In the years leading up to the Civil War, one enduring friendship embodies the tensions of a nation. Orry Main from South Carolina and George Hazard from Pennsylvania forge a lasting bond while training at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Together they fight in the Mexican-American War, but their closeness is tested as their regional politics diverge. As the first rounds are fired at Fort Sumter, Orry and George find themselves on different sides of the coming struggle. In John Jakes’s unmatched style, North and South launches a trilogy that captures the fierce passions of a country at the precipice of disaster.In Love and War, the Main and Hazard families clash on and off the Civil War’s battlefields as they grapple with the violent realities of a divided nation. With the Confederate and Union armies furiously fighting, the once-steadfast bond between the Main and Hazard families continues to be tested. From opposite sides of the conflict, they face heartache and triumph on the frontlines as they fight for the future of the nation and their loved ones. With his impeccable research and unfailing devotion to the historical record, John Jakes offers his most enthralling and enduring tale yet.In Heaven and Hell, the battle between the Mains and Hazards—and Confederate and Union armies—comes to a brilliant end. The last days of the Civil War bring no peace for the Main and Hazard families. As the Mains’ South smolders in the ruins of defeat, the Hazards’ North pushes blindly for relentless industrial progress. Both the nation and the families’ long-standing bond hover on the brink of destruction. In the series’ epic conclusion, Jakes expertly blends personal conflict with historical events, crafting a haunting page-turner about America’s constant change and unyielding hope.

    It didn’t matter if the soldier wore blue or gray or was an officer or enlisted man, for bullets, shell fragments, bayonets, and swords made no class or sectional distinction. Almost 21,000 of the wounded were left behind by the two armies in and around the small town of 2,400 civilians. Most ended up being treated in makeshift medical facilities overwhelmed by the flood of injured. Many of these and their valiant efforts are covered in Greg Coco’s A Vast Sea of Misery: A History and Guide to the Union and Confederate Field Hospitals at Gettysburg, July 1-November 20, 1863.The battle to save the wounded was nearly as terrible as the battle that placed them in such a perilous position. Once the fighting ended, the maimed and suffering warriors could be found in churches, public buildings, private homes, farmhouses, barns, and outbuildings. Thousands more, unreachable or unable to be moved remained in the open, subject to the uncertain whims of the July elements. As one surgeon unhappily recalled, “No written nor expressed language could ever picture the field of Gettysburg! Blood! blood! And tattered flesh! Shattered bones and mangled forms almost without the semblance of human beings!”Based upon years of firsthand research, Coco’s A Vast Sea of Misery introduces readers to 160 of those frightful places called field hospitals. It is a sad journey you will never forget, and you won’t feel quite the same about Gettysburg once you finish reading.

    Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac clashed in the Virginia countryside--first in the battle of the Wilderness, where the Federal army sustained greater losses than at Chancellorsville, and then further south in the vicinity of Spotsylvania Courthouse, where Grant sought to cut Lee's troops off from the Confederate capital of Richmond.This is the first book-length examination of the pivotal Spotsylvania campaign of 7-21 May. Drawing on extensive research in manuscript collections across the country and an exhaustive reading of the available literature, William Matter sets the strategic stage for the campaign before turning to a detailed description of tactical movements. He offers abundant fresh material on race from the Wilderness to Spotsylvania, the role of Federal and Confederate calvary, Emory Upton's brilliantly conceived Union assault on 10 May, and the bitter clash on 19 May at the Harris farm. Throughout the book, Matter assesses each side's successes, failures, and lost opportunities and sketches portraits of the principal commanders.The centerpiece of the narrative is a meticulous and dramatic treatment of the horrific encounter in the salient that formed the Confederate center on 12 May. There the campaign reached its crisis, as soldiers waged perhaps the longest and most desperate fight of the entire war for possession of the Bloody Angle--a fight so savage that trees were literally shot to pieces by musket fire. Matter's sure command of a mass of often-conflicting testimony enables him to present by far the clearest account to date of this immensely complex phase of the battle.Rigorously researched, effectively presented, and well supported by maps, this book is a model tactical study that accords long overdue attention to the Spotsylvania campaign. It will quickly take its place in the front rank of military studies of the Civil War.

