transform the U.S. Army from what was little better than an armed mob that performed poorly during the War of 1812 into the competent fighting force that won the Mexican War. Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh offers an insightful and original portrait of the American army from 1814 to the end of the Civil War.

Hsieh demonstrates how the "old army" transformed itself into a professional military force after 1814, and, more important, how "old army" methods profoundly shaped the conduct of the Civil War. The dominance of both armies by West Point-trained generals prevented either side from gaining a marked superiority in military competence. Moreover, the long, grinding war, with heavy casualties on both sides, had unforeseen political implications--for instance, the war's great length strengthened the hand of the abolitionists, which would not have been the case if the North had won a quick and decisive victory.

The first book to show how the antebellum U.S. Army, and especially West Point graduates, affected the course of the Civil War, this volume makes a unique contribution to the history of America's greatest cataclysm.

Tinclads in the Civil War: Union Light-draught Gunboat Operations on Western Waters, 1862-1865

2009-10-15T12:22:00.000-04:00

by Myron J. Smith

From the publisher:
Once the Union Army gained control of the upper rivers of the Mississippi Valley during the first half of 1862, slow and heavy ironclads proved ineffective in patrolling the waters. Hastily outfitted steamboats were covered with thin armor and pressed into duty. These 'tinclads' fought Confederate forces attacking from the riverbanks, provided convoy for merchant steamers, enforced revenue measures, and offered tow, dispatch, and other fleet support services. This history documents the service records and duties of these little-known vessels of the Union fleet.

Prolific author Myron J. Smith, Jr., is the library director and a professor of history at Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tennessee.

From CWBN
This is the first paperback edition of a previously published hardback.

Baring the Iron Hand: Discipline in the Union Army

2009-10-15T12:16:00.000-04:00

by Steven Ramold

From the publisher:
This title provides an in-depth examination of internal conflict and discipline in the Union Army.

During antebellum wars the Regular army preserved the peace, suppressed the Indians, and bore the brunt of the fighting. The Civil War, however, brought an influx of volunteers that overwhelmed the number of army Regulars, forcing a clash between traditional military discipline and the expectations of citizens.

Baring the Iron Hand provides an extraordinarily in-depth examination of this internal conflict and the issue of discipline in the Union Army.

Ramold tells the story of the volunteers, who, unaccustomed to such military necessities as obeying officers, accepting punishment, and suppressing individuality, rebelled at the traditional disicpline expected by the standing army. Unwilling to fully surrender their perceived rights as American citizens, soldiers both openly and covertly defied the rules. They challenged the right of their officers to lead them and established their own policies on military offenses, proper conduct, and battlefield behavior. Citizen soldiers also denied the army the right to punish them for offenses like desertion, insubordination, and mutiny that had no counterpart in civilian life.

Ramold demonstrates that the clash between Regulars and volunteers caused a reinterpretation of the traditional expectations of discipline. The officers of the Regular army had to contend with independent-minded soldiers who resisted the spit-and-polish discipline that made the army so efficient but also alienated the volunteers' sense of individuality and manhood.

Unable to prosecute the vast number of soldiers who committed offenses, professional officers reached a form of populist accommodation with their volunteer soldiers. Unable to eradicate or prevent certain offenses, the army tried simply to manage them or to just ignore them. Instead of applying traditionally harsh punishments for specific crimes as they had done in the antebellum period, the army instead mollified its men by extending amnesty, modifying sentences, and granting liberal leniency to many soldiers who otherwise deserved the harshest of penalities.

Ramold's fascinating look into the lives of these misbehaving soldiers will interest both Civil War historians and enthusiasts.

STEVEN J. RAMOLD is Assistant Professor of History at Eastern Michigan University. He is the author of Slaves, Sailors, Citizens: African Americans in the Union Army.

Indiana's War: The Civil War in Documents

2009-10-15T12:11:00.000-04:00

by Richard F. Nation and Stephen E. Towne (Editors)

From the publisher:
Indiana’s War is a primary source collection featuring the writings of Indiana’s citizens during the Civil War era. Using private letters, official records, newspaper articles, and other original sources, the volume presents the varied experiences of Indiana’s participants in the war both on the battlefield and on the home front.

Starting in the 1850s, the documents show the sharp political divisions over issues such as slavery, race, and secession in Indiana, divisions that boiled over into extraordinary strife and violence in the state during the rebellion. This conflict touched all levels and members of society, including men, women, and children, whites and African Americans, native-born citizens and immigrants, farmers and city and town dwellers.

Collecting the writings of Indiana’s peoples on a wide range of issues, chapters focus on the politics of race prior to the war, the secession crisis, war fever in 1861, the experiences of soldiers at the front, home-front hardships, political conflict between partisan foes and civil and military authorities, reactions to the Emancipation Proclamation, and antiwar dissent, violence, and conspiracy. Indiana’s War is an excellent accompanying primary source text for undergraduate and graduate courses on the American Civil War. It documents the experiences of Indiana’s citizens, from the African American soldier to the antiwar dissenter, from the prewar politician to the postwar veteran, from the battle-scarred soldier to the impoverished soldier’s wife, all showing the harsh realities of the war.

Richard F. Nation is an associate professor of history at Eastern Michigan University. He is the author of At Home in the Hoosier Hills: Agriculture, Politics, and Religion in Southern Indiana, 1810–1870.

Stephen E. Towne is an associate university archivist at Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis. He is the editor of A Fierce, Wild Joy: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Edward J. Wood, 48th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863

2009-10-15T12:07:00.000-04:00

by Scott Mingus

From the publisher:
Previous works on Confederate brigadier general Harry T. Hays's First Louisiana Brigade--better known as the "Louisiana Tigers"--have tended to focus on just one day of the Tigers' service--their role in attacking East Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863--and have touched only lightly on the brigade's role at the Second Battle of Winchester, an important prelude to Gettysburg. In this commanding study, Scott L. Mingus, Sr., offers the first significant detailed exploration of the Louisiana Tigers during the entirety of the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign.

Mingus begins by providing a sweeping history of the Louisiana Tigers; their predecessors, Wheat's Tigers; the organizational structure and leadership of the brigade in 1863; and the personnel that made up its ranks. Covering the Tigers' movements and battle actions in depth, he then turns to the brigade's march into the Shenandoah Valley and the Tigers' key role in defeating the Federal army at the Second Battle of Winchester.

Combining soldiers' reminiscences with contemporary civilian accounts, Mingus breaks new ground by detailing the Tigers' march into Pennsylvania, their first trip to Gettysburg in the week before the battle, their two-day occupation of York, Pennsylvania--the largest northern town to fall to the Confederate army--and their march back to Gettysburg. He offers the first full-scale discussion of the Tigers' interaction with the local population during their invasion of Pennsylvania and includes detailed accounts of the citizens' reactions to the Tigers--many not published since appearing in local newspapers over a century ago.

Mingus explores the Tigers' actions on the first two days of the Battle of Gettysburg and meticulously recounts their famed assault on East Cemetery Hill, one of the pivotal moments of the battle. He closes with the Tigers' withdrawal from Gettysburg and their retreat into Virginia. Appendices include an order of battle for East Cemetery Hill, a recap of the weather during the entire Gettysburg Campaign, a day-by-day chronology of the Tigers' movements and campsites, and the text of the official reports from General Hays for Second Winchester and Gettysburg. Comprehensive and engaging, Mingus's exhaustive work constitutes the definitive account of General Hays's remarkable brigade during the critical summer of 1863.

Scott L. Mingus, Sr., has written numerous books on the Civil War, including the two volume Human Interest Stories of the Gettysburg Campaign, its companion volume Gettysburg Glimpses: True Stories from the Battlefield; and Flames beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863. He lives in York, Pennsylvania.

John Brown's Trial

2009-10-15T12:03:00.000-04:00

Brian McGinty

From the publisher:
Mixing idealism with violence, abolitionist John Brown cut a wide swath across the United States before winding up in Virginia, where he led an attack on the U.S. armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Supported by a “provisional army” of 21 men, Brown hoped to rouse the slaves in Virginia to rebellion. But he was quickly captured and, after a short but stormy trial, hanged on December 2, 1859.

Brian McGinty provides the first comprehensive account of the trial, which raised important questions about jurisdiction, judicial fairness, and the nature of treason under the American constitutional system. After the jury returned its guilty verdict, an appeal was quickly disposed of, and the governor of Virginia refused to grant clemency. Brown met his death not as an enemy of the American people but as an enemy of Southern slaveholders.

Historians have long credited the Harpers Ferry raid with rousing the country to a fever pitch of sectionalism and accelerating the onset of the Civil War. McGinty sees Brown’s trial, rather than his raid, as the real turning point in the struggle between North and South. If Brown had been killed in Harpers Ferry (as he nearly was), or condemned to death in a summary court-martial, his raid would have had little effect. Because he survived to stand trial before a Virginia judge and jury, and argue the case against slavery with an eloquence that reverberated around the world, he became a symbol of the struggle to abolish slavery and a martyr to the cause of freedom.

There have been many books about John Brown, but none provides as comprehensive an account of the famous trial as does McGinty's. His well-written narrative is compelling and lucid. I especially appreciated his analysis of whether Brown received a fair trial. Here is another winner from the author of Lincoln and the Court. --Frank J. Williams, former Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and founding chair of The Lincoln Forum

First Vermont Cavalry in the Civil War: A History

2009-10-15T11:59:00.000-04:00

by Joseph D. Collea

From the publisher:
The First Vermont Cavalry participated in 75 major Civil War engagements from 1862 through 1865. As the state's only mounted regiment, riding Vermont-bred Morgan horses, the cavalry unit battled some of the most notable Confederate cavalry commanders, mostly in Virginia. This history explores the battles and leaders of the unit, including generals George Custer and Philip Sheridan.

Joseph D. Collea, Jr., is the principal of Hartford High School in White River Junction, Vermont, and has been an educator for 40 years. A Fulbright Scholar, he studied at the American University in Cairo.

