The Army of the Tennessee operated in the Mississippi River Valley through the first half of the Civil War, winning major victories at the Confederate strongholds of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Vicksburg. The army was created at Cairo, Illinois, in the summer of 1861 and took shape under the firm hand of Ulysses S. Grant, who molded it into a hard-hitting, self-reliant fighting machine. Woodworth takes us to its winter 1863 encampment in the Louisiana swamps, where the soldiers suffered disease, hardship, and thousands of deaths. And we see how the force emerged from that experience even tougher and more aggressive than before. With the decisive victory at Vicksburg, the Army of the Tennessee had taken control of the Mississippi away from the Confederates and could swing east to aid other Union troops in a grand rolling up of Rebel defenses. It did so with a confidence born of repeated success, even against numerical odds, leading one of its soldiers to remark that he and his comrades expected “nothing but victory.” The Army of the Tennessee contributed to the Union triumph at Chattanooga in the fall of 1863 and then became part of William Tecumseh Sherman’s combined force in the following summer’s march to Atlanta. In the complicated maneuvering of that campaign, Sherman referred to the army as his whiplash and used it whenever fast marching and arduous fighting were especially needed. Just outside Atlanta, it absorbed the Confederacy’s heaviest counterblow and experienced its hardest single day of combat. Thereafter, it continued as part of Sherman’s corps in his March to the Sea and his campaign through the Carolinas. The story of this army is one of perseverance in the face of difficulty, courage amid severe trials, resolute lessons in fighting taught by equally courageous foes, and the determination of a generation of young men to see a righteous cause all the way through to victory. Nothing but Victory is an important addition to the literature of the Civil War.

    They began their unique collaboration ten months into the war, at the Battle of Shiloh, each carefully taking the other's measure. They shared the demands of family life and the heartache of personal tragedy. They shared similar philosophies of battle, employed similar strategies and tactics, and remained in close, virtually daily communication throughout the conflict. They were incontestably two of the Civil War's most important figures, and the deep, abiding friendship they shared made the Union's ultimate victory possible.Poignant, riveting, and elegantly written, Grant and Sherman is a remarkable portrait of two extraordinary men and a singular friendship, forged on the battlefield, that would change the course of history.

    In "The Destiny of Colored Americans," he looks to the future."In the first narrative of my experience in slavery, written nearly forty years ago, and in various writings since, I have given the public what I considered very good reasons for withholding the manner of my escape..." In "My Escape from Slavery," Frederick Douglass reveals the missing piece of his autobiography, in a tale that could not have been told without endangering others while slavery continued to exist."The white man's happiness cannot be be purchased by the black man's misery." "The Destiny of Colored Americans" is a prophetic essay first published in his abolitionist newspaper, the North Star. Douglass started adding his initials "F.D." at the end of his writing when it was questioned that such thoughtful, well-reasoned work could come from an ex-slave.(44:51 minutes)

    Brings to life not only the battles, bunkers, soldiers, and parades, but also the farms, cities, and towns as they appeared at the time. This singular volume is enhanced with numerous essays by our country's finest Civil War historians, who provide an overview of each battle, and describe each image. 4000 illustrations. Size 9 x 12 inches.

    Founded in the 1700s by James Gettys, the little town became headline material during the Civil War, although area residents never expected to be at the forefront of that controversy. Fate, however, had its way with the town, and Gettysburg found itself on the map permanently. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower retired here, Gettysburg became the place to visit for international tourists as well as Americans. Today, the National Park Service maintains the Gettysburg National Military Park, and the town caters to its visitors. Still imbued with small-country charm, Gettysburg beckons visitors from far and wide and treats them royally.

    Although many hundreds of books have been published on the battle, few have focused on the artillery. Silent Sentinels fills this flaring gap in the literature. This well-written and illustrated study was designed for both the casual battlefield visitor and the serious scholar. The former will use Silent Sentinels to tour the battlefield, browse existing guns, ponder the many photographs, and learn more about artillery in general; the latter will find the extensive primary sources, diagrams, appendices of numbers and losses, and informative discussion of organization and tactics an indispensable reference resource. Silent Sentinels discusses in detail every gun-type used at Gettysburg, the equipment needed to operate the guns, their organization, and the tactics employed by both Union and Confederate artillery men. In addition to a history of the artillery and how it was used, the author includes chapters on the park’s collection of 436 guns, the pieces on display at the field today, how to identify the different types of cannon, and how to identify the date and place of manufacture. Silent Sentinels concludes with a driving tour of the battlefield, specially designed with the artillery in mind. This lovely historical guide, complete with detailed endnotes and bibliography, will be a welcomed addition to the growing Gettysburg titles.

    Published to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the end of the war, this book provides a unique glimpse into the world of the 1860s — the military, political and social events of the war are cxplored, and the heroes, from great leaders and generals to common soldiers and civilians, are identified.Written by an established expert on the era, The Civil War Experience contains 30 facsimile items, many removable, of rare memorabilia. The reader can relive this defining moment of history through some 200 illustrations, including specially commissioned maps, and by listening to readings of first-hand accounts of the war on an accompanying audio CD.

