Best of
Civil-War

2000

The American Civil War


Gary W. Gallagher - 2000
    He is the author of several books and dozens of scholarly articles, most recently, The Confederate War. He is a founder and was first president of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites. Between 1861 and 1865, the clash of the greatest armies the Western hemisphere had ever seen turned small towns, little-known streams, and obscure meadows in the American countryside into names we will always remember. In those great battles streams ran red with blood, and the United States was truly born.Leading Civil War historian Professor Gary W. Gallagher richly details the effects of the Civil War on all Americans. You'll learn how armies were recruited, equipped, and trained. You'll learn about the hard lot of prisoners. You'll hear how soldiers on both sides dealt with the rigors of camp life, campaigns, and the terror of combat. You'll understand how slaves and their falling masters responded to the advancing war. And you will see the desperate price paid by the families so many left behind.

To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13-25, 1864


Gordon C. Rhea - 2000
    Rhea continues his spectacular narrative of the initial campaign between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee in the spring of 1864. May 13 through 25, a phase oddly ignored by historians, was critical in the clash between the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia. During those thirteen days -- an interlude bracketed by horrific battles that riveted the public's attention -- a game of guile and endurance between Grant and Lee escalated to a suspenseful draw on Virginia's North Anna River.From the bloodstained fields of the Mule Shoe to the North Anna River, with Meadow Bridge, Myers Hill, Harris Farm, Jericho Mills, Ox Ford, and Doswell Farm in between, grueling night marches, desperate attacks, and thundering cavalry charges became the norm for both Grant's and Lee's men. But the real story of May 13--25 lay in the two generals' efforts to outfox each other, and Rhea charts their every step and misstep. Realizing that his bludgeoning tactics at the Bloody Angle were ineffective, Grant resorted to a fast-paced assault on Lee's vulnerable points. Lee, outnumbered two to one, abandoned the offensive and concentrated on anticipating Grant's maneuvers and shifting quickly enough to repel them. It was an amazingly equal match of wits that produced a gripping, high-stakes bout of warfare -- a test, ultimately, of improvisation for Lee and of perseverance for Grant.

Jefferson Davis, American


William J. Cooper Jr. - 2000
    Senator from Mississippi--how was it that this statesman and patriot came to be president of the Confederacy, leading the struggle to destroy the United States?This is the question at the center of William Cooper's engrossing and authoritative biography of Jefferson Davis. Basing his account on the massive archival record left by Davis and his family and associates, Cooper delves not only into the events of Davis's public and personal life but also into the ideas that shaped and compelled him.We see Davis as a devoted American, yet also as a wealthy plantation owner who believed slavery to be a moral and social good that could coexist with free labor in an undivided Union. We see how his initially reluctant support of secession ended in his absolute commitment to the Confederacy and his identification of it with the legacy of liberty handed down by the Founding Fathers. We see the chaos that attended the formation of the Confederate government while the Civil War was being fought, and the veer-present tension between the commitment to states' rights and the need for centralized authority. We see Davis's increasingly autocratic behavior, his involvement in military decision-making, and his desperation to save the Confederacy even at the expense of slavery. And we see Davis in defeat: imprisoned for two years, then, for the rest of his life, unrepentant about the South's attempt to break away, yet ultimately professing his faith in the restored Union.This is the definitive life of one of the most complex and fascinating figures in our nation's history.

Edge of Honor


Gilbert Morris - 2000
    Quentin Larribee is a surgeon, but in the confusion at the end of the Civil War, his healing hands brought death to an enemy soldier. To ease his troubled conscience, he visits the man’s impoverished widow, only to find himself falling in love. Now he is torn between two choices: a bright medical future with his wealthy fiancée in New York City, or an impossible love with a woman who knows nothing of his terrible secret. In this unforgettable novel, good is found in the unlikeliest places and God’s unseen hand weaves a masterful tapestry of human hearts and lives.

Brady's Civil War: A Collection of Civil War Images Photographed by Matthew Brady and his Assistants


Webb Garrison - 2000
    An unforgettable collection of hundreds of historic photographs from America's most horrific war.