A Dangerous Stir: Fear, Paranoia, and the Making of Reconstruction

2009-10-10T11:44:00.000-04:00

by Mark Wahlgren Summers

From the publisher:
Reconstruction policy after the Civil War, notes Mark Wahlgren Summers, was shaped not simply by politics, principles, and prejudices. Also at work were fears--often unreasonable fears of renewed civil war and a widespread sense that four years of war had thrown the normal constitutional process so dangerously out of kilter that the republic itself remained in peril.

To understand Reconstruction, Summers contends, one must understand that the purpose of the North's war was--first and foremost--to save the Union with its republican institutions intact. During Reconstruction there were always fears in the mix--that the Civil War had settled nothing, that the Union was still in peril, and that its enemies and the enemies of republican government were more resilient and cunning than normal mortals. Many factors shaped the reintegration of the former Confederate states and the North's commitment to Reconstruction, Summers agrees, but the fears of war reigniting, plots against liberty, and a president prepared to father a coup d'état ranked higher among them than historians have recognized.

Both a dramatic narrative of the events of Reconstruction and a groundbreaking new look at what drove these events, A Dangerous Stir is also a valuable look at the role of fear in the politics of the time--and in politics in general.

"There is perhaps no scholar more capable than Mark Summers to write with authority about the political culture of Reconstruction. With insight, skill, and wit, he recovers and explores a persistent but neglected theme in the writings of the era. In the process, he sheds new and valuable light on such traditional problems in Reconstruction historiography as the curious reaction of Southerners during the summer and fall of 1865, the behavior of President Andrew Johnson, and the increasing radicalization of Republican Reconstruction policies. This is an important book that was waiting to be written." — Mitchell Snay, author of Fenians, Freedmen, and Southern Whites: Race and Nationality in the Era of Reconstruction

History of Company B, Twenty-first Regiment (Infantry) South Carolina Volunteers, Confederate States Provisional Army

2009-10-10T11:42:00.000-04:00

by Henry Kershaw Dubose

From the publisher:
A Confederate Army officer’s account of the 21st South Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company B’s involvement in the defense of Charleston, S.C., and in the Battle of Cold Harbor and the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia (both 1864).

Includes muster roll and portraits of officers. First printed 1909.

Reproduced from the first edition in the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.

Until Antietam: The Life and Letters of Major General Israel B. Richardson, U.S. Army

2009-10-09T13:40:00.000-04:00

by Jack C. Mason

From the publisher:
This is an in-depth look at a daring and beloved Civil War leader.

While researching this book, author Jack C. Mason made the kind of discovery that historians dream of. He found more than one hundred unpublished, in fact unknown, letters from Union major general Israel B. Richardson to his family, written from his time as a West Point cadet until the day before his fatal wounding at the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history. Using these freshly uncovered primary sources as well as extensive research in secondary materials, Mason has written the first-ever biography of Israel Bush Richardson.

Richardson's letters span more than twenty years of service in the U.S. Army. He served on the front lines of the Seminole War chasing Indians through the swamps of Florida; fought in every important battle of the Mexican-American War, during which he distinguished himself by capturing a Mexican artillery piece and turning it against the enemy at the Battle of Cerro Gordo; guarded dangerous outposts in southwest New Mexico; and raised a regiment at the start of the Civil War that would become the 2nd Michigan. During the Civil War, Richardson fought at the first Bull Run campaign, patrolled the area south of Washington, D.C., and led his division in the Peninsula Campaign. He rose quickly through the ranks of the Union Army over the first year of the war, as he was admired for his common sense, motivating leadership, and straightforward approach to combat. Mason traces Richardson's growth as a soldier, through his experiences and the guidance of his superiors, and then as a leader whose style reflected the actions of the former commanders he respected. Though he was a disciplinarian, Richardson took a relaxed attitude toward military rules, earning him the affection of his men. Unfortunately, his military career was cut short just as high-ranking officials began to recognize his aggressive leadership.

He was mortally wounded while leading his men at Antietam and died on November 4, 1862. "Until Antietam" brings to life a talented and fearless Civil War infantry leader. Richardson's story, placed within the context of nineteenth-century warfare, exemplifies how one soldier's life influenced his commanders, his men, and the army as a whole.

Jack C. Mason is a Department of Army civilian and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. He serves as an instructor for the Command and General Staff College and has published several articles in Army magazine.

Battles and Leaders of the Civil War

2009-10-09T11:40:00.000-04:00

From the publisher:
This is a reproduction of the original edition including imperfections.

The Civil War in Spotsylvania County (VA): Confederate Campfires at the Crossroads

2009-10-07T11:36:00.000-04:00

by Michael Aubrecht

From the publisher:
From 1861 to 1865, hundreds of thousands of troops from both sides of the Civil War marched through, battled and camped in the woods and fields of Spotsylvania County, earning it the nickname 'Crossroads of the Civil War.' When not engaged with the enemy or drilling, a different kind of battle occupied soldiers boredom, hunger, disease, homesickness, harsh winters and spirits both broken and swigged.

In this book, focusing specifically on the local Confederate encampments, renowned author and historian Michael Aubrecht draws from published memoirs, diaries, letters and testimonials from those who were there to give a fascinating new look into the day-to-day experiences of camp life in the Confederate army. So huddle around the fire and discover the days when the only meal was a scrap of hardtack, temptation was mighty and a new game they called 'baseball' passed the time when not playing poker or waging a snowball war on fellow compatriots.

Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat Volume II

2009-10-04T11:30:00.000-04:00

by Judith Lee Hallock

From the publisher:
In summer 1863, Confederate General Braxton Bragg was commander of the Army of Tennessee, still reeling from its defeat in January at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Failing to establish a strong defensive position at either Tullahoma or Chattanooga, Bragg saw the heartland of the South gradually slip away from him. Victory at Chickamauga Creek in September – Bragg’s last military success – was followed by disaster at Missionary Ridge and, shortly thereafter, his removal from army command.

Within three months, however, President Jefferson Davis had restored Bragg to active military involvement, naming him military adviser for the Confederacy. Here, finally, Bragg’s skills as an administrator and organizer bore fruit – as did his penchant for provoking quarrels and disunity within the military establishment.

Reassigned to field command in late 1864, Bragg concluded his army service with defeats at Wilmington and Bentonville, North Carolina.

The prevailing view of Bragg’s is a false one. Rather, he was a valuable asset to the Confederacy, a talented organizer whose gifts were misused by the nation he served.

For the first time, Bragg’s tenure in Richmond is examined carefully and evaluated. Contrary to the common view that Bragg was nothing more than a sycophant to President Davis, this study shows that he and Davis often disagreed on policy. Much of Bragg’s present reputation among civil war scholars is based upon how contemporaries viewed him. Despite Bragg’s determined devotion to the Confederacy, his frailties have shaped the literature to such an extent that his real accomplishments have been distorted or ignored.

In this study the author has tried, as General Joseph E. Johnston once advised, to “have a little charity for Bragg.”

Judith Lee Hallock draws a balanced picture of Bragg and of his important role in the Confederacy beginning in 1863. Her volume continues and completes the biography of Bragg published in Volume I by Grady McWhiney in 1969. Along with the military details, the author provides a full accounting of Bragg’s fractious relationships with other members of the military, a critical factor in this period for the entire Confederate command. This sympathetic biography of Bragg gives valuable insight into the workings of the Confederacy in the last two years of its struggle for independence.

Judith Lee Hallock is a teacher in Centrereach, New York.

From the critics:
“Hallock has undertaken the difficult task of explaining a complex, sick, cantankerous, and unpopular Confederate general who failed as a field commander yet became military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. Her biography is especially satisfying because, without being overly sympathetic or critical, she makes Bragg not into a hero but into an understandable person. She is neither too hard nor too easy on him, but she gives Bragg his due. . . .She depicts him with warts and all and thereby achieves what every biographer hopes to accomplish – a good understanding of her subject.” – Grady McWhiney, Texas Christian University

“It is well-written, judicious, and based on sound and wide-ranging research. Wisely, she has not written a polemic in excuse, nor does she allege competencies beyond Bragg’s scope. Rather, she acknowledges his inadequacies, agrees with most poor assessments, and yet portrays his flawed character sympathetically – a real achievement!” – Frank E. Vandiver, Texas A & M University

From CWBN
This is the first paperback edition of a previously published hardback.

Executing Daniel Bright: Race, Loyalty, and Guerrilla Violence in a Coastal Carolina Community, 1861-1865

2009-10-03T10:49:00.003-04:00

by Barton A. Myers

From the publisher:
On December 18, 1863, just north of Elizabeth City in rural northeastern North Carolina, a large group of white Union officers and black enlisted troops under the command of Brigadier General Edward Augustus Wild executed a local citizen for his involvement in an irregular resistance to Union army incursions along the coast.

Daniel Bright, by conflicting accounts either a Confederate soldier home on leave or a deserter and guerrilla fighter guilty of plundering farms and harassing local Unionists, was hanged inside an unfinished postal building. The initial fall was not mortal, and according to one Union soldier's account, Bright suffered a slow death by "strangulation, his heart not ceasing to beat for twenty minutes."

Until now, Civil War scholars considered Bright and the Union incursion that culminated in his gruesome death as only a historical footnote. In Executing Daniel Bright, Barton A. Myers uses these events as a window into the wider experience of local guerrilla conflict in North Carolina's Great Dismal Swamp region and as a representation of a larger pattern of retaliatory executions and murders meant to coerce appropriate political loyalty and military conduct on the Confederate homefront. Race, political loyalties, power, and guerrilla violence all shaped the life of Daniel Bright and the home he died defending, and Myers shows how the interplay of these four dynamics created a world where irregular military activity could thrive.

