Best of
American-Civil-War

1999

Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Character, Courage, and Vision


H.W. Crocker III - 1999
    Lee was a leader for the ages. The man heralded by Winston Churchill as "one of the noblest Americans who ever lived" inspired an out-manned, out-gunned army to achieve greatness on the battlefield. He was a brilliant strategist and a man of unyielding courage who, in the face of insurmountable odds, nearly changed forever the course of history. "A masterpiece—the best work of its kind I have ever read. Crocker's Lee is a Lee for all leaders to study; and to work, quite deliberately, to emulate." — Major General Josiah Bunting III, superintendent of the Virginia Military InstituteIn this remarkable book, you'll learn the keys to Lee's greatness as a man and a leader. You'll find a general whose standards for personal excellence was second to none, whose leadership was founded on the highest moral principles, and whose character was made of steel. You'll see how he remade a rag-tag bunch of men into one of the most impressive fighting forces history has ever known. You'll also discover other sides of Lee—the businessman who inherited the debt-ridden Arlington plantation and streamlined its operations, the teacher who took a backwater college and made it into a prestigious university, and the motivator who inspired those he led to achieve more than they ever dreamed possible. Each chapter concludes with the extraordinary lessons learned, which can be applied not only to your professional life, but also to your private life as well. Today's business world requires leaders of uncommon excellence who can overcome the cold brutality of constant change. Robert E. Lee was such a leader. He triumphed over challenges people in business face every day. Guided by his magnificent example, so can you.

Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President


Allen C. Guelzo - 1999
    Written with passion and dramatic impact, Guelzo's masterful study offers a revealing new perspective on a man whose life was in many ways a paradox. Since its original publication in 1999, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President has garnered numerous accolades, not least the prestigious 2000 Lincoln Prize. As journalist Richard N. Ostling has noted, "Much has been written about Lincoln's belief and disbelief," but Guelzo's extraordinary account "goes deeper."

Taken at the Flood: Robert E. Lee and Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862


Joseph L. Harsh - 1999
    It focuses on military policy and strategy, examining the context necessary to understand that strategy and the circumstances under which the two commanders, Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan, laboured.

Controversies & Commanders: Dispatches from the Army of the Potomac


Stephen W. Sears - 1999
      From an award-winning military historian and the bestselling author of Gettysburg, this is a wide-ranging collection of essays about the Army of the Potomac, delving into such topics as Professor Lowe’s reconnaissance balloons; the court-martial of Fitz John Porter; the Lost Order at Antietam; press coverage of the war; the looting of Fredericksburg; the Mud March; the roles of volunteers, conscripts, bounty jumpers, and foreign soldiers; the notorious Gen. Dan Sickles, who shot his wife’s lover outside the White House; and two generals who were much maligned: McClellan (justifiably) and Hooker (not so justifiably).   This lively book follows the Army of the Potomac throughout the war, from 1861 to 1865, painting a remarkable portrait of the key incidents and personalities that influenced the course of our nation’s greatest cataclysm.

Three Days at Gettysburg: Essays on Confederate and Union Leadership


Gary W. GallagherWilliam Glenn Robertson - 1999
    Because it was a defining event for both the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia, the debates began almost immediately after the battle, and they continue today.Three Days at Gettysburg contains essays from noted Civil War historians on leadership during the battle. The contributors to this volume believe there is room for scholarship that revisits the sources on which earlier accounts have been based and challenges prevailing interpretations of key officers' performances. They have trained their investigative lens on some obvious and some relatively neglected figures, with an eye toward illuminating not only what happened at Gettysburg but also the nature of command at different levels.The contributors to this volume believe there is room for scholarship that revisits the sources on which earlier accounts have been based and challenges prevailing interpretations of key officers' performances. They have trained their investigative lens on some obvious and some relatively neglected figures, with an eye toward illuminating not only what happened at Gettysburg but also the nature of the command at different levels.

Civil War Recipes: Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book


Lily May Spaulding - 1999
    The recipes (spelled "receipts") it published were often submitted by women from both the North and the South, and they reveal the wide variety of regional cooking that characterized American culture. There is a remarkable diversity in the recipes, thanks to the largely rural readership of Godey's Lady's Book and to the immigrant influence on th

Glorieta Pass


P.G. Nagle - 1999
    At stake is a route to Colorado's gold and San Francisco's unblockadable sea coast, two goals that would give the Confederate States a vital edge. General H.H. Sibley's Texas Confederates are opposed by a Union army under Colonel E.R.S. Canby. Before the war, Sibley and Candby were on the same side. Now there's just no winning in this bloody battle between countrymen torn apart by money, politics, and geography. History will ignore the fate of Lieutenant Franklin of New York, Captain O'Brien of the Colorado Volunteers, Jamie Russell of San Antonio, and Miss Laura Howland, recently arrived from Boston. They will be utterly changed, however, in the cauldron of battle where the fate of Glorieta Pass--and hundreds of lives--is decided.