The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War


Roy Morris Jr. - 2000
    For nearly three years, Whitman immersed himself in the devastation of the Civil War, tending to thousands of wounded soldiers and recording his experience with an immediacy and compassion unequaled in wartime literature anywhere in the world. In The Better Angel, acclaimed biographer Roy Morris, Jr. gives us the fullest accounting of Whitman's profoundly transformative Civil War Years and an historically invaluable examination of the Union's treatment of its sick and wounded. Whitman was mired in depression as the war began, subsisting on journalistic hackwork, wasting his nights in New York's seedy bohemian underground, his great career as a poet apparently stalled. But when news came that his brother George had been wounded at Fredericksburg, Whitman rushed south to find him. Though his brother's injury was slight, Whitman was deeply affected by his first view of the war's casualties. He began visiting the camp's wounded and, almost by accident, found his calling for the duration of the war. Three years later, he emerged as the war's most unlikely hero, a living symbol of American democratic ideals of sharing and brotherhood. Instead of returning to Brooklyn as planned, Whitman continued to visit the wounded soldiers in the hospitals in and around the capital. He brought them ice cream, tobacco, brandy, books, magazines, pens and paper, wrote letters for those who were not able and offered to all the enormous healing influence of his sympathy and affection. Indeed, several soldiers claimed that Whitman had saved their lives. One noted that Whitman seemed to have what everybody wanted and added When this old heathen came and gave me a pipe and tobacco, it was about the most joyful moment of my life. Another wrote that There is many a soldier that never thinks of you but with emotions of the greatest gratitude. But if Whitman gave much to the soldiers, they in turn gave much to him. In witnessing their stoic suffering, in listening to their understated speech, and in being always in the presence of death, Whitman evolved the new and more direct poetic style that was to culminate in his masterpiece, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. Brilliantly researched and beautifully written, The Better Angel explores a side of Whitman not fully examined before, one that greatly enriches our understanding of his later poetry. More than that, it gives us a vivid and unforgettable portrait of the other army--the legions of sick and wounded soldiers who are usually left in the shadowy background of Civil War history--seen here through the unflinching eyes of America's greatest poet.

Eye of the Storm: A Civil War Odyssey


Robert Knox Sneden - 2000
    An autobiography written by a Union mapmaker who witnessed the worst of the Civil War firsthand, including an account of his experiences during a two-year stay at the notorious Andersonville prison.

Mary's World: Love, War, and Family Ties in Nineteenth-century Charleston


Richard N. Côté - 2000
    Her husband was a wealthy rice planter who owned four plantations and 337 slaves. Her thirteen children included two Harvard scholars, seven world travelers, a U.S. Navy war hero, six Confederate soldiers, one possible Union collaborator, a Confederate firebrand trapped in the North, an expatriate bon vivant in France, and two California pioneers. “Mary's World” illuminates in lavish detail the world and psyche of this wealthy, well-educated, well-intentioned woman, her family, and their slaves in the antebellum South.During the Civil War, Mary and her husband, William, stood helpless as two sons were killed, another was driven insane, their slaves were freed, and the world as they knew it was swept away by a hurricane of social change. In her own words, Mary tells us about the joys, sorrows, frustrations, and terrors she and her family faced in nineteenth-century Charleston. This intimate, visceral biography was drawn directly from over 2,500 pages of Mary's handwritten letters, journals and diaries, none of which, she could have imagined, would ever be read by strangers. Therein lies their power.Readers also learn about the vastly different lifestyles, food, clothing, and experiences of their slaves. “Mary's World” also pays special attention to Cretia Stewart, Mary's favorite servant, Cretia’s husband, Scipio, and their free descendants, some of whom worked for Mary’s grandchildren well into the twentieth century. How Mary, William, their children, and slaves lived before the Civil War, clung desperately to life in the eye of the maelstrom, and coped – or failed to cope -- with its bewildering aftermath is the story of this book. The letters and images they left behind offer priceless insights into the anguished roots of Southern social history.