Myers opens with an analysis of antebellum slavery, race relations, slavery debates, and the role of the environment in shaping the antebellum economy of northeastern North Carolina. He then details the emergence of a rift between Unionist and Confederate factions in the area in 1861, the events in 1862 that led to the formation of local guerrilla bands, and General Wild's 1863 military operation in Pasquotank, Camden, and Currituck counties. He explores the local, state, regional, and Confederate Congress's responses to the events of the Wild raid and specifically to Daniel Bright's hanging, revealing the role of racism in shaping those responses. Finally, Myers outlines the outcome of efforts to negotiate neutrality and the state of local loyalties by mid-1864.

Revising North Carolina's popular Civil War mythology, Myers concludes that guerrilla violence such as Bright's execution occurred not only in the highlands or Piedmont region of the state's homefront; rather, local irregular wars stretched from one corner of the state to the other. He explains how violence reshaped this community and profoundly affected the ways loyalties shifted and manifested themselves during the war. Above all, Myers contends, Bright's execution provides a tangible illustration of the collapse of social order on the southern homefront that ultimately led to the downfall of the Confederacy.

Microhistory at its finest, Executing Daniel Bright adds a thought-provoking chapter to the ever-expanding history of how Americans have coped with guerrilla war.

Barton A. Myers is a postdoctoral fellow in military history at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

From CWBN
The release date of this book is not known, although it falls within this month.

We Were the Ninth: A History of the Ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry April 17, 1861 to June 7, 1864: Civil War Sesquicentennial Edition

2009-10-02T10:38:00.000-04:00

by Constantin Grebner (author) and Frederic Trautmann (translator)

From the publisher:
We Were The Ninth is a translation, carefully edited and thoroughly annotated, of an important Civil War regiment. The Ninth Ohio - composed of Ohio Germans mostly from Cincinnati - saw action at Rich Mountain and Carnifex Ferry in West Virginia, Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, Hoover's Gap, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Chickamauga. The Ninth began the War amid misgivings (Would a German speaking regiment in the Union Army cause chaos?) and ended its active service among the honored units. It continued as an active German-speaking veterans' organization.

Constantin Grebner published this significant history, in German, in 1897 and noted that it 'is intended as neither a history of the war nor a definitive account of battles. Rather, it is restricted to a straightforward, veracious report of what happened to The Ninth, and to recounting as accurately as possible The Ninth's experiences as a wartime regiment'. Frederic Trautmann's English translation is faithful to Grebner's original text, preserving its integrity while maintaining its energy, precision, and grace.

From CWBN
The release date of this book is not known, although it falls within this month.

Baptized in Blood: The Religion of the Lost Cause, 1865-1920

2009-10-01T11:21:00.000-04:00

by Charles Reagan Wilson

From the publisher:
Charles Reagan Wilson documents, for the first time, that for over half a century there existed not one, but two civil religions in the United States, the second not dedicated to honoring the American nation. Extensively researched in primary sources, Baptized in Blood is a significant and well-written study of the South's civil religion, one of two public faiths in America. In his comparison, Wilson finds the Lost Cause offered defeated Southerners a sense of meaning and purpose and special identity as a precarious but distinct culture. Southerners may have abandoned their dream of a separate political nation after Appomattox, but they preserved their cultural identity by blending Christian rhetoric and symbols with the rhetoric and imagery of Confederate tradition.

"Civil religion" has been defined as the religious dimension of a people that enables them to understand a historical experience in transcendent terms. In this light, Wilson explores the role of religion in postbellum southern culture and argues that the profound dislocations of Confederate defeat caused southerners to think in religious terms about the meaning of their unique and tragic experience. The defeat in a war deemed by some as religious in nature threw into question the South's relationship to God; it was interpreted in part as a God-given trial, whereby suffering and pain would lead Southerners to greater virtue and strength and even prepare them for future crusades. From this reflection upon history emerged the civil religion of the Lost Cause. While recent work in southern religious history has focused on the Old South period, Wilson's timely study adds to our developing understanding of the South after the Civil War.

The Lost Cause movement was an organized effort to preserve the memory of the Confederacy. Historians have examined its political, literary, and social aspects, but Wilson uses the concepts of anthropology, sociology, and historiography to unveil the Lost Cause as an authentic expression of religion. The Lost Cause was celebrated and perpetuated with its own rituals, mythology, and theology; as key celebrants of the religion of the Lost Cause, Southern ministers forged it into a religious movement closely related to their own churches. In examining the role of civil religion in the cult of the military, in the New South ideology, and in the spirit of the Lost Cause colleges, as well as in other aspects, Wilson demonstrates effectively how the religion of the Lost Cause became the institutional embodiment of the South's tragic experience.

From the critics:
"Destined to be the definitive essay on the relation between religion and southern regional patriotism." --Journal of Southern History

"If the South cannot escape its history, perhaps it is because it does not want to. Wilson's magnificent book on the religion of the Lost Cause drives that point home forcefully. . . . He skillfully weaves together the strands of thought that produced the Lost Cause and shows that evangelical ministers had a large hand in the process." --Theology Today

"This interesting and valuable study breaks new ground in Reconstruction and New South history. . . . What makes this volume significant is both the demonstrated usefulness of the theory of civil religion in the hands of a historian and the fresh substantive contribution to the history of the South's tragic experience." --American Historical Review

Entrepot: Government Imports into the Confederate States

2009-10-01T11:19:00.000-04:00

by C. L. Webster III

From the publisher:
Examining for the first time the history of civil war blockade running, this unrivalled compilation reveals the arms, equipment, and clothing brought into the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Detailed and comprehensive, this survey offers month-by-month, cargo-by-cargo descriptions of goods received at multiple locations across the United States. From Savannah, Charleston, and Wilmington to Matamoros, Galveston, and Mobile, this reference lists all distribution—the Belgian-made woolen cloth and English rifles that arrived in the farthest reaches of the Trans-Mississippi and the receipt of thousands of British knapsacks, blankets, and cartridge boxes in the winter camps of the struggling Army of Tennessee. A unique depiction of a perilous trade, this record sheds a dramatic light on the surprising pervasiveness of imported war material as well as the effectiveness and sophistication of the Confederate supply system.

C. L. Webster III is a historian specializing in the American Civil War and a practicing lawyer. He lives in Houston, Texas.

Lincoln's Labels: America's Best Known Brands and the Civil War

2009-10-01T11:15:00.000-04:00

by James M. Schmidt

From the publisher:
From du Pont’s gunpowder and Borden’s condensed milk to Procter & Gamble’s soap and Brooks Brothers’ uniforms, this history investigates how today’s familiar brand names served a vital role for the Union during the Civil War. Rarely told stories from the companies who supplied soldiers and sailors with food, clothing, weapons, and medicine recount tales of political intrigue, family and friends torn apart, and paths crossed with Abraham Lincoln. Not only do these accounts mirror the war itself, they also show that life during conflict can often be as intriguing and dangerous for a company of employees as it is a company of soldiers.

"Lincoln's Labels tells how some businesses still operating contributed to, and were affected by, the Civil War. It does this quite well . . . But Lincoln's Labels is also about one of the many ways which we—Americans of the early 21st century—are linked inextricably to the great national epic . . . A good read for anyone, scholar, 'buff,' or ordinary citizen." —Al Nofi, author, A Civil War Treasury, from the foreword

Years of Change and Suffering: Modern Perspectives on Civil War Medicine

2009-10-01T11:11:00.000-04:00

by Guy R. Hasegawa and James M. Schmidt (editors)

From the publisher:
Correcting the pervading myths of Civil War medicine perpetuated by Hollywood dramatizations, this exploration covers how the sick and wounded were treated on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Through detailed research, these essays show there were actually too few amputations, contrary to popular belief; there were many advances made in the understanding and treatment of diseases and wounds to the nervous system, and new surgical techniques were used to treat battlefield injuries once thought to be certainly fatal.

These topics and more are treated by experts in their respective fields, including medical education, science, invention, neuroscience, and mental health.

James Schmidt is a scientist with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and the author of more than 50 articles on American history and Lincoln's Labels: America's Best Known Brands and the Civil War. Guy Hasegawa is the senior editor of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, a published expert on Confederate pharmacy and other aspects of Civil War medicine, and a board member of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and the Society of Civil War Surgeons.

Race and Radicalism in the Union Army

2009-10-01T11:08:00.000-04:00

by Mark A. Lause

From the publisher:
In this compelling portrait of interracial activism, Mark A. Lause documents the efforts of radical followers of John Brown to construct a triracial portion of the Federal Army of the Frontier. Mobilized and inspired by the idea of a Union that would benefit all, black, Indian, and white soldiers fought side by side, achieving remarkable successes in the field. Against a backdrop of idealism, racism, greed, and the agonies and deprivations of combat, Lause examines links between radicalism and reform, on the one hand, and racialized interactions among blacks, Indians, and whites, on the other.

Lause examines how this multiracial vision of American society developed on the Western frontier. Focusing on the men and women who supported Brown in territorial Kansas, Lause examines the impact of abolitionist sentiment on relations with Indians and the crucial role of nonwhites in the conflict. Through this experience, Indians, blacks, and whites began to see their destinies as interdependent, and Lause discusses the radicalizing impact of this triracial Unionism upon the military course of the war in the upper Trans-Mississippi.

The aftermath of the Civil War destroyed much of the memory of the war in the West, particularly in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The opportunity for an interracial society was quashed by the government's willingness to redefine the lucrative field of Indian exploitation for military and civilian officials and contractors.

Assessing the social interrelations, ramifications, and military impact of nonwhites in the Union forces, Race and Radicalism in the Union Army explores the extent of interracial thought and activity among Americans in this period and greatly expands the historical narrative on the Civil War in the West.

Tell Me of Lincoln: Memories of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and Life in Old New York

2009-10-01T11:02:00.000-04:00

by James Edward Kelly (Author), William B. Styple (Editor)

From the publisher:
Published for the first time! TELL ME OF LINCOLN is the long-awaited companion volume to 2005's GENERALS IN BRONZE, with over 50 never-before-published interviews with those who knew Abraham Lincoln, compiled by Artist James E. Kelly (1855-1933).