    This title incorporates scholarship, and addresses areas of interest in the Civil War/Reconstruction era, including the motivations and experiences of soldiers and the role of women in the war effort.

    Originally published in 1936, the book is based on a true story related to Lytle by one of his close friends and colleagues at Vanderbilt University, Frank L. Owsley, who later became the chairman of The University of Alabama Department of History. In fact, the novel opens with a letter to Professor Owsley from the author, and Owsley’s son has written the introduction to this edition. As described by George B. Tindall, The Long Night is “the episodic story of a young Alabamian beset by the moral dilemma of desire for revenge against the persecutors of his father and his larger duty in the war, a story that rose to its climax in the Battle of Shiloh.” The work is rich in its description of the land and people of Black-Belt Alabama during the mid-19th century.

    And now, for the first time, a comprehensive study that describes the tremendous maritime trade that flowed into Southern harbors from Texas to Virginia is available with the publication of Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War. Highlighted with numerous maps, illustrations, and a listing of more than 300 blockade runners, this book analyzes the impact of blockade running on the Southern war effort. The work tells the vivid story of the revolutionary vessels and the unknown individuals who made up the supply system that came to be called the Lifeline of the Confederacy.

    

    

    Here is the ideal reference for Civil War scholars, students, political historians and enthusiasts who want to know the real people who fought at Bull Run and Gettysburg, as well as the civilians behind the lines who contributed to their efforts. The cast of characters is as large and varied as the United States itself.Arranged in an A-Z format, WHO WAS WHO IN THE CIVIL WAR covers:- Major military leaders - all 583 Union and 425 Confederate officers who attained one of the ranks of general.- Lesser-ranking officers, soldiers, seamen, scouts and spies who particularly distinguished themselves in action.- Major political leaders - presidents, presidential candidates, senators, congressmen and governors.- Political activists - Secessionists, Abolitionists, Southern Unionists and Copperheads.- Important civilian noncombatants - engineers, journalists, photographers, artists-correspondents, surgeons and nurses.Complementing the authoritative text are nearly 250 illustrations, many of them historic photographs from such famous battlefield photographers as Mathew Brady.

    On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men. . . . to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life."-Abraham Lincoln Chosen by Civil War magazine as one of the 200 best books on the war, Phillip Paludan's acclaimed work was the first book since 1910 to describe in a single volume the multifaceted impacts of this tragic conflict on Northern society. Weaving together insights from literature, law, politics, economics, diplomacy, and religion, Paludan shows how the North redefined itself as a modern nation through two monumental and inextricably linked events-the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution. More than that, he brings this story to life through the lives and writings of the individuals, great and small, who experienced and influenced the events he describes.

    At end, the authors found that states' rights disputes, the Union blockade, and inadequate southern forces did not fully account for the surrender. Rather, they concluded, the South lacked the will to win. Its strength sapped by a faltering Confederate nationalism and weakened by a peculiar brand of evangelical Protestantism, the South withdrew from a war not yet lost on the field of battle.Roughly one-half the size of its parent study, The Elements of Confederate Defeat retains all the essential arguments of the earlier edition, forming for the student a book that at once follows the events of the war and presents the major interpretations of its outcome in the South.

    And now comes a book that reminds us of the glory of being Southern! Just when you thought the liberal press had succeeded in grinding us into the ground with their barrage of derogatory patter, a glimmer of hope emerges, and Southerners are once again discovering that being Southern is a good thing after all-just like it used to be!If you are proud of your Southern heritage, you'll rejoice in Southern by the Grace of God. Many of us are proud to be Southern, but we don't know just why. Since Southern history has been purged from the textbooks that children study today, our youth have little conception of a heritage. Even some of us that are older are not well grounded in it either. The author has gathered together the elements of our heritage and gives us a short course in our splendid legacy. It could be called a "handbook for Southerners." The entire South is reflected in this work, from Oklahoma to Virginia, from Texas to Florida. There is no other book like it on the market today . Some features you'll find: * Biographical Sketches and Photos of Seven Confederate Heroes * A Section on Southern Folklore * 200 Old Photographs from 1853 through 1919 * A Humorous Southern Dictionary for Helping Yankees Better Understand Us * A Chapter about the War Between the States * A Genealogical Bonanza * The Real Story of Reconstruction * A Look at Why Southerners Are Special * Recommended Reading List