Where Death and Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry


Russell Duncan - 1999
    Confederate defenders killed, wounded, or made prisoners of half the regiment. Only hours later, the body of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the regiment's white commander, was thrown into a mass grave with those of twenty of his men. The assault promoted the young colonel to the higher rank of martyr, ranking him alongside the legendary John Brown in the eyes of abolitionists.In this biography of Shaw, Russell Duncan presents a poignant portrait of an average young soldier, just past the cusp of manhood and still struggling against his mother's indomitable will, thrust unexpectedly into the national limelight. Using information gleaned from Shaw's letters home before and during the war, Duncan tells the story of the rebellious son of wealthy Boston abolitionists who never fully reconciled his own racial prejudices yet went on to head the North's vanguard black regiment and give his life to the cause of freedom. This thorough biography looks at Shaw from historical and psychological viewpoints and examines the complex family relationships that so strongly influenced him.

Gettysburg: Day Two A Study In Maps


John Imhof - 1999
    Each map shows the battlefield as a whole, rather than small sections of it, allowing the reader to see how events were interrelated. Each map is followed by several heavily-footnoted pages of text explaining what is occurring on the maps.

Mountain Rebels: East Tennessee Confederates 1860-1870


W. Todd Groce - 1999
    His analysis raises provocative questions about the socioeconomic foundations of Civil War sympathies in the Mountain South.”—Robert Tracy McKenzie, University of Washington“Scholars of Appalachia’s Civil War have long awaited Todd Groce’s study of East Tennessee secessionists. I am pleased to report that this ground-breaking study of Southern Mountain Confederates was worth the wait.”—Kenneth Noe, State University of West GeorgiaA bastion of Union support during the Civil War, East Tennessee was also home to Confederate sympathizers who took up the Southern cause until the bitter end. Yet historians have viewed these mountain rebels as scarcely different from other Confederates or as an aberration in the region's Unionism. Often they are simply ignored.W. Todd Groce corrects this distorted view of East Tennessee's antebellum development and wartime struggle. He paints a clearer picture of the region’s Confederates than has previously been available, examining why they chose secession over union and revealing why they have become so invisible to us today. Drawing extensively on primary sources—newspapers, diaries, government reports—Groce allows the voices of these mountain rebels finally to be heard.Groce explains the economic forces and the family and political ties to the Deep South that motivated the East Tennessee Confederates reluctantly to join the fight for Southern independence. Caught in a war they neither sought nor started, they were trapped between an unfriendly administration in Richmond and a hostile Union majority in their midst. When the fighting was over and they returned home to face their vengeful Unionist neighbors, many were forced to flee, contributing to the postwar economic decline of the region.Placing the story in a broad context, Groce provides an overview of the region's economy and explains the social origins of secessionist sympathies. He also presents a collective profile of one hundred high-ranking Confederate officers from East Tennessee to show how they were representative of the rising commercial and financial leadership in the region.Mountain Rebels intertwines economic, political, military, and social history to present a poignant tale of defeat, suffering, and banishment. By piecing together this previously untold story, it fills a void in Southern history, Civil War history, and Appalachian studies.The Author: W. Todd Groce is executive director of the Georgia Historical Society.

The Edge of Glory: A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans, U.S.A.


William M. Lamers - 1999
    Rosecrans (1819-1898) was one of the most fascinating and tragic figures of the Civil War. In September 1863 President Lincoln and Congress considered him the most able general on the Union side, but only one month later "Old Rosy" was removed from his command and then quickly forgotten. With The Edge of Glory, William M. Lamers returns this imposing, colorful figure to his rightful place in history.Lamers examines Rosecrans's experiences at Iuka and Corinth during the Mississippi campaign, the strategic brilliance that led to the withdrawal of Bragg's men from Tullahoma and Shelbyville, and his role as commander of the Army of the Cumberland in the Tennessee battles of Stone's River and the disastrous Chickamauga. Yet the demise of Rosecrans's distinguished military career, Lamers illustrates, was not a result of his humiliating defeat at Chickamauga but of his difficult, uncompromising personality and the scorn he aroused in many of his superiors, including General Ulysses S. Grant and Edwin Stanton, Lincoln's secretary of war. Although Rosecrans fell short of greatness as a military commander, Lamers deftly shows that he did indeed reach "the edge of glory."