Covered with Glory: The 26th North Carolina Infantry at Gettysburg


Rod Gragg - 2000
    In July 1863 the regiment's eight-hundred-plus troops--young men from North Carolina's mountains, farmlands, and hamlets--were thrust into the firestorm of Gettysburg, the greatest battle ever fought in North America. By the time the fighting ended, the 26th North Carolina had suffered what some authorities would calculate to be the highest casualties of any regiment in the Civil War.Following a bone-wearying march into Pennsylvania with the rest of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, the soldiers of the 26th found themselves in ferocious, almost face-to-face combat with some of the hardest-fighting troops in the Federal army--the heralded Iron Brigade. The bloody contest on McPherson's Ridge produced some of Gettysburg's fiercest fighting, and the troops involved--men from North Carolina, Michigan, and Indiana--established an enduring legacy of American fortitude and will.On Gettysburg's third day of battle, the 26th North Carolina was placed in the front ranks of Pickett's Charge. Following a massive artillery barrage, the tattered regiment was commanded to go the distance in what would prove to be the most famous assault of the war. At one point, as he watched the men of the 26th in battle, Brigadier General James J. Pettigrew dispatched a message to the regiment's commander: "Tell him his regiment haas covered itself with glory today."The story of the 26th North Carolina at Gettysburg is an American saga of duty performed in the worst of warfare. It unfolds through the lives of key characters--the regiment'stwenty-one year old commander, Colonel Henry K. Burgwyn, Jr.; its second-in-command, twenty-six-year-old farmer-turned-lieutenant colonel John R. Lane; twenty-two-year-old Major John Jones, who had abandoned his college studies to join the army; and common soldiers like Private Jimmie Moore, a North Carolina mountain boy who had gone to war at the age of fifteen."Covered In Glory is an intensely personal narrative based on exhaustive research into the diaries, letters, memoirs, and official records of the men who struggled on the bloody field at Gettysburg. It is a powerful, moving account of American courage and sacrifice.

An Illustrated History of the Civil War: Images of an American Tragedy


William J. Miller - 2000
    From the finest archival collections, more than 1,000 images depicting the everyday lives of soldiers during the Civil War, from harsh realities to baseball tournaments.

Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865


Brooks D. Simpson - 2000
    But, like his tomb on the Hudson, Grant's reputation has fallen into disrepair. The image many Americans hold of him is a caricature: someone "uniquely stupid," an insensitive butcher as a general, an incompetent mediocrity as president, and a drunk. Several efforts to counter this stereotype have often gone too far in the other direction, resulting in an equally distorted laudatory portrait of near-perfection. In reading the original sources, Brooks D. Simpson became convinced that Grant was neither a bumbling idiot who was the darling of fortune nor a flawless general who could do no wrong. Rather, he was a tangle of opposing qualities--a relentless warrior but a generous victor, a commander who drew upon uncommon common sense in drafting campaign plans and in winning battles, a soldier so sensitive to suffering that he could not stand to see the bloody hides at his father's tannery, a man who made mistakes and sometimes learned from them. Even as he waged war, he realized the broader political implications of the struggle; he came to believe that the preservation of the Union depended upon the destruction of slavery. Equally compelling is Grant's personal story--one of a man who struggled against great odds, bad luck, and personal humiliation, who sought joy and love in the arms of his wife and his children, and who was determined to overcome adversity and prevail over his detractors. "None of our public men have a story so strange as this," Owen Wister once observed; agreeing, William T. Sherman remarked that Grant remained a mystery even to himself. In the first of two volumes, Brooks Simpson brings Grant's story to life in an account that is readable, balanced, compelling, and definitive.

Civil War (Eyewitness, #117)


John Stanchack - 2000
    Eyewitness Civil War includes everything from the issues that divided the country, to the battles that shaped the conflict, to the birth of the reunited states. Rich, full-color photographs of rare documents, powerful weapons, and priceless artifacts plus stunning images of legendary commanders, unsung heroes, and memorable heroines combine with stories of courage, adventure, and defiance to paint an unforgettable portrait of the American Civil War.See Fort Sumter's battle-torn flag, a beardless Lincoln, the tools of a Civil war surgeon, and the Confederate capital in ruins. Learn how to fire a cannon, the secrets of the Underground Railroad, about the Confederacy's First Lady, and what soldiers carried into battle. Discover who plotted Lincoln's assassination, where the last Confederates surrendered, what happened to Jefferson Davis, and why the North won the war, and much, much more!

