Best of
American-Civil-War

1959

Pickett's Charge: A Microhistory of the Final Attack at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863


George R. Stewart - 1959
    This book covers a critical part of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War


Alexander Gardner - 1959
    Indeed, Gardner — who later photographed the War independently — often managed the famous horse-drawn photographic laboratory and took many of the pictures that used to be attributed to Brady. He accompanied the Union troops on their marches, their camps and bivouacs, their battles, and on their many hasty retreats and routs during the early days of the War. In 1866 Alexander Gardner published a very ambitious two-volume work which contained prints of some 100 photographs which he had taken in the field. A list of them reads like a roster of great events and great men: Antietam Bridge under Travel, President Lincoln (and McClellan) at Antietam, Pinkerton and His Agents in the Field, Ruins of Richmond, Libby Prison, McLean's House Where Lee's Surrender Was Signed, Meade's Headquarters at Gettysburg, Battery D, Second U.S. Artillery in Action at Fredericksburg, the Slaughter Pen at Gettysburg, and many others. This publication is now amoung the rarest American books, and is here for the first time republished inexpensively. Gardner's photographs are among the greatest war pictures ever taken and are also among the most prized records of American history. Gardner was quite conscious of recording history, and spared himself no pains or risk to achieve the finest results. His work indicates a technical mastery that now seems incredible when one bears in mind the vicissitudes of collodion applications in the field, wet plates, long exposures, long drying times, imperfect chemicals — plus enemy bullets around the photographer's ears. It has been said of these photographs: photography today . . . is far easier, but it is no better.

The Love Letter


Jack Finney - 1959
    Fantasy, Romance.I've heard of secret drawers in old desks, of course--who hasn't?But the day I bought my desk, I wasn't thinking of secret drawers, and I know very well I didn't have any least premonition or feel of mystery about it.Also availiable at:http://web.archive.org/web/2009022318...

Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders


Ezra J. Warner - 1959
    Biographical sketches of the major Confederate military leaders focus on their military careers as well as peacetime activities.

Stonewall's Man: Sandie Pendleton


W.G. Bean - 1959
    Pendleton began as ordnance officer of the Stonewall Brigade of the Army of the Shenandoah in the spring of 1861. By January of 1863, he had become chief of staff of the famed Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia and was recognized as a brilliant staff officer--even as "Stonewall's Man." Wounded in the battle of Fisher's Hill, Pendleton died five days before his twenty-fourth birthday.Based on diaries, letters, and manuscripts, the poignant and revealing story of Pendleton's life and Civil War experiences is set against a background of the campaigns in which he participated.