The Antietam Campaign


Gary W. Gallagher - 1999
    Crucial political, diplomatic, and military issues were at stake as Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan maneuvered and fought in the western part of the state. The climactic clash came on September 17 at the battle of Antietam, where more than 23,000 men fell in the single bloodiest day of the war.Approaching topics related to Lee's and McClellan's operations from a variety of perspectives, contributors to this volume explore questions regarding military leadership, strategy, and tactics, the impact of the fighting on officers and soldiers in both armies, and the ways in which participants and people behind the lines interpreted and remembered the campaign. They also discuss the performance of untried military units and offer a look at how the United States Army used the Antietam battlefield as an outdoor classroom for its officers in the early twentieth century.The contributors are William A. Blair, Keith S. Bohannon, Peter S. Carmichael, Gary W. Gallagher, Lesley J. Gordon, D. Scott Hartwig, Robert E. L. Krick, Robert K. Krick, Carol Reardon, and Brooks D. Simpson.[for catalog, in place of 3rd paragraph]]The contributors: William A. BlairKeith S. BohannonPeter S. CarmichaelGary W. GallagherLesley J. GordonD. Scott HartwigRobert E. L. KrickRobert K. KrickCarol ReardonBrooks D. Simpson The Maryland campaign of September 1862 ranks among the most important military operations of the American Civil War. The climactic clash came on September 17 at the battle of Antietam, where more than 23,000 men fell in the single bloodiest day of the war. Exploring topics related to Lee's and McClellan's operations from a variety of perspectives, contributors to this volume examine questions of military leadership, strategy, and tactics; the performance of untried military units; and the ways in which the battle has been remembered. The contributors are William A. Blair, Keith S. Bohannon, Peter S. Carmichael, Gary W. Gallagher, Lesley J. Gordon, D. Scott Hartwig, Robert E. L. Krick, Robert K. Krick, Carol Reardon, and Brooks D. Simpson. The editor is Gary W. Gallagher.

Fort Anderson: The Battle For Wilmington


Chris E. Fonvielle Jr. - 1999
    Fort Anderson was one of several Civil War battles fought for control of the city; this large-format book is heavily illustrated.

A War of the People: Vermont Civil War Letters


Jeffrey D. Marshall - 1999
    An illustrated anthology of the most revealing Civil War letters by Vermont soldiers and homefront civilians.

Illustrated History of the Civil War 3V


Time-Life Books - 1999
    

Bluecoats: The U.S. Army in the West, 1848-1897


John P. Langellier - 1999
    Each volume in this ongoing series combines detailed and informative captions with over 100 rare and unusual images. These books are a must for anyone interested in American military uniforms.

Sounding the Shallows: A Confederate Compendium for the Maryland Campaign of 1862


Joseph L. Harsh - 1999
    A companion volume to Taken at the Flood, this book identifies areas of research and in-depth source materials for studies of the Maryland campaign.

Guerrillas, Unionists, and Violence on the Confederate Home Front


Daniel E. Sutherland - 1999
    But as Daniel Sutherland reminds us, the impact of battles and elections cannot be properly understood without an examination of the struggle for survival on the home front, of lives lived in the atmosphere created by war. Sutherland gathers eleven essays by such noted Civil War scholars as Michael Fellman, Donald Frazier, Noel Fisher, and B. F. Cooling, each one exploring the Confederacy's internal war in a different state. All help to broaden our view of the complexity of war and to provide us with a clear picture of war's consequences, its impact on communities, homes, and families. This strong collection of essays delves deeply into what Daniel Sutherland calls "the desperate side of war," enriching our understanding of a turbulent and divisive period in American history.