Ninety-Eight Days: A Geographer's View of the Vicksburg Campaign


Warren E. Grabau - 2000
    This documented history of the final phases of the Vicksburg Campaign, from March 29 through July 4, 1863, examines the actions of Union and Confederate commanders as they unfolded, reconstructing their decisions based only on what they knew at any given time.    In meticulous detail, Warren E. Grabau describes the logistical situation at key junctures during the campaign and explains how and why those situations constrained the choices available to Grant and Confederate commander John C. Pemberton. Alternating between Confederate and Federal perspectives, he allows the reader to see the situation as the commanders did and then describes how the available information led to their decisions.    Grabau examines not only topographic and hydrographic features but also strategic, political, economic, and demographic factors that influenced the commanders’ thinking. He analyzes the effectiveness of the intelligence-gathering capabilities of each side, shows how the decisions of both commanders were affected by the presence of the Union Navy, and describes the impact of political philosophies and command structures on the conduct of the campaign. Through his detailed analysis, Grabau even suggests that Grant had no actual campaign plan but was instead a master opportunist, able to exploit every situation.    Remarkably detailed maps reconstruct the terrain as it was at the time and show how incomplete data often resulted in poor military decisions. Other supportive material includes Command Structures of the Federal and Confederate Forces in diagrammatic form as they stood at the beginning of the ninety-eight days.    Ninety-eight Days is a monumental work masterfully executed, a reconstruction of military reasoning that is more analytical than any previous study of Vicksburg. It contributes substantially to our understanding of those military operations and demonstrates how crucial geography is to the conduct of war.The Author: Warren E. Grabau is a retired geologist with a long interest in the Civil War. He is he coauthor of two earlier books: Evolution of Geomorphology; A Nation-by-Nation Summary of Development (with H. J. Walker) and The Battle of Jackson, May 14, 1863 (with Edwin C. Bearss).

Gettysburg Expedition Guide


Travelbrains - 2000
    It is a unique combination of three components: a 58-page guidebook, a driving audio tour (CD) and a computer CD-ROM- all packaged in a handsome hardcover book.The computer CD-ROM is packed with award-winning battle map animations, history movies, virtual tours and quiz games. The illustrated guidebook and audio tour take you on a compelling tour of the battlefield, complete with detailed battle maps, illustrations and famous photographs. This is the ideal package for anyone who wants to tour the battlefield or just gain a better understanding of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Civil War Women: Their Quilts, Their Roles & Activities for Re-Enactors


Barbara Brackman - 2000
    This book is printed individually on uncoated (non-glossy) paper with the best quality printers available. The printing quality of this copy will vary from the original offset printing edition and may look more saturated. The information presented in this version is the same as the latest edition. Any pattern pullouts have been separated and presented as single pages. If the pullout patterns are missing, please contact c&t publishing.

Wilson's Creek: The Second Battle of the Civil War and the Men Who Fought It


William Garrett Piston - 2000
    This question was most fractious in the border states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. In Missouri, it was largely settled at Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861, in a contest that is rightly considered the second major battle of the Civil War.In providing the first in-depth narrative and analysis of this important but largely overlooked battle, William Piston and Richard Hatcher combine a traditional military study of the fighting at Wilson's Creek with an innovative social analysis of the soldiers who participated and the communities that supported them. In particular, they highlight the importance of the soldiers' sense of corporate honor--the desire to uphold the reputation of their hometowns--as a powerful motivator for enlistment, a source of sustenance during the campaign, and a lens through which soldiers evaluated their performance in battle.In the summer of 1861, Americans were preoccupied by the question of which states would join the secession movement and which would remain loyal to the Union. This question was most fractious in the border states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. In Missouri, it was largely settled at Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861, in a contest that is rightly considered the second major battle of the Civil War. In an in-depth narrative and analysis of this important but largely overlooked battle, William Piston and Richard Hatcher combine a traditional military study of the fighting with an innovative social analysis of the soldiers who participated and the communities that supported them.

Encyclopedia of the American Civil War [5 Volumes]: A Political, Social, and Military History


David Stephen Heidler - 2000
    Its five oversized volumes, rich with illustrations, maps, and primary source documents, offer more than 1,600 authoritative entries that chart the war's strategic aims, analyze diplomatic and political maneuvering, describe key military actions, sketch important participants, assess developments in military science, and discuss the social and financial impact of the conflict.Written by scholars, the essays are both authoritative and easily accessible to history buffs, students, and general readers. Brief entry bibliographies lead curious readers to the most reliable sources for further information.

This Astounding Close: The Road to Bennett Place


Mark L. Bradley - 2000
    The most notable of these occurred at Bennett Place, near Durham, North Carolina, when Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee to Union General William T. Sherman. In this first full-length examination of the end of the war in North Carolina, Mark Bradley traces the campaign leading up to Bennett Place.Alternating between Union and Confederate points of view and drawing on his readings of primary sources, including numerous eyewitness accounts and the final muster rolls of the Army of Tennessee, Bradley depicts the action as it was experienced by the troops and the civilians in their path. He offers new information about the morale of the Army of Tennessee during its final confrontation with Sherman's much larger Union army. And he advances a fresh interpretation of Sherman's and Johnston's roles in the final negotiations for the surrender.Even after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, the Civil War continued to be fought, and surrenders negotiated, on different fronts. The most notable of these occurred at Bennett Place, near Durham, North Carolina, when Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee to Union General William T. Sherman. In this first full-length examination of the end of the war in North Carolina, Mark L. Bradley depicts the action as it was experienced by the troops and the civilians in their path.

