Grant, Ambrose Bierce, Mary Chesnut, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Oliver Wendell Holmes prove Wilson to be the consummate witness to the most eloquently recorded era in American history.

    Wainwright (1826–1907), later a brevet brigadier general, was commissioned in the First New York Artillery Regiment of the Army of the Potomac in October 1861, he began a journal. As an officer who fought at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg, and who witnessed the leadership of Generals McClellan, Hooker, Burnside, Meade, Grant, and Sheridan, he brilliantly describes his experiences, views, and emotions. But Wainwright's entries go beyond military matters to include his political and social observations. Skillfully edited by Allan Nevins, historian and author of the classic multivolume Ordeal of the Union, this journal is Wainwright's vivid and invaluable gift to posterity.

    Speed is always key, and in the day of the Civil War, the fastest transmission was by telegraph. As the frontlines advanced and retreated, the wire would have to be strung to the front lines. In this fascinating volume, Alvin Harlow, recounts many of the adventures of the Civil War telegraphers, who despite their civilian status shared the dangers of the soldiers as they sent massages back to the various headquarters and generals. As the title suggests the telegraphers were often no more than teenagers, and their stories form an interesting sidelight on the Civil War.

    

    

    At the beginning of the Civil War, the Confederate navy was a modest collection of nearly anything that would float—mostly small, unmilitary vessels and a few captured Union ships; there was not one real warship in the fleet. The North had men-of-war and a large fleet of merchant ships that could be armed quickly. As a result, the North was soon able to blockade the southern coast and capture port after port. But the South fought back ingeniously, sending agents to England and France to have the finest warships built, innovating such modern weapons as the torpedo, the submarine, and the armored warship—all of which changed the nature of naval warfare. The Confederate Navy deals with the early ironclads; with the Trent case, which nearly brought England into the war; with the fighting on the Mississippi and James rivers; and with the flamboyant blockade-runners who could make 80,000 in profits on a single voyage. It tells about the great ships—the Alabama, the Florida , and the Shenandoah; and the great seamen—Semmes, Maffit, and Bulloch, among others. Crammed with facts, anecdotes, and exciting incidents, The Confederate Navy clarifies the complicated—and often heroic—naval operations of the Civil War.