The Class of 1861: Custer, Ames, and Their Classmates after West Point


Ralph Kirshner - 1999
    Through letters, journals, and published accounts, George Armstrong Custer, Adelbert Ames, and their classmates tell in their own words of their Civil War battles and of their varied careers after the war.Two classes graduated from West Point in 1861 because of Lincoln's need of lieutenants: forty-five cadets in Ames's class in May and thirty-four in Custer's class in June. The cadets range from Henry Algernon du Pont, first in the class of May, whose ancestral home is now Winterthur Garden, to Custer, last in the class of June. “Only thirty-four graduated,” remarked Custer, “and of these thirty-three graduated above me.” West Point's mathematics professor and librarian Oliver Otis Howard, after whom Howard University is named, is also portrayed.Other famous names from the class of 1861 are John Pelham, Emory Upton, Thomas L. Rosser, John Herbert Kelly (the youngest general in the Confederacy when appointed), Patrick O'Rorke (head of the class of June), Alonzo Cushing, Peter Hains, Edmund Kirby, John Adair (the only deserter in the class), and Judson Kilpatrick (great-grandfather of Gloria Vanderbilt). They describe West Point before the Civil War, the war years, including the Vicksburg campaign and the battle of Gettysburg, the courage and character of classmates, and the ending of the war.Kirshner also highlights postwar lives, including Custer at Little Bighorn; Custer's rebel friend Rosser; John Whitney Barlow, who explored Yellowstone; du Pont, senator and author; Kilpatrick, playwright and diplomat; Orville E. Babcock, Grant's secretary until his indictment in the "Whiskey Ring"; Pierce M. B. Young, a Confederate general who became a diplomat; Hains, the only member of the class to serve on active duty in World War I; and Upton, "the class genius." The Class of 1861, which features eighty-three photographs, includes a foreword by George Plimpton, editor of the Paris Review and great-grandson of General Adelbert Ames.

The Ideals Guide to American Civil War Places


Ideals Publications Inc. - 1999
    Expert research, writing, and photography make this travel guide wonderfully informative.Twenty states are represented in the volume, forming the twenty divisions of the book. Each chapter begins with a discussion of the state's overall political and military position in the war, information that heightens one's appreciation of the site. Accompanying this introductory information is a map of the state that pinpoints the areas of interest. Major campaigns are outlined, with Union and Rebel commanders, strength of forces, and number of casualties listed. Battlegrounds, cemeteries, museums, homes, prisons, and monuments are visited, and each has a listing of addresses, hours of operation, admission fees, if any, and short descriptions of what can be found at the site.Each chapter boasts beautiful scenic photographs of the sites as they are today, while some Matthew Brady photos of the actual union camps add to the sense of history one feels when touring sites of our heritage. Portraits of the generals painted by their contemporaries heighten the awareness of real people having once lived, plotted, and fought on the ground now traveled.For a better understanding of the events that took place, a Chronology lists the dates of major events and battles, and for those new to the study of the Civil War, a glossary helps in understanding military terms. A complete index cross-references not only each place and site listed, but each person and event included in the book.The Ideals Guide toAmerican Civil War Places is remarkably comprehensive and detailed, yet remains small enough to be tucked into a travel bag or automobile compartment. This is a guidebook every travel department should have.

Defend the Valley: A Shenandoah Family in the Civil War


Margaretta Barton Colt - 1999
    In Defend the Valley, the story of the war is told through the letters and private papers of the Barton and Jones clans--two great limbs of one family tree with roots in Winchester. By collecting her ancestors' papers, Margaretta Barton Colt has done far more than provide a record of the Civil War. She has brought it to life with astounding clarity through the voices of those who experienced it. The Bartons and Joneses collectively sent eleven men into battle, most in the brigade led by Thomas Stonewall Jackson. Culled from the private papers of twenty family members, the material presented here includes many vivid recollections found in the soldiers' first-hand descriptions of the battles, as well as responses from the home front. The result is a fully rounded picture of the daily struggles of the Civil War, and a documentation of the passing of a way of life.

The African American Odyssey, Volume 1: To 1877


Darlene Clark Hine - 1999
    It draws on recent research to present black history in a clear and direct manner, within a broad social, cultural, and political framework. Life in sixteenth-century Africa, slavery, the antislavery movement, The Civil War, emancipation, and reconstruction. For anyone who is interested in an in-depth exploration of African-American history as it relates to U.S. history.

Jefferson Davis's Generals


Gabor S. Boritt - 1999
    If there was any doubt as to what Beauregard sought to imply, he later to chose to spell it out: the failure of the Confederacy lay with the Confederate president Jefferson Davis. In Jefferson Davis' Generals, a team of the nation's most distinguished Civil War historians present fascinating examinations of the men who led the Confederacy through our nation's bloodiest conflict, focusing in particular on Jefferson Davis' relationships with five key generals who held independent commands: Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, P.G.T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, and John Bell Hood. Craig Symonds examines the underlying implications of a withering trust between Johnston and his friend Jefferson Davis. And was there really harmony between Davis and Robert E. Lee? A tenuous harmony at best, according to Emory Thomas. Michael Parrish explores how Beauregard and Davis worked through a deep and mutual loathing, while Steven E. Woodworth and Herman Hattaway make contrasting evaluations of the competence of Generals Braxton Bragg and John Bell Hood. Taking a different angle on Davis' ill-fated commanders, Lesley Gordon probes the private side of war through the roles of the generals' wives, and Harold Holzer investigates public perceptions of the Confederate leadership through printed images created by artists of the day. Pulitzer Prize-winner James M. McPherson's final chapter ties the individual essays together and offers a new perspective on Confederate strategy as a whole. Jefferson Davis' Generals provides stimulating new insights into one of the most vociferously debated topics in Civil War history.