The Civil War in Depth Volume II: History in 3-D


Bob Zeller - 2000
    Especially significant is the portfolio of rare, color images. A companion to the perennial Civil War in Depth, this all-new book includes a redesigned, easy-to-use stereoscopic viewer, which unveils each image in glorious 3-D—as it was originally taken and meant to be seen. Every Civil War aficionado will enthuse over these dramatic photographs, selected from the unparalleled private archives of Robin Stanford. They bring this epic struggle to life in a way no two-dimensional photograph ever could. At the heart of this distinguished volume are 24 vivid, full color works, wartime images that were exquisitely hand-tinted with watercolor before being sold. An entire chapter is devoted to discoveries, from the rarest Gettysburg stereograph to the lost cyclorama painting of the Second Bull Run. Additional chapters include portraits of black soldiers' experiences, of camp life, and the haunting starkness of the battlefield. Never has the war between the states been revealed with such extraordinary clarity and resonance.

Lincoln's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac


Edward G. Longacre - 2000
    Historian Edward G. Longacre has consulted 50 manuscript collections pertaining to general officers of cavalry as well as the unpublished letters and diaries of 200 officers and enlisted men, representing almost every mounted unit in the Army of the Potomac. Well known for interrogating "conventional wisdom," he also contributes some provocative analyses regarding the mounted army's organization, leadership, and tactics. This is an exhaustive study that no Civil War enthusiast will want to miss.

Brush Men and Vigilantes: Civil War Dissent in Texas


David Pickering - 2000
    In scattered pockets from the Carolinas to the frontier in Texas, some men who clung to a belief in the Union or an unwillingness to preserve the slaveholding Confederacy died at the hands of their own neighbors. Brush Men and Vigilantes tells the story of how dissent, fear, and economics developed into mob violence in a corner of Texas -- the Sulphur Forks river valley northeast of Dallas.Authors David Pickering and Judy Falls have combed through court records, newspapers, letters, and other primary sources and have collected extended-family lore to relate the details of how vigilantes captured and killed more than a dozen men. Unlike most other parts of Texas, at the onset of the Civil War the Sulphur Forks river valley had a significant population of Upper Southerners, some of whom spoke out against secession, objected to enlisting in the Confederate army, or associated with "Union men". For some of these dissenters safety meant disappearing into the tangled brush thickets of the region.Betrayed by links to a well-known Union guerrilla from the Sulphur Forks area, some of these men were captured, tried in mock courts, and hanged. Still others met their death by sniper fire or private execution, as did brush man Frank Chamblee, who after cleverly eluding his enemies for several years, was finally gunned down after the war, reportedly by one of the area's most prominent men.This carefully researched and well-written account not only tells the story of the brush men's ordeal, but also provides insight into the emotions and thought processes of theTexans who resorted to extralegal means to protect their communities from all enemies, even imaginary ones. Anyone with an interest in the new history of the Civil War or of Texas should find much to digest in this compelling book.

Ordeal by Fire, Vol 2, The Civil War


James M. McPherson - 2000
    The third edition incorporates recent scholarship and addresses renewed areas of interest in the Civil War/Reconstruction era including the motivations and experiences of common soldiers and the role of women in the war effort.

Political Work of Northern Women Writers and the Civil War, 1850-1872


Lyde Cullen Sizer - 2000
    Lyde Sizer shows that from the 1850 publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin through Reconstruction, these women, as well as a larger mosaic of lesser-known writers, used their mainstream writings publicly to make sense of war, womanhood, Union, slavery, republicanism, heroism, and death. Among the authors discussed are Lydia Maria Child, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sara Willis Parton (Fanny Fern), Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth, Mary Abigail Dodge (Gail Hamilton), Louisa May Alcott, Rebecca Harding Davis, and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. Although direct political or partisan power was denied to women, these writers actively participated in discussions of national issues through their sentimental novels, short stories, essays, poetry, and letters to the editor.Sizer pays close attention to how these mostly middle-class women attempted to create a rhetoric of unity, giving common purpose to women despite differences in class, race, and politics. This theme of unity was ultimately deployed to establish a white middle-class standard of womanhood, meant to exclude as well as include.