In 1900, sculptor and historian James Edward Kelly met with a New England gentleman who had heard Abraham Lincoln speak during his 1860 presidential campaign. The man remembered Lincoln as a strong and vigorous leader of men and not at all slack-looking, downcast or meditative as he was usually depicted by other sculptors. Inspired both artistically and historically, Kelly declared: "From that very moment, I became desirous of gathering material to justify me in making him an active, vigorous leader. My ambition was to model President Abraham Lincoln in bronze the embodiment of the spirit of the time as well as the men whom he led in triumph. From that very moment, I began to actively seek out any living witness who could tell me of Lincoln."

Kelly then conducted a series of interviews and correspondence with many well-known figures who personally knew Abraham Lincoln, and several veteran soldiers who had met or had heard the President speak, and even the common folk who simply caught a fleeting glimpse or passed alongside his casket.

Kelly recorded over fifty eyewitness accounts which he carefully preserved in his extensive notebooks hundreds of pages of highly significant oral history detailing Lincoln's physical appearance, personality, and qualities as a statesman. This testimony confirmed Kelly's belief that the real Lincoln was seldom depicted correctly in art. "Make him living! For he was one of the most all alive of men!" wrote Lincoln's Secretary William Stoddard.

TELL ME OF LINCOLN also contains Kelly's memories of growing up in New York City during the tumultuous time of the Civil War--eyewitness accounts of the Draft Riots and other important historical events in NYC.

After the war, Kelly worked as an illustrator for Harper's and Scribner's magazines, and depicted the daily life of New Yorkers. With an artist's-eye for detail, Kelly also wrote extensively about his life and his city and its people. His unpublished memoir contains vivid descriptions of the events in a city of contrasts, from life in the notorious Five Points to the affluent mansions on Fifth Avenue. Kelly's writings are a truly unique collection of fascinating essays that are part travelogue and part history--including interviews with several New Yorkers who knew Edgar Allan Poe. It has been said that what his friend and fellow-artist Frederick Remington was to the American West, James Kelly was to New York City. Primarily a historical artist, Kelly's studio on 57th Street was frequented by the famous figures of the era: Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Winslow Homer, Mathew Brady, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, U. S. Grant, William T. Sherman, Philip Sheridan (along with nearly 40 Union Generals) and dozens of other notables were interervied and depicted in art by Kelly.

Above all, Kelly was a stickler for historical accuracy in his art, and spent more time interviewing his subjects about their personal exploits, rather than portraying them in oil or clay. Fortunately for students of Lincoln, Civil War buffs, and those interested in the history of New York City, Kelly carefully preserved his treasured notes.

In 2002, Historian and Author William B. Styple uncovered twenty-four boxes containing the unpublished memoirs of New York City Artist, James Edward Kelly (1855-1933). In 2005, Kelly's Civil War related interviews were published: GENERALS IN BRONZE, Interviewing the Commanders of the Civil War. This book was hailed as a Blockbuster history of the Civil War by Civil War Times Illustrated, June, 2005. TELL ME OF LINCOLN is the long-awaited second volume of Kelly material, and presents over fifty never-before-published accounts of Abraham Lincoln. William B. Styple has written, co-written and edited numerous works on the Civil War. He is currently writing the biography of Gen. Phil Kearny.

The Last Lincoln Conspirator: John Surratt's Flight from the Gallows

2009-10-01T10:58:00.000-04:00

by Andrew C. A. Jampoler

From the publisher:
With all that has already been written about President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, one of the little known stories is the case of the only successful conspirator, John Harrison Surratt, the son of Mary Surratt, who was hanged for her part in the crime.

The Last Lincoln Conspirator is the true story of John Surratt, who became the most wanted man in America after the death of John Wilkes Booth's and was the only conspirator to escape conviction.

The capture and killing of Booth twelve days after he shot Lincoln and the fate of Booth's other accomplices are familiar history. Four accomplices, including Surratt's mother, were convicted and hanged, and four were jailed. John Surratt alone managed to evade capture for twenty months and, once put on trial, to evade prison. The first full-length treatment of Surratt's escape, capture, and trial, this book provides fascinating details about his flight through Canada, England, France, the Papal States, and eventual capture in Egypt.

Surratt's desperate journey and the bitter legal proceedings against him that bizarrely led to his freedom hold the reader's attention from first to last page.

Andrew C.A. Jampoler, a resident of Loudoun County, VA, is the author of the award-winning book Adak and Sailors in the Holy Land.

Walking with Lincoln: Spiritual Strength from America's Favorite President

2009-10-01T10:54:00.000-04:00

by Thomas Freiling

From the publisher:
Abraham Lincoln faced many serious challenges during his life. Yet he rose above it all--and his faith in God was the indispensible ingredient in his life's journey. Even generations later we can still learn from Lincoln's faith-filled principles to overcome our own challenges and to find our unique God-given destinies. Walking with Lincoln offers readers fifty spiritual principles from the life and words of Lincoln, from his days as a youth to his presidency. Anyone looking for inspiration to rise above life's hardships will find encouragement and strength through this look at the faith of America's favorite president.

Inspiration for your journey from one who walked a difficult road Abraham Lincoln faced many serious challenges during his life. Yet no matter how difficult the road ahead became, Lincoln's faith in God was the indispensible ingredient at every point in his life's journey. Generations later we can still learn from Lincoln's faith-filled principles to overcome our own challenges and to find our unique God-given destinies. Walking with Lincoln offers you fifty spiritual principles from the life and words of Lincoln, from his days as a youth to his presidency. If you are looking for inspiration to rise above life's hardships, you will find encouragement and strength through this look at the faith of America's favorite president.

Thomas Freiling is the author of Abraham Lincoln's Daily Treasure and Reagan's God and Country and serves as a vice president at Salem Communications. The television documentary "George W. Bush: Faith in the White House" based on his work was seen in more than 25 million homes.

When This Cruel War Is over: The Civil War Letters of Charles Harvey Brewster

2009-09-30T10:37:00.002-04:00

by David W. Blight

From the publisher:
"I am scared most to death every battle we have, but I don't think you need be afraid of my sneaking away unhurt." Thus wrote Adjutant Charles Harvey Brewster of the 10th Massachusetts to his sister Mattie in 1864, in one of over 200 letters he would pen during his four years of service.

Born and raised in Northampton, Massachusetts, Brewster was a 27-year-old store clerk when he enlisted in Company C of the 10th Massachusetts Volunteers in April 1861. During the next three and a half years he fought in many of the major battles of the Virginia campaigns - Fair Oaks, the Seven Days, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, the "Bloody Angle" at Spotsylvania - rising through the ranks to become second lieutenant and later adjutant of his regiment.

His letters, most of which were written to his mother and two sisters, record not only the horrors he witnessed on the battlefield, but also his own inner struggle with his own values, convictions and sense of manhood.

In a thoughtful and illuminating introductory essay, David W. Blight explores the evolution of Brewster's understanding of the terrible conflict in which he was engaged. Blight shows how Brewster's attitudes toward race and slavery gradually changed, in part as a result of his contact with escaped slaves and his experience recruiting black troops. He also examines the shift in Brewster's conception of courage, as the realities of war collided with the romantic ideals he had previously embraced.

This literate collection of 137 letters chronicles the experiences of an ordinary Union soldier caught up in extraordinary events. At times naive and sentimental, at times mature and realistic, Brewster's correspondence not only provides insight into the meaning of the Civil War for the average Yankee, but also testifies to the persistent power of war to attract and repel the human imagination.

From CWBN
This is the first paperback edition of a previously published hardback.

Red River

2009-09-29T10:32:00.000-04:00

by P.G. Nagle

From the publisher:
A Creole belle, mistress of a thousand slaves in the heart of Louisiana . . .
A Texan Confederate, grieving for lost friends and family as he battles the Yankee army . . .
A Union carpenter in the Navy who dreams of piloting a Federal gunboat . . .

Their lives entwine at Belle View Plantation, where the Red River flows into the Mississippi and the Civil War becomes a maelstrom.

P. G. Nagle, "author of some of the best fiction written about Texas history" (Edward T. Cotham, Jr., author of Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston), writes with power and poignancy of a bloody campaign little chronicled but of great strategic to both North and South. The Confederate victory at Galveston harbor at the dawning of 1863 is merely a prelude to a bitter contest for control of the Mississippi and Red Rivers, which together form the Confederacy's most vital lifeline of supply and trade.

For the South, the Mississippi and the Red River afford the only viable corridor for moving the cotton it must trade for munitions, supplies, and much-needed funds from European allies. The Union seeks to cut off such external support to the South and to hasten the end of a war that has already claimed tens of thousands of lives on both sides and that threatens to further debilitate a divided nation.

The Federal Navy sends a fleet of gunboats up the Red River in a daring attempt to seize control of the waterway, while on land Sibley's Brigade of Texans joins Confederate General Richard Taylor's defense of Louisiana's rich plantation country. Nagle tells the story of the struggle for dominance among the bayous and rivers of the Mississippi basin in an authoritative narrative both unflinching and compassionate, adding yet another memorable chapter to the chronicle of the Civil War fought in the Far West.

From CWBN
This is the first paperback edition of a previously published hardback.

American Civil War Guerrilla Tactics

2009-09-29T10:29:00.000-04:00

by Sean McLachlan (Author), Gerry Embleton (Illustrator)

From the publisher:
While the giant armies of the Union and the Confederacy were fighting over cities and strategic strongholds, a large number of warriors from both sides were fighting, smaller, more personal battles. Beginning with the violent struggle known as "Bleeding Kansas," armed bands of irregular fighters began to wage war in every corner of the United States. Many of the names of their commanders have become legendary, including William Quantrill, "Bloody Bill" Anderson, and John S. Mosby, "The Grey Ghost."