They Deserved a Better Fate: The Second Kansas State Militia Regiment and the Price Raid 1864


Roy Bird - 1999
    The regiment was organized from Shawnee County during October 1864, with a mix of infantry and cavalry companies. At the Battle of Byram's Ford (also called the Battle of the Big Blue River) on October 22nd, the 2nd Kansas Militia was overrun and scattered, with many men being captured. After Price's Raid, the unit was disbanded.

Horse Sweat and Powder Smoke: The First Texas Cavalry in the Civil War


Stanley S. McGowen - 1999
    The regiment was the first Confederate unit organized in Texas and the longest to serve, participating in Indian skirmishes on the frontier as well as in full battles against the Union.In Horse Sweat and Powder Smoke Stanley S. McGowen describes and honors one of the most unique and successful military units in Texas history. He provides the first complete history of the 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment, documenting their origins from the Confederate Committee on Public Safety’s request for mounted units to the appointment of Henry McCulloch to colonel of cavalry.McCulloch, a former Texas Ranger, was swift and effective at motivating his fellow Texans to arms, notably Captains James B. “Buck” Barry and Thomas C. Frost. The regimental commanders, McCulloch, Augustus Buchel, and William Yager, were acknowledged for their emphasis on precise discipline and gentlemanly conduct, and their training methods were valuable in that soldiers learned both cavalry and infantry maneuvers, as well as saber fighting and the proper care of horses and equipment. As many commanders maintained lax rules of propriety and organization, the 1st Texas Mounted Rifles remained a cohesive and loyal unit, disbanding only under the proper orders. Even after, as the Confederacy fell around them, the troops remained steadfastly loyal to their fellow fighters.McGowen examines the vast range of territory that the unit covered, including Louisiana swamps, the Red River Valley, along the Rio Grande, as well as the Gulf Coast line. He discusses their involvement in the controversial campaign known as the Battle of the Nueces, casting doubts on the common interpretation of the German immigrants, sympathetic to the Union, as defenseless farmers. McGowen asserts that while there was bloodshed on both sides, the Germans were not the innocent victims that many historians have claimed, and that the cavalry was not the bloodthirsty gang many thought.Horse Sweat and Powder Smoke clearly portrays the heroism and individuality of Texas’ first mounted unit in the Civil War. By combining the history of the unit with profiles of the men who led it and who gave it its unique spirit and character, as well as accounts of the battles, raids, and skirmishes in which the unit participated, McGowen provides a valuable history of men whose recognition is long overdue from those whose homes, values, and way of life were defended by their actions.

Flight Into Oblivion


Alfred Jackson Hanna - 1999
    From there the Confederate Cabinet dispersed, and the author follows each man's adventurous course in detail. Most of the fugitives headed for the pine barrens and scrub lands of Florida but were soon apprehended. Only John C. Breckinridge and Judah P. Benjamin successfully escaped, outwitting Federal officials and pirates along their way to Cuba. A classic work that makes for fabulous, spirited reading, Flight Into Oblivion, first published in 1938, soars once again accompanied by William Davis's crackling new introduction.

Civil War Railroads


George B. Abdill - 1999
    Like all wars, the Civil War was not all gunfire and panic. It was supply and transport, trains andtrouble on the line, men in Blue and Gray fighting against almost unbelievable oddswith lumbering, woodburning engines.

On Many a Bloody Field: Four Years in the Iron Brigade


Alan D. Gaff - 1999
    an excellent unit history of a renowned regiment... " --The Civil War News..". American history on a human scale... " --Kirkus Reviews"The author gives some of the best descriptions of the daily life of a Civil War soldier that can be found anywhere." --Library Journal"On Many a Bloody Field is a masterpiece of Civil War scholarship and painstaking historical research." --The Bookwatch..". meticulously researched, day-by-day history of Company B, 19th Indiana Infantry Regiment.... [T]he real essence of this book is its detailed attention to the common soldiers.... [A]s a representative of its genre, it probably is without many peers." --Journal of Southern HistoryOn Many a Bloody Field follows one of the Civil War's most famous combat organizations--Company B, 19th Indiana Volunteers of the Iron Brigade, in a vivid account of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Alan Gaff follows the men from recruitment through mustering out, from the tedium of camp to the excitement of battle. A close-up view of the experience of war, told from the soldiers' perspective, often in the words of the men themselves.