In Custer's Shadow: Major Marcus Reno


Ronald H. Nichols - 2000
    For years the shadow of blame for the defeat has been cast upon Custer. What role did his subordinates play in the battle? Did they contribute to the Custer failure, or was he the only one to blame?In Custer’s Shadow presents the complex life of Major Marcus Reno, Custer’s second-in-command. Employing photographs and maps to help the reader visualize the text, Ronald H. Nichols unravels the controversy surrounding Reno’s role in the battle and questions the scrutiny to which he was subjected in the years following.

Little Round Top: A Detailed Tour Guide


Garry E. Adelman - 2000
    Many books have dealt with the history of Little Round Top, but none have adequately tied the known history to the rocky hill itself. Adelman, a licensed battlefield guide, presents a tour which solidifies the reader's understanding of troop movements while detailing the fascinating history of Little Round Top's memorialization and visitation over the years. Twenty tour stops, ten maps, and over 40 photographs make this book a must for all Little Round Top enthusiasts.

Ellet's Brigade: The Strangest Outfit of All


Chester G. Hearn - 2000
    The rams were shunned by army and navy until they proved their worth on June 6th 1862. This study details the formation and wartime exploits of Ellet's fleet, reviving the history of this almost forgotten brigade.

Civil War Navies, 1855-1883


Paul H. Silverstone - 2000
    This valuable reference lists the ships of the U.S. Navy and Confederate Navy during the Civil War and the years immediately following - a significant period in the evolution of warships, the use of steam propulsion, and the development of ordnance. Civil War Navies provides a wealth and variety of material not found in other books on the subject and will save the reader the effort needed to track down information in multiple sources.Each ship's size and time and place of construction are listed, along with particulars of naval service. The author provides historical details that include actions fought, damage sustained, prizes taken, ships sunk, and dates in and out of commission, as well as information about when the ship left the Navy, names used in other services, and its ultimate fate. 140 photographs, including one of the Confederate cruiser Alabama recently uncovered by the author further contribute to this indispensable volume. This definitive record of Civil War ships updates the author's previous work and will find a lasting place among naval reference works.

My Heart Toward Home: Letters of a Family During the Civil War


Georgeanna Muirson Woolsey Bacon - 2000
    The Woolseys of New York City -- a widowed mother, seven daughters, and one son devoted their lives to the preservation of their beloved Union. Georgeanna, Jane, Eliza, Carry, and Hatty served in military hospitals. Abby organized sewing and supply work for the Women's Central Association of Relief. Mary wrote patriotic poems. "Moremamma" Woolsey rushed to Gettysburg to nurse the wounded. This book tells us of women carving out a role in the wider war effort and the beginnings of the nursing profession. It is a journey into the social world of wealthy New York society. It is one of the great family stories of the Civil War.

Divided Hearts: Britain and the American Civil War


R.J.M. Blackett - 2000
    Moving beyond Mary Ellison's 1972 landmark regional study of Lancashire cotton workers' reactions, R. J. M. Blackett opens the subject to a new, wider transatlantic context of influence and undertakes a deftly researched and written sociological, intellectual, and political examination of who in Britain supported the Union, who the Confederacy, and why. The American Civil War had a profound effect on Britain's political culture; no other event during that period -- not in Poland, Hungary, Italy, or British colonies -- compared. Blackett argues that the traditional historiographical assessments of British partisanship along class and economic lines must be reevaluated in light of the nature and changing contours of transatlantic abolitionist connections, the ways in which nationalism framed the debate, and the effect that race -- among other issues -- exerted over the British public's perception of conditions in America. Divided Hearts presents a compelling and innovative thesis, one sure to engage scholars in many fields of history.

Civil War Sisterhood: The U.S. Sanitary Commission and Women's Politics in Transition


Judith Giesberg - 2000
    Sanitary Commission (USSC) was the largest wartime benevolent institution. Judith Ann Giesberg demonstrates convincingly that that generation of women provided a crucial link between the local evangelical crusades of the early nineteenth century and the sweeping national reform and suffrage movements of the postwar period. Drawing on Sanitary Commission documents and memoirs, the author details how northern elite and middle-class women's experiences in and influence over the USSC formed the impetus for later reform efforts. Giesberg explores the ways in which women honed organizational and administrative skills, developed new strategies that combined strong centralized leadership with regional grassroots autonomy, and created a sisterhood that reached across class lines. She begins her study with an examination of the Woman's Central Association of Relief, an organization that gave birth to the USSC. Giesberg then discusses the significant roles of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, Dorothea Lynde Dix, and Henry Whitney Bellows, and considers the rationale for bringing women and men together in a collaborative wartime relief program. She shows how Louisa Lee Schuyler, Abigail Williams May, and other young women maneuvered and challenged the male-run Commission as they built an effective national network for giving critical support to soldiers on the battlefield and their families on the home front. This fresh perspective on the evolution of women's political culture fills an important gap in the literature, and it will appeal to historians, women's studies scholars, and Civil War buffs alike.

