Friday, August 31, 2007

Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients: A Complete Illustrated Record

by Robert P. Broadwater

From the publisher:
In November 1861, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Townsend, adjutant general of the Army, sought to establish an award to motivate and inspire Northern soldiers in the aftermath of the early, morale-devastating defeats of the Civil War. The outcome of Townsend’s brainstorm was the Congressional Medal of Honor.

This reference book details and organizes information regarding the Civil War Medal of Honor and its recipients in an easily accessible, previously unemployed format. After a brief history of the medal, the book presents a traditional alphabetical list of medal recipients and details their acts of heroism. The work then organizes recipients by a variety of criteria including branch of service; regiment or naval ship assignment; place of action; act of heroism; state or country of nativity; age of recipient; and date of issuance. Also included is information about the first winners of the medal, the first recipients of multiple medals, posthumously awarded medals and civilian recipients.

Robert P. Broadwater has written more than 20 books and more than 100 magazine articles dealing with the Civil War and the Revolution. He is the author of many works on military history including American Generals of the Revolutionary War (2007), The Battle of Olustee, 1864 (2006), The Battle of Perryville, 1862 (2005) and Chickamauga, Andersonville, Fort Sumter and Guard Duty at Home (2006) and lives in Bellwood, Pennsylvania.