To their own people they were heroes; to others they were the first of a new generation of wild west outlaw. Their tactics including robbing banks and trains, kidnapping soldiers and civilians, rustling cattle, and cutting telegraph lines. In fact, it is during the violence of the war that many of America's future outlaw legends would be born, most notably Cole Younger and Frank and Jesse James. In this book, new Osprey author Sean McLachlan explores the varied and often daring tactics employed by these famous warriors.

Sean McLachlan is an experienced Canadian author who used to study and work in the USA and is a member of a number of US historical societies. His writing is detailed with rare documentary and picture archive materials. The author lives in Madrid, Spain.

Henry Wilson and the Era of Reconstruction

2009-09-28T10:24:00.000-04:00

by John L. Myers

From the publisher:
Already a leader of the Republican party when the Civil War began, Henry Wilson had distinguished himself as the most important Congressional figure on military and antislavery and pro-black legislation during the war.

During the Era of Reconstruction, Wilson fought to protect the rights of the newly-freed slaves, but he was opposed to the severe punishment of Confederate leaders and initially tried to be conciliatory toward President Johnson's lenient policies. Soon Wilson joined others in promoting Congress's own Reconstruction program, including the 14th and 15th Amendments, the Military Reconstruction Acts, and the impeachment of the President.

He became the Republican Party's most frequently-used campaign speaker. Long recognized as a spokesman for labor, he was also the foremost national politician promoting the cause of prohibition. He wrote the most authoritative three-volume work on the causes of the Civil War from the northern viewpoint. He was also a frequent contributor to the era's most influential religious periodical. In 1872, Wilson was rewarded for his political activities when he was nominated and elected as the country's vice-president.

John L. Myers is emeritus professor of history, State University of New York, Plattsburgh. He has previously published Henry Wilson and the Coming of the Civil War (University Press of America, 2005) and Senator Henry Wilson and the Civil War (University Press of America, 2008). He has written a large number of articles dealing with the antislavery agents of the 1830s. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

The Southern Mind Under Union Rule: The Diary of James Rumley, Beaufort, North Carolina, 1862-1865

2009-09-27T10:20:00.000-04:00

by Judkin Browning

From the publisher:
James Rumley was nearly fifty years old when the Civil War reached the remote outer banks community of Beaufort, North Carolina. Comfortably employed as clerk of the Superior Court of Carteret County, he could only watch as a Union fleet commanded by General Ambrose Burnside snaked its way up the Neuse River in March 1862 and took control of the area.

In response to laws enacted by occupying forces, Rumley took the Oath of Allegiance, stood aside as his beloved courthouse was used for pro-Union rallies, and watched helplessly as friends and neighbors had their property seized and taken away. In public, Rumley appeared calm and cooperative, but behind closed doors he poured all his horror, disgust, and outrage into his diary.

Safely hidden from the view of military authority, he explained in rational terms how his pledge of allegiance to the invading forces was not morally binding and expressed his endless worry over seeing former slaves emancipated and empowered. This constantly surprising diary provides a rare window onto the mind of a Confederate sympathizer under the rule of what he considered to be an alien, unlawful, and "pestilent" power.

Gettysburg: A Guided Tour through History

2009-09-24T10:07:00.000-04:00

by Randi Minetor

From the publisher:
Walk through the battlefields of Gettysburg and Antietam with those who lived and fought there. Move through time with the characters and events that shaped Washington,D.C., as we know it today. Visit the National Cemetery in Arlington following a timeline of American wars to learn more about the people who are buried there. This book brings readers face-to-face with the people and events that have shaped history and who have left their mark on some of the most popular and interesting landmarks and locations. Each of these full-size historical guides comes with two oversized Pop Out maps - one, an archival map, and the other, showing the samelocation today. A timeline runs with the text, adding context and texture to the history described.

The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror, and the Death of Reconstruction

2009-09-24T09:59:00.000-04:00

by LeAnna Keith

From the publisher:
On Easter Sunday, 1873, in the tiny hamlet of Colfax, Louisiana, more than 150 members of an all-black Republican militia, defending the town's courthouse, were slain by an armed force of rampaging white supremacists. The most deadly incident of racial violence of the Reconstruction era, the Colfax Massacre unleashed a reign of terror that all but extinguished the campaign for racial equality.

LeeAnna Keith's The Colfax Massacre is the first full-length book to tell the history of this decisive event. Drawing on a huge body of documents, including eyewitness accounts of the massacre, as well as newly discovered evidence from the site itself, Keith explores the racial tensions that led to the fateful encounter, during which surrendering blacks were mercilessly slaughtered, and the reverberations this message of terror sent throughout the South. Keith also recounts the heroic attempts by U.S. Attorney J.R. Beckwith to bring the killers to justice and the many legal issues raised by the massacre. In 1875, disregarding the poignant testimony of 300 witnesses, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in U.S. v. Cruikshank to overturn a lower court conviction of eight conspirators. This decision virtually nullified the Ku Klux Klan Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871--which had made federal offenses of a variety of acts to intimidate voters and officeholders--and cleared the way for the Jim Crow era.

If there was a single historical moment that effectively killed Reconstruction and erased the gains blacks had made since the civil war, it was the day of the Colfax Massacre. LeeAnna Keith gives readers both a gripping narrative account of that portentous day and a nuanced historical analysis of its far-reaching repercussions.

From CWBN
This is the first paperback edition of a previously published hardback.

Sic Semper Tyrannis: Why John Wilkes Booth Shot Abraham Lincoln

2009-09-22T13:58:00.000-04:00

by William L. Richter

From the publisher:
From Richard Lawrence to John Wilkes Booth to John Hinckley, Jr., Americans have preferred their presidential assassins, whether failed or successful, to be more or less crazy. Seemingly, this absolves us of having to wonder where the American experiment might have gone wrong.

John Wilkes Booth has been no exception to this rule. But was he?

In a new, provocative study comprising three essays, historian William L. Richter delves into the psyche of Booth and finds him far from insane. Beginning with a modern, less adulating interpretation of President Abraham Lincoln, Richter is the first scholar to examine Booth's few known, often unfinished speeches and essays to draw a realistic mind-picture of the man who intensely believed in common American political theories of his day, and acted violently to carry them out during the time of America's greatest war.

The Reconstruction Presidents

2009-09-17T13:51:00.000-04:00

by Brooks D. Simpson

From the publisher:
During and after the Civil War, four presidents faced the challenge of reuniting the nation and of providing justice for black Americans—and of achieving a balance between those goals. This first book to collectively examine the Reconstruction policies of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes reveals how they confronted and responded to the complex issues presented during that contested era in American politics.

Brooks Simpson examines the policies of each administration in depth and evaluates them in terms of their political, social, and institutional contexts. Simpson explains what was politically possible at a time when federal authority and presidential power were more limited than they are now. He compares these four leaders' handling of similar challenges—such as the retention of political support and the need to build a Southern base for their policies—in different ways and under different circumstances, and he discusses both their use of executive power and the impact of their personal beliefs on their actions.

Although historians have disagreed on the extent to which these presidents were committed to helping blacks, Simpson's sharply drawn assessments of presidential performance shows that previous scholars have overemphasized how the personal racial views of each man shaped his approach to Reconstruction. Simpson counters much of the conventional wisdom about these leaders by persuasively demonstrating that considerable constraints to presidential power severely limited their efforts to achieve their ends.

The Reconstruction Presidents marks a return to understanding Reconstruction based on national politics and offers an approach to presidential policy making that emphasizes the environment in which a president governs and the nature of the challenges facing him. By showing that what these four leaders might have accomplished was limited by circumstances not easily altered, it allows us to assess them in the context of their times and better understand an era too often measured by inappropriate standards.

From the critics:
The historian Eric Foner has presented the Reconstruction as a failed opportunity to achieve emancipation and equality for black Americans. Here, Simpson persuasively argues that, given their circumstances, the four Reconstruction presidents generally did as well as they could. - Kirkus

A fine comparative study; recommended for all presidential collections - Library Journal

Blue & Gray Ballads

2009-09-17T13:47:00.000-04:00

by Richard Raymond III

From the publisher:
For the first time, the entire story of the Civil War is told in poetry. Over a 40 year span of time, Richard Raymond has created a traditional rhyme and meter particularly appropriate to the telling of the Civil War story. It is a celebration of valor. Blue and Gray Ballads is a tribute to the sacrifice of the soldiers North and South, and to the steadfast women and children who gave those soldiers a reason to persevere.

The Chatfield Story: Civil War Letters and Diaries of Private Edward L. Chatfield of the 113th Illinois Volunteers

2009-09-17T09:56:00.000-04:00

by Terry M. McCarty, Margaret Ann Chatfield McCarty

From the publisher:
Fully annotated and meticulously researched, The Chatfield Story: The Civil War Letters and Diaries of Private Edward L. Chatfield of the 113th Illinois Volunteers is a stunning personal biography that illustrates a harrowing part of American history. Resonant, wise, and suspenseful, this elegantly wrought memoir is a story of courage, pluck, and survival against seemingly insurmountable odds. Chatfield’s life as a Union private unfolds with each successive missive, an incredible account from within the Western Theater of the Civil War: Cairo, Memphis, Oxford, Holly Springs, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, DeSoto Point, Grand Gulf, Clinton, Vicksburg, Corinth, and Brice’s Cross Roads—where disaster awaited him. Fascinating in its approach and its depth, this spellbinding story of a young man whose name and family became famous in Colorado is a marvelous tale of accomplishment—a decidedly American story that truly begs to be heard.

Terry M. McCarty and Margaret Ann Chatfield McCarty have a shared passion for history which prompted them to transcribe and research the Civil War letters and diaries written by Edward L. Chatfield, Margaret's great-granduncle. During their research, they visited many of the regions described in Chatfield's travels and pored over reams of original information contained in local civic registries and libraries. Both originally from California, they now live in Georgetown, Texas. This is their first book.

Defending South Carolina's Coast: The Civil War from Georgetown to Little River

2009-09-15T13:43:00.000-04:00

by Rick Simmons

From the publisher:
In Defending South Carolina's Coast: The Civil War from Georgetown to Little River, area native Rick Simmons relates the often overlooked stories of the upper South Carolina coast during the Civil War.

As a base of operations for more than three thousand troops early in the war and the site of more than a dozen forts, almost every inch of the coast was affected by and hotly contested during the Civil War. From the skirmishes at Fort Randall in Little River and the repeated Union naval bombardments of Murrells Inlet to the unrealized potential of the massive fortifications at Battery White and the sinking of the USS Harvest Moon in Winyah Bay, the region's colorful Civil War history is unfolded here at last.

Escape from Andersonville: A Novel of the Civil War

2009-09-15T13:38:00.001-04:00

by Gene Hackman and Daniel Lenihan

From the publisher:
An explosivenovel of the Civil War about one man's escape from a notorious Confederate prison camp - and his dramatic return to save his men.

July 1864. Union officer Nathan Parker has been imprisoned at nightmarish Andersonville prison camp in Georgia along with his soldiers. As others die around them, Nathan and his men hatch a daring plan to allow him to escape through a tunnel and make his way to Vicksburg, where he intends to alert his superiors to the imprisonment and push for military action. His efforts are blocked by higher-ups in the military, so Parker takes matters into his own hands. Together with a shady, dangerous ex-soldier and smuggler named Marcel Lafarge and a fascinating collection of cutthroats, soldiers, and castoffs, a desperate Parker organizes aprivate rescue mission to free his men before it's too late. Exciting, thoroughly researched, and dramatic, Escape from Andersonville is a Civil War novel filled with action, memorable characters, and vividly realized descriptions of the war's final year.

Walt Whitman and the Civil War: America's Poet during the Lost Years of 1860-1862

2009-09-15T13:34:00.000-04:00

by Ted Genoways

From the publisher:
Shortly after the third edition of Leaves of Grass was published, in 1860, Walt Whitman seemed to drop off the literary map, not to emerge again until his brother George was wounded at Fredericksburg two and a half years later.

Past critics have tended to read this silence as evidence of Whitman's indifference to the Civil War during its critical early months. In this penetrating, original, and beautifully written book, Ted Genoways reconstructs those forgotten years--locating Whitman directly through unpublished letters and never-before-seen manuscripts, as well as mapping his associations through rare period newspapers and magazines in which he published. Genoways's account fills a major gap in Whitman's biography and debunks the myth that Whitman was unaffected by the country's march to war. Instead, Walt Whitman and the Civil War reveals the poet's active participation in the early Civil War period and elucidates his shock at the horrors of war months before his legendary journey to Fredericksburg, correcting in part the poet's famous assertion that the "real war will never get in the books."

On the Trail of Grant and Lee

2009-09-11T13:30:00.000-04:00

by Frederick Trevor Hill

From the publisher:
The author of this book, Frederick Trevor Hill (1866-1930), was an American lawyer who practiced law in New York City from 1890. He wrote several novels and three books on Lincoln. His works include: The Minority (1902), The Web (1903), The Accomplice (1905), Lincoln the Lawyer (1906), Decisive Battles of the Law (1907), The Story of a Street (1908), Lincoln's Legacy of Inspiration (1909), On the Trail of Grant and Lee (1911), The Thirteenth Juror (1913), Washington: The Man of Action (1914), Tales Out of Court (1920), High School Farces (1920) and Lincoln: Emancipator of the Nation (1928).

The Abolitionists and the South, 1831-1861

2009-09-11T09:52:00.000-04:00

by Stanley Harrold

From the publisher:
Within the American antislavery movement, abolitionists were distinct from others in the movement in advocating, on the basis of moral principle, the immediate emancipation of slaves and equal rights for black people.

Instead of focusing on the "immediatists" as products of northern culture, as many previous historians have done, Stanley Harrold examines their involvement with antislavery action in the South--particularly in the region that bordered the free states. How, he asks, did antislavery action in the South help shape abolitionist beliefs and policies in the period leading up to the Civil War?

Harrold explores the interaction of northern abolitionist, southern white emancipators, and southern black liberators in fostering a continuing antislavery focus on the South, and integrates southern antislavery action into an understanding of abolitionist reform culture. He discusses the impact of abolitionist missionaries, who preached an antislavery gospel to the enslaved as well as to the free. Harrold also offers an assessment of the impact of such activities on the coming of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

From CWBN
This is the first paperback edition of a previously published hardback.

Love and War, A Southern Soldier's Struggle Between Love and Duty (Paperback)

2009-09-11T09:48:00.000-04:00

by Robert Crewdson

From the publisher:
You will never understand the Civil War until your understand its emotion. Love and War dramatically presents the real inner conflicts between love and duty. This wonderful collection of poignant letters provides a fascinating glimpse into the heart and mind of a private soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia. Madly in love with a much younger woman, he married her early in the war, and went AWOL three times in order to be with her. He survived Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, but died at the Battle of Chester Station in May 1864. Cover commentary by leading historians: James McPherson, James "Bud" Robertson, Jr. and Holt Merchant.

Civil War Wives: The Lives and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis, and Julia Dent Grant

2009-09-08T13:29:00.000-04:00

by Carol Berkin

From the publisher:
Here are the life stories of three women who connect us to our national past and provide windows onto a social and political landscape that is strangely familiar yet shockingly foreign.

Berkin focuses on three “accidental heroes” who left behind sufficient records to allow their voices to be heard clearly and to allow us to see the world as they did. Though they held no political power themselves, all three had access to power and unique perspectives on events of their time.

Angelina Grimké Weld, after a painful internal dialogue, renounced the values of her Southern family’s way of life and embraced the antislavery movement, but found her voice silenced by marriage to fellow reformer Theodore Weld. Varina Howell Davis had an independent mind and spirit but incurred the disapproval of her husband, Jefferson Davis, when she would not behave as an obedient wife. Though ill-prepared and ill-suited for her role as First Lady of the Confederacy, she became an expert political lobbyist for her husband’s release from prison. Julia Dent Grant, the wife of Ulysses S. Grant, was a model of genteel domesticity who seemed content with the restrictions of marriage and motherhood, even though they led to alternating periods of fame and disgrace, wealth and poverty. Only late in life did she glimpse the price of dependency.

Throughout, Berkin captures the tensions and animosities of the antebellum era and the disruptions, anxieties, and dislocations generated by the war and its aftermath.

Delia Webster And The Underground Railroad

2009-09-04T13:25:00.000-04:00

by Randolph Paul Runyon

From the publisher:
In this captivating tale, Randolph Paul Runyon follows the trail of the first woman imprisoned for assisting runaway slaves and explores the mystery surrounding her life and work.

In September 1844, Delia Webster took a break from her teaching responsibilities at Lexington Female Academy and accompanied Calvin Fairbank, a Methodist preacher from Oberlin College, on a Saturdary drive in the country. At the end of their trip, their passengers—Lewis Hayden and his family—remained in southern Ohio, ticketed for the Underground Railroad. Webster and Fairbank returned to a near riot and jail cells. Webster earned a sentence to the state penitentiary in Frankfort, where the warden, Newton Craig, married and a father, became enamored of her and was tempted into a compromising relationship he would come to regret. Hayden reached freedom in Boston, where he became a prominent businessman, the ringleader in the courthouse rescue of a fugitive slave, and the last link in the chain of events that led to the Harpers Ferry Raid. Webster, the focal point at which these lives intersect, remains an enigma. Was she, as one contemporary noted, ""A young lady of irreproachable character""? Or, as another observed, ""a very bold and defiant kind of woman, without a spark of feminine modesty, and, withal, very shrewd and cunning""? Runyon has doggedly pursued every historical lead to bring color and shape to the tale of these fascinating characters.

The Anti-Slavery Crusade

2009-09-04T13:21:00.000-04:00

by Jesse Macy

From the publisher:
The author of this book, Jesse Macy (1842-1919), was an American political scientist and historian of the late 19th and early 20th century, specializing in the history of American political parties, party systems, and the Civil War. He spent most of his professional career at his alma mater, Grinnell College. At age 17, he entered Iowa College. During the Civil War, he served in the Union army and he did not graduate until after the war, earning an A. B. in 1870. In 1884, he completed his Ph. D. at Johns Hopkins University.

For the next forty-two years, Macy taught history and political science at the college. He was also a leading author of political science textbooks. Professor Macy's 1896 manual on American civil government, Our Government: How it Grew, What it Does, and How it Does it, was an influential primer for university students and his 1897 The English Constitution: A Commentary on its Nature and Growth was acclaimed for providing the necessary foundation in English law to correctly understand American law.

Disaster in Damp Sand

2009-09-04T13:15:00.000-04:00

by Curt Anders

From the publisher:
Union General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign of 1864, the Disaster in Damp Sand, was the Confederacy's last decisive victory in the Civil War.

Texan Curt Anders graduated from the U. S. Military Academy in 1949 and commanded an infantry rifle company in combat during the Korean War. While a member of West Point's English department faculty he earned an MA at Columbia University. He lives in the Hudson Highlands of upstate New York.

Punitive War: Confederate Guerrillas and Union Reprisals

2009-09-02T13:08:00.002-04:00

by Clay Mountcastle

From the publisher:
Through widespread and relentless surprise attacks and ambushes, Confederate guerrillas drove Union soldiers and their leaders to desperation. Confederate cavalrymen engaged in hit-and-run tactics; autonomous partisan rangers preyed on Federal railroads, telegraph lines, and supply wagons; and civilian bushwhackers waylaid Union pickets. Together, all of these actions persuaded the Union to wage an increasingly punitive war.

Clay Mountcastle presents a new look at the complex nature of guerrilla warfare in the Civil War and the Union Army's calculated response to it. He examines guerrilla attacks and Federal responses in a number of operational theaters to show how the problem grew throughout the South and ultimately convinced the Union to adopt retaliatory measures that challenged the sensibilities of even the most hardened soldiers.

In revealing the impact that Confederate guerrilla activity had on the Union's prosecution of the war, Mountcastle reveals how the character of the war was shaped every bit as much by the troops on the ground as by their Union leaders. He draws on primary sources that vividly convey their reaction to the guerrilla problem and their justification for punitive action—with guerrillas described by one angry soldier as "thieves and murderers by occupation, rebels by pretense, soldiers only in name, and cowards by nature." Showing how much of the impetus for retaliation originated from the bottom up, starting in the western theater in 1861, he describes how it became the most influential factor in convincing Union generals, especially Grant and Sherman, that the war needed to be extended to include civilians and their property. The result was alevel of destructiveness that has been downplayed by other scholars—despite the evidence of executions and incidents of entire towns being burned to the ground.

By 1864, punitive action had evolved into such a powerful and decisive force that it produced what has been called "a warfare of frightfulness." And although guerrilla activity deviled the Union until the end, the Union's response ultimately proved a significant factor in persuading leaders like General Lee to call a halt to such actions and, ultimately, to surrender. Mountcastle's book offers the most revealing look yet at this incompletely understood dimension of the Civil War and also raises provocative questions about the relationship between guerrilla and conventional warfare in any conflict.

Clay Mountcastle, a major in the U.S. Army, has taught military history at West Point and is currently Battalion Executive Officer with Air Defense Artillery, stationed in Korea.

War Like the Thunderbolt: The Battle and Burning of Atlanta

2009-09-02T12:43:00.000-04:00

by Russell S. Bonds

From the publisher:
This is a superbly written account of the battle for and burning of Atlanta during the American Civil War - the event made famous in the film "Gone with the Wind". In War Like the Thunderbolt, Russell Bonds presents the epic story of what one observer call 'The greatest event of the Civil War' - the struggle for the city of Atlanta. It was the conflict that secured the re-election of Abraham Lincoln, sealed the fate of the Confederacy, and set a precedent for military campaigns across the world. Based on new research into diaries, previously unpublished letters, newspapers, and other archival sources, this superb volume takes readers across the smoky battlefield and into the lives of fascinating characters, both the famous and the forgotten, including the diminutive young Benjamin Harrison, later to become 23rd President of the USA, and Carrie Berry, a gifted diarist who belied her ten years of age. Like its fictional counterpart, "Gone with the Wind", this volume presents a superbly written account and meticulous account of this momentous event in American history.

"Through the power of Margaret Mitchell's words and the film they inspired, the struggle for Atlanta became all that most folks needed to know about our nation's four-year bloodbath. Russell S. Bonds has courageously focused his sights on retelling the story in War Like The Thunderbolt: The Battle and Burning of Atlanta. Through the depth of his research and his skills as both historian and storyteller, Bonds has given us what might have seemed impossible--a fresh, new, and impressive look back at Atlanta." --Robert Hicks, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Widow of the South

"This gripping story of the battles for Atlanta in 1864 provides new insights on a campaign that ensured Lincoln's reelection and the ultimate destruction of the Confederacy. Russell S. Bonds has an impressive ability to combine combat narrative with shrewd analyses of commanders' performances." --James M. McPherson, author of Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief

From CWBN
A beautifully written narrative history. It is exactly what the Civil War nonfiction buyer is looking for. Bonds is careful in his research, artistic in his assembly of testimony, deliberate in his analysis, cautious in judgement, gentle with reputations, measured in his tempo, and interesting throughout.

Bluejackets and Contrabands: African Americans and the Union Navy

2009-09-01T16:31:00.000-04:00

by Barbara Brooks Tomblin

From the publisher:
One of the lesser known stories of the Civil War is the role played by escaped slaves in the Union blockade along the Atlantic coast. From the beginning of the war, many African American refugees sought avenues of escape to the North. Due to their sheer numbers, those who reached Union forces presented a problem for the military. The problem was partially resolved by the First Confiscation Act of 1861, which permitted the seizure of property used in support of the South’s war effort, including slaves. Eventually regarded as contraband of war, the runaways became known as contrabands.

In Bluejackets and Contrabands, Barbara Brooks Tomblin examines the relationship between the Union Navy and the contrabands. The navy established colonies for the former slaves and, in return, some contrabands served as crewmen on navy ships and gunboats and as river pilots, spies, and guides. Tomblin presents a rare picture of the contrabands and casts light on the vital contributions of African Americans to the Union Navy and the Union cause.

Barbara Brooks Tomblin is the author of With Utmost Spirit: Allied Naval Operations in the Mediterranean, 1942-1945.

Confederate Finance

2009-09-01T16:26:00.000-04:00

by Richard Cecil Todd

From the publisher:
Confederate Finance, first published in 1954, looks at the measures taken by the Confederacy to stabilize its currency and offer a basis for foreign exchange. By the end of the Civil War, the Confederacy had resorted to a number of financial expedients, including the most desperate of measures. The Confederate government seized the property of enemies, levied direct taxes, and placed duties on exports and imports. In addition, donations and gifts were gratefully accepted. All the while, treasury notes flooded the market, and loans were floated in an attempt to continue the Confederacy's existence.

Richard Cecil Todd shows how these measures were used by the Confederate government to meet its obligations at home and abroad. He also discusses the organization and personnel of the Confederate Treasury Department.

North By South: The Two Lives of Richard James Arnold

2009-09-01T16:20:00.000-04:00

by Charles and Tess Hoffmann

From the publisher:
In 1823, Richard James Arnold, descendant of a Quaker family involved in the movement to abolish slavery in Rhode Island, married Louisa Gindrat of Bryan County, Georgia, and acquired a plantation called White Hall--thirteen hundred acres of rice and cotton land and sixty-eight slaves. Over the next fifty years, Arnold led two distinct, if never entirely separate lives, building through successive Georgia winters a profitable southern "paradise" rooted in human bondage, then returning each spring to his business interests and extended family in Rhode Island.
Organized around a surviving plantation journal kept during two winters and one spring, North by South encompasses Arnold's career as a rice and cotton planter as it uncovers the increasingly difficult social and moral disguises that enabled him to move freely through two worlds.

“North by South is an engrossing book. It makes a fresh and welcome contribution to the understanding of social and political history in the nineteenth century.”--Journal of Southern History

“A readily assimilated case-study that illustrates very graphically the flaws in the paternalistic planters’ view of slavery and the human contradictions, even in the North, of slave-ownership.”--Slavery and Abolition

“North by South deserves a place beside larger works like Robert Manson Myers’s The Children of Pride, and Malcolm Bell’s Major Butler’s Legacy.”--Alabama Review

Confederate Georgia

2009-09-01T16:06:00.000-04:00

by Thomas Conn Bryan

From the publisher:
Published in 1953, Confederate Georgia describes life in Georgia during the Civil War. T. Conn Bryan presents the political, military, economic, and social aspects of life, including secession, preparations for war, industry and transportation, wartime finance, desertion and disloyalty, women in the conflict, social life and diversions, the press and literary pursuits, education, and religion. Although Georgia's relations with the Confederate government are fully treated, the main emphasis is on activities within the state. Numerous quotations from letters, diaries, and other source materials give a personalized view of the war and capture the spirit of the times.

Civil War Macon: The History of a Confederate City

2009-09-01T15:34:00.000-04:00

by Richard W. Iobst

From the publisher:
This book offers an encyclopedic history of Macon, Georgia, during the Civil War. Macon is located at the head of navigation on the Ocmulgee River in the center of Georgia. In 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, Macon was a business community dedicated to supplying the needs of its citizens, of the cotton planters who grew the short-staple upland cotton, the principal foundation of wealth for the antebellum South. Now, for the first time in such detail, is the story told of Macon, Georgia, during the Civil War. What was life like in Macon during the war? What kinds of industry supplied the Confederate army? Why did Sherman not come down to Macon? What of Wilson's raid through Middle Georgia? These issues and much more fill the pages of Richard Iobst's very readable narrative.

Richard W. Iobst earned a Ph.D. in American History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is author of Bloody Sixth: History of the Sixth North Carolina Regiment, Confederate States of America, and more than twenty articles published in various historical records.

Take Care of the Living: Reconstructing Confederate Veteran Families in Virginia

2009-08-30T14:58:00.000-04:00

by Jeffrey W. McClurken

From the publisher:
Take Care of the Living assesses the short- and long-term impact of the war on Confederate veteran families of all classes in Pittsylvania County and Danville, Virginia.

Using letters, diaries, church minutes, and military and state records, as well as close analysis of the entire 1860 and 1870 Pittsylvania County manuscript population census, McClurken explores the consequences of the war for over three thousand Confederate soldiers and their families. The author reveals an array of strategies employed by those families to come to terms with their postwar reality, including reorganizing and reconstructing the household, turning to local churches for emotional and economic support, pleading with local elites for financial assistance or positions, sending psychologically damaged family members to a state-run asylum, and looking to the state for direct assistance in the form of replacement limbs for amputees, pensions, and even state-supported homes for old soldiers and widows.

Although these strategies or institutions for reconstructing the family had their roots in existing practices, the extreme need brought on by the scope and impact of the Civil War required an expansion beyond anything previously seen. McClurken argues that this change serves as a starting point for the study of the evolution of southern welfare.

The Sea Eagle: The Civil War Memoir of LCdr. William B. Cushing, U.S.N.

2009-08-28T15:03:00.000-04:00

by Alden Carter

From the publisher:
William Barker Cushing is considered one of the navy's greatest heroes of the Civil War. After his expulsion from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1861, Cushing managed to get an appointment as a master's mate on one of the warships of a blockading squadron. Cushing's daring and exceptional performance in battle led to a spectacular rise in rank, responsibility, and reputation. His military career culminated in his torpedoing of the Confederate ironclad Albemarle on the Roanoke River in 1864, an operation he executed under heavy enemy fire. This new and fully annotated edition of Cushing's memoir, originally written in 1867/1868, conveys the excitement and drama of a truly extraordinary Civil War naval career.