My Brother's Keeper


Mary Pope Osborne - 2000
    And Ginny finds plenty to write about: Pennsylvania Volunteers arrive in the town square reporting a big battle in Virginia and calling for more men to join their ranks. Rumors fly that the Rebs are headed to Gettysburg, and the Battle of Gettysburg ensues. Suddenly, Ginny's quiet town is filled with the injured.Ginny's brother Jed has joined the Union army, and they find him wounded in a makeshift hospital. With Ginny's nursing, he recovers, and Ginny is is able to witness the President's Gettysburg Address.

The Civil War Archive: The History of the Civil War in Documents


Henry Steele Commager - 2000
    Hundreds of papers, letters, memoirs -- culled from family records, private correspondences, public archives and a variety of other sources -- trace the war from the nomination of Abraham Lincoln, through violent battles at Bull Run, to the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, Reconstruction and beyond. Messages from lonely mothers at home, stories from soldiers on the front lines, lyrics to rousing battle hymns, confidential communications among officers - these primary documents render history in its rawest form and depict the war's impact on every spectrum of American society. Expanding upon Henry Steele Commager's critically-acclaimed two-volume The Blue and the Gray, editor Erik Bruun brings to light new material that presents the Civil War through a contemporary lens, taking into account previously under-represented perspectives of blacks in the Civil War and including new sections on the war's aftermath and Reconstruction. Entries are arranged chronologically, allowing The Civil War Archive to be read as a start-to-finish narrative of the war and its aftermath. In addition, each document is indexed by author and title, so history buffs can reference each piece by source or subject.

Civil War Memories; Lost Tales of The Civil War


S.T. Joshi - 2000
    Civil War Memories presents twenty-one stories and poems.

Jefferson Davis, Unconquerable Heart


Felicity Allen - 2000
    Finally, more than twenty years after Vandiver expressed that wish, publication of Jefferson Davis, Unconquerable Heart makes such an interpretive biography available.Felicity Allen begins this monumental work with Davis's political imprisonment at the end of the Civil War and masterfully flashes back to his earlier life, interweaving Davis's private life as a schoolboy, a Mississippi planter, a husband, a father, and a political leader. She follows him from West Point through army service on the frontier, his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, his regimental command in the Mexican War, his service as U.S. secretary of war and senator, and his term as president of the Confederate States of America.Although Davis's family is the nexus of this biography, friends and enemies also play major roles. Among his friends intimately met in this book are such stellar figures as Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, Albert Sidney Johnston, and Robert E. Lee.With the use of contemporary accounts and Davis's own correspondence, Jefferson Davis, Unconquerable Heart casts new light upon this remarkable man, thawing the icy image of Davis in many previous accounts. Felicity Allen shows a strong, yet gentle man; a stern soldier who loved horses, guns, poetry, and children; a master of the English language, with a dry wit; a man of powerful feelings who held them in such tight control that he was considered cold; and a home-loving Mississippian who was drawn into a vortex of national events and eventual catastrophe. At all times, "duty, honor, country" ruled his mind. Davis's Christian view of life runs like a thread throughout the book, binding together his devotion to God, his family, and the land.Jefferson Davis, Unconquerable Heart brings Davis to life in a way that has never been done before. The variety of his experience, the breadth of his learning, and the consistency of his beliefs make this historical figure eminently worth knowing.

Chimborazo


Steven W. Wise - 2000
    Letha Bartlett is the beleaguered matron of a ward that houses three men whose lives become entwined with hers. Granville Pollard, a Northerner who spurned his Union father to fight for the Confederacy, is a double amputee who is jilted by a fiancee who cannot cope with his wounds. Gradually--and largely thorugh their mutual love of music--Letha and Pollard fall in love. A youngster named Nathan Fisher is recovering from a grevious wound, and has become Letha's favorite patient as well as Pollard's friend. Sergeant Rector Crump, a gruff yet lovable man, has become a trusted friend to both men and Letha. Always hovering over Chimborazo, the Angel of Death strikes a horrific blow that plunges Letha's soul into an abyss that threatens to consume her.

A Vast Army of Women : Maine's Uncounted Forces in the American Civil War.