    It addresses comprehensively the overarching themes of Lincoln's political thought and leadership through provocative and divergent interpretations from leading scholars. Each chapter is devoted to one of these major themes about Lincoln:- The Declaration and equality- Political ambition- Race and slavery- His democratic political leadership- Executive power- Religion and politics- The Union and the role of the stateThe book's thirty-three contributors include such respected Lincoln scholars and political commentators as Harry V. Jaffa, Stephen B. Oates, Mark E. Neely, Richard C. Current, Herman Belz, and Frank J. Williams.With an introduction by Kenneth L. Deutsch and Joseph R. Fornieri, Lincoln's American Dream will be of enduring interest to scholars, students, teachers, and Lincoln aficionados alike and will attract interest in the fields of American history, leadership, religion and culture, American studies, and African-American studies.

    Breathed's resume of combat mirrors that of General Lee's legendary Army of Northern Virginia. Major Breathed was involved in eighty-six battles, engagements and skirmishes. When the Civil War began, James Breathed was a 21-year-old physician at the beginning of his medical career. A Virginian by birth, and raised on a plantation in Maryland, he cast his lot with the Confederacy in April 1861. By chance, he shared a seat on a train with James Ewell Brown (JEB) Stuart, who encouraged Breathed to join the 1st Virginia Cavalry, a regiment commanded by Stuart. Breathed was then transferred to the newly formed Stuart Horse Artillery. For the doctor-turned-warrior, it was a perfect assignment. Unencumbered by formal military training, Breathed developed his own unique style of command. Relentless in his efforts to defeat the enemy, he exhibited conspicuous gallantry and accomplishments on so many fields that his actions separated him from the pack of other battery commanders—inside and outside the cavalry arm. Breathed's handling of horse artillery and accurate fire became recognizable to his enemies. Alexander C. M. Pennington, the leader of a celebrated Union battery of the horse artillery, looked forward to and dreaded his many encounters with Breathed. In the minds of the Confederate veterans who knew him best, Breathed was no less of a legend than artillerist John Pelham. After the war doctor Breathed returned to continue his practice of medicine in Hancock, Maryland. He died February 14, 1870. This study is based upon previously unknown or overlooked family primary documents and archival sources, a keen appreciation of the terrain over which Breathed's guns rolled and fought, and a broad foundation of knowledge of the American Civil War in the Eastern Theater. Fighting With JEB Stuart adds something dramatically new to the literature of the Civil War.

    In Confederate Emancipation, Bruce Levine looks closely at such Confederate plans to arm and free slaves. He shows that within a year of Cleburne's proposal, which was initially rejected out of hand, Jefferson Davis, Judah P. Benjamin, and Robert E. Lee had all reached the same conclusions. At that point, the idea was debated widely in newspapers and drawing rooms across the South, as more and more slaves fled to Union lines and fought in the ranks of the Union army. Eventually, the soldiers of Lee's army voted on the proposal, and the Confederate government actually enacted a version of it in March. The Army issued the necessary orders just two weeks before Appomattox, too late to affect the course of the war. Throughout the book, Levine captures the voices of blacks and whites, wealthy planters and poor farmers, soldiers and officers, and newspaper editors and politicians from all across the South. In the process, he sheds light on such hot-button topics as what the Confederacy was fighting for, whether black southerners were willing to fight in large numbers in defense of the South, and what this episode foretold about life and politics in the post-war South. Confederate Emancipation offers an engaging and illuminating account of a fascinating and politically charged idea, setting it firmly and vividly in the context of the Civil War and the part played in it by the issue of slavery and the actions of the slaves themselves.

    

    Can also be adapted to a driving tour as well. Contains three tours with the battle area broken down into 2-3 mile routes.

    Early in 1862, John left his studies at Georgetown University to serve in the First Virginia Infantry Regiment, in which his father John and brother James also served. John’s service took him to Second Manassas, South Mountain, Sharpsburg (Antietam), Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg; before that last battle, Dooley was elected a lieutenant. On the third day at Gettysburg, Dooley swept up the hill in Pickett’s charge, where he was shot through both legs and lay all night on the field, to be made a POW the next day. Held until February 27, 1865, Dooley made his way back south to arrive home very near the Confederacy’s final collapse. Dooley’s account is valuable for the content of his service and because most of the material came from his diary, with some interpolations (which are indicated as such) that he made shortly after the war’s end when his memory was still fresh. Dooley’s health seems to have been permanently compromised by his wounds; he entered a Roman Catholic seminary after the war and died in 1873 several months before his ordination was to take place.

    Details the Confederate States Navy and its introduction of the ironclad, the spar torpedo, and submersible warfare.

    Yet for all of his familiarity with the Bible, his invocation of Providence, and of the Almighty, he did not actively participate in a church or lend his name and authority to a denomination.After more than fifty years of hagiographic and contradictory accounts of Abraham Lincoln's life, William Barton stepped boldly into the bedlam of claims and counterclaims about Lincoln's religion. Armed with an enormous collection of Lincoln materials and his own strict evidentiary rules, Barton worked to avoid partisan politicking over Lincoln's legacy and instead to simply "lay bare the facts."To enable a better examination of the vexed questions surrounding Lincoln's faith and religious principles, Barton gathered Lincoln's most important writing and speeches about religion, and topically and chronologically assembled testimonies by his friends, family, and associates, about the most important and most debated issues. This volume, Barton's first and most important work on Lincoln, is introduced by Michael Nelson who provides a history of the literature on Lincoln's religion, the historical context of Barton's writing, and the details of the method that made Barton's approach to this American icon such a distinctive success.