Rebel at Large: The Diary of Confederate Deserter Philip Van Buskirk

2009-08-27T15:07:00.000-04:00

by Philip Van Buskirk, B. R. Burg (Editor)

From the publisher:
This diary is one of the most unusual produced during the Civil War because it contains very little about military life. Early in the war Van Buskirk abandoned his regiment, working as a schoolmaster, farm hand, and casual laborer. He wrote of the suffering civilians endured at the hands of contending armies. But he also found time to chronicle his fascination with handsome young lads he encountered during his life as a deserter—unwittingly providing modern readers an illuminating glimpse of class differences and sexual mores. Naval, social and sexual historians, in particular, will find much valuable source material.

B.R. Burg is a professor of history at Arizona State University and has written extensively on the sexuality among seafarers and the sexual abuse of children.

The Civil War at Perryville: Battling for the Bluegrass

2009-08-27T15:05:00.000-04:00

by Christopher L. Kolakowski

From the publisher:
Desperate to seize control of Kentucky, the Confederate army launched an invasion into the commonwealth in the fall of 1862, viciously culminating at an otherwise quite Bluegrass crossroads and forever altering the landscape of the war. The Battle lasted just one day yet produced nearly eight thousand combined casualties and losses, and some say nary a victor. The Rebel army was forced to retreat, and United States kept its imperative grasp on Kentucky throughout the war.

Few know this hallowed ground like Christopher L. Kolakowski, former director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, who draws on letters, reports, memoirs and other primary sources to offer the most accessible and engaging account of the Kentucky campaign yet, featuring over sixty historic images and maps.

Homeland (novel)

2009-08-25T15:10:00.000-04:00

by Barbara Hambly

From the publisher:
Those who loved Cold Mountain or Geraldine Brooks’s March will embrace and long remember this spellbinding novel of two remarkable women torn apart by conflict, sustained by literature and art, united by friendship and hope.

As brother turns against brother in the bloodbath of the Civil War, two young women sacrifice everything but their friendship. Susanna Ashford is the Southerner, living on a plantation surrounded by scarred and blood-soaked battlefields. Cora Poole is the Northerner, on an isolated Maine island, her beloved husband fighting for the Confederacy. Through the letters the two women exchange, they speak of the ordeal of a familiar world torn apart by tragedy. And yet their unique friendship will help mend the fabric of a ravaged nation.

The two women write about books and art, about loss and longing, about their future and the future of their country. About love. About being a woman in nineteenth-century America. About the triumphant resilience of the human spirit.

Their voices and their stories are delineated in indomitable prose by an award-winning writer who captures in intimate detail a singular moment in time. In Homeland, Barbara Hambly takes readers on a unique odyssey across a landscape treacherous with hardship and hatred. She paints a passionate masterpiece of a friendship that not only transforms our understanding of the most heart-wrenching era of American history but celebrates the power of women to change their world.

The Civil War at Sea

2009-08-25T15:09:00.000-04:00

by Craig L. Symonds

From the publisher:
From Craig Symonds, author of the 2009 Lincoln Prize award-winner Lincoln and His Admirals, comes a fascinating look at the era when American naval power came of age. Thoroughly researched and excitingly written, it brings to light a wealth of new information on a pivotal aspect of the Civil War.

The Civil War at Sea covers navies on both sides of the conflict, examining key issues such as the impact of emergent technologies, the effectiveness of the Union's ambitious strategy of blockading, the odyssey of Confederate commerce raiders, the role of naval forces on the western rivers, and the difficulty of conducting combined sea and ground operations against the major Southern port cities. For Civil War buffs, fans of military and technological history, and other interested readers, it is insightful, essential reading.

The 151st Pennsylvania Volunteers at Gettysburg: Like Ripe Apples in a Storm

2009-08-21T15:12:00.001-04:00

by Michael A. Dreese

From the publisher:
Dreese, president of the Friends and Descendants of the 151st Pennsylvania, describes how the relatively untried troops lost over 72% of their strength to death, wounds, or capture during the course of the battle as they fought Pettigrew's North Carolinians on July 1st and helped repulse the famous Confederate charge two days later.

Michael A. Dreese is the author of five books and numerous journal articles on topics including Pennsylvania and the American Civil War. An award-winning photographer, he is the president of the Friends and Descendants of the 151st Pennsylvania, and vice-president of the Susquehanna Civil War Round Table. He lives in Kreamer, Pennsylvania.

Lincoln of Kentucky

2009-08-21T15:12:00.000-04:00

by Lowell H. Harrison

From the publisher:
Young Abraham Lincoln and his family joined the migration over the Ohio River, but it was Kentucky--the state of his birth--that shaped his personality and continued to affect his life. His wife was from the commonwealth, as were each of the other women with whom he had romantic relationships. Henry Clay was his political idol; Joshua Speed of Farmington, near Louisville, was his lifelong best friend; and all three of his law partners were Kentuckians.

During the Civil War, Lincoln is reputed to have said, "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky." He recognized Kentucky's importance as the bellwether of the four loyal slave states and accepted the commonwealth's illegal neutrality until Unionists secured firm control of the state government. Lowell Harrison emphasizes the particular skill and delicacy with which Lincoln handled the problems of a loyal slave state populated by a large number of Confederate sympathizers. It was not until decades later that Kentuckians fully recognized Lincoln's greatness and paid homage to their native son.

Lowell H. Harrison, professor emeritus of history at Western Kentucky University, is the author of several books, including The Civil War in Kentucky and George Rogers Clark and the War in the West, and editor of Kentucky’s Governors. He is coauthor of A New History of Kentucky.

American Civil War Railroad Tactics

2009-08-18T15:14:00.000-04:00

by Robert Hodges

From the publisher:
The American Civil War was the world's first full-blown 'railroad war'. The well-developed network in the North was of great importance in serving the Union army's logistic needs over long distances, and the sparser resources of the South were proportionately even more important. Both sides invested great efforts in raiding and wrecking enemy railroads and defending and repairing their own, and battles often revolved around strategic rail junctions.

Robert Hodges reveals the thrilling chases and pitched battles that made the railroad so dangerous and resulted in a surprisingly high casualty rate. He describes the equipment and tactics used by both sides and the vital supporting elements - maintenance works, telegraph lines, fuel and water supplies, as well as garrisoned blockhouses to protect key points. Full-color illustrations bring the fast-paced action to life in this fascinating read; a must-have volume for both rail and Civil War enthusiasts.
Biography

The Last Generation: Young Virginians in Peace, War, and Reunion

2009-08-15T15:15:00.000-04:00

by Peter S. Carmichael

From the publisher:
Challenging the popular conception of Southern youth on the eve of the Civil War as intellectually lazy, violent, and dissipated, Peter S. Carmichael looks closely at the lives of more than one hundred young white men from Virginia's last generation to grow up with the institution of slavery. He finds them deeply engaged in the political, economic, and cultural forces of their time. Age, he concludes, created special concerns for young men who spent their formative years in the 1850s.

Before the Civil War, these young men thought long and hard about Virginia's place as a progressive slave society. They vigorously lobbied for disunion despite opposition from their elders, then served as officers in the Army of Northern Virginia as frontline negotiators with the nonslaveholding rank and file. After the war, however, they quickly shed their Confederate radicalism to pursue the political goals of home rule and New South economic development and reconciliation. Not until the turn of the century, when these men were nearing the ends of their lives, did the mythmaking and storytelling begin, and members of the last generation recast themselves once more as unreconstructed Rebels.

By examining the lives of members of this generation on personal as well as generational and cultural levels, Carmichael sheds new light on the formation and reformation of Southern identity during the turbulent last half of the nineteenth century.

Peter S. Carmichael is assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His previous books include Lee's Young Artillerist: William R. J. Pegram and Audacity Personified: The Generalship of Robert E. Lee.

Abraham Lincoln (play)

2009-08-14T15:17:00.000-04:00

by John Drinkwater

From the publisher:
John Drinkwater (1882-1937) who also wrote under the pseudonyms John Darnley and E. Wilmot Terris, was an English poet and dramatist. He was born in Leytonstone, London, and worked as an insurance clerk. In the period immediately before the First World War, he was one of the group of poets associated with the Gloucestershire village of Dymock, along with Rupert Brooke and others.

In 1918, he scored his first major success with his play, Abraham Lincoln. He followed it up with other plays in a similar vein, including: Mary Stuart (1921) and Oliver Cromwell (1921). He progressed into literary criticism, and later became manager of Birmingham Repertory Theatre. His other works include: The Death of Leander and Other Poems (1906), Lyrical and Other Poems (1907), Poems of Men and Hours (1911), Cophetua (1911), An English Medley (1911), The Pied Piper (1912), Poems of Love and Earth (1912), The Only Legend (1913), Pussin Boots (1913) and Rebellion (1914).

Great Commanders Head to Head: The Battles of the Civil War

2009-08-11T15:21:00.000-04:00

by Kevin Doughery

From the publisher:
There have been many books written about the Civil War, but none have captured the bloody battles quite like Great Commanders Head to Head. Discover what drove Ulysses S. Grant and other great Civil War leaders on and off the battlefield, and how their victories and losses shaped the war—and America. Each chapter examines a decisive battle between a pair of imposing adversaries, featuring some of the greatest American commanders in battle: Lee vs. McClellan on the blood-soaked fields of Antietam, Beauregard vs. McDowell at First Manassas, and Sherman vs. Hood in the March to the Sea. Each head-to-head battle includes a contextual introduction, a description of the action, and an analysis of the aftermath. Military experts share their insights into the strategies of each commander. Specially commissioned, full-color maps depict an overhead view of featured battles, including the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Conflicts are described as they happened, with insightful annotations and color-coded symbols to show the movement of opposing forces. Special box features showcase opposing commanders’ strengths and weaknesses, and offer analysis as to why one triumphed on the battlefield while the other failed.