Lynda L. Sudlow - 2000
    Sudlow spent most of the decade gathering the names of virtually every Maine woman involved in the war. The description of women-run organizations for relief is a revealing model for how women from all states endeavored to support the war effort.

How To Do Civil War Research


Richard A. Sauers - 2000
    Information is being sought on projects ranging from researching the wartime service of ancestors to more accurate details for re-enacting and wargaming, to those who want to try their hand at writing a Civil War book or article.For many, a great deal of time, effort and money is often wasted before locating the proper resources, and many never do find information which may actually be readily available. Dr. Richard A. Sauers has drawn upon his many years of Civil War research experience to produce this handy guide that will aid in almost any Civil War project.Using government records, locating and utilizing specialized libraries and collections, touring battlefield sites, contacting and drawing on Civil War interest organizations, and making the best use of published collections are all covered, with many useful tips. Dr. Sauers is also very up-to-date on electronic Civil War sources, from Internet websites to massive collections that are now available and often easier to use in electronic form.

The Civil War on the Lower Kansas-Missouri Border


Larry E. Wood - 2000
    It excludes several notable episodes of the war on the border, such as Quantrill s raid on Lawrence, that fall outside its narrow geographic limits and that have been covered in detail by previous authors. It concentrates instead on lesser-known events such as Senator Jim Lane s raid on Osceola, Missouri, the sacking of Humboldt, Kansas, and Quantrill s battle and massacre at Baxter Springs.Larry Wood is a retired public school teacher and a member of Western Writers of America who has written on historical topics for publications such as America s Civil War, Blue and Gray Magazine, Gateway Heritage, The Ozarks Mountaineer, True West, and Wild West.

Kennesaw Mountain June 1864: Bitter Standoff at the Gibralter of Georgia


Richard A. Baumgartner - 2000
    Sherman's blueclad columns had marched and fought to within 30 miles of the spires of Atlanta. But at rugged Kennesaw Mountain northwest of the city in June 1864, their progress was stymied by the weather, terrain and tenacious resistance of the veteran Army of Tennessee led by General Joseph E. Johnston."The days in front of Kennesaw, " wrote a Confederate officer, "were the longest in the year. The firing began as soon as there was light enough for the gunners to see and all day long our line was searched by shot and shell. It will be readily understood how wearing this was to nerves and what a relief the coming of darkness brought." On the opposite side a Union soldier thought, "Only men of skin, bone and gristle could endure such service."

General John Pope: A Life for the Nation


Peter Cozzens - 2000
    General John Pope: A Life for the Nation is the first full biography of this much maligned figure who played crucial roles in both the Eastern and the Western Theaters of the Civil War. Renowned Civil War scholar Peter Cozzens has mined Pope's own memoirs and a wealth of other primary sources to provide a complete picture of this gifted strategist. Uncovering new information about Pope's pre- and postwar career and his path to power, Cozzens delineates the political environment that surrounded Pope and provided the context for his actions. Cozzens examines Pope's early career first as commander of the Army of the Mississippi and then as leader of a hastily formed Army of Virginia against Robert E. Lee. After his famous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Pope was sent to the frontier. There he held important commands on the western plains over the next twenty-four years, all the while struggling to clear his reputation of the events at Second Bull Run. A principal architect of the Red River War, which broke the resistance of the Southern Plains Indians, Pope espoused humanitarian treatment of subjugated tribes and was recognized as one of the army's leading authorities on Indian affairs. In place of the simplistic caricature that has satisfied most historians, Cozzens has crafted an accurate, humane, balanced portrait of a complex man involved with the most complex issues of his day. A monumental work on a long-neglected figure, General John Pope offers a fresh look at a key nineteenth-century military leader as well as the most detailed analysis available of Federal leadership during the Second Bull Run campaign.

Soldiering with Sherman: The Civil War Letters of George F. Cram


Jennifer Cain Bohrnstedt - 2000
    Cram's letters reveals an educated young man's experiences as part of Sherman's army. Advancing through the Confederacy with the 105th Illinois Infantry Regiment, Cram engaged in a number of key conflicts, such as Resaca, Peachtree Creek, Kennesaw, and Sherman's "march to the sea." A highly literate college student who carried a copy of Shakespeare in his knapsack, Cram wrote candid letters that convey insights into the social dimensions of America's Civil War. With a piercing objectivity, optimism, and a dry sense of humor, Cram conscientiously reported the details of camp life. His vivid depictions of the campaigns throughout Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas contribute new insights into the battle scenes and key Union leaders. Cram and several of his compatriots adhered to a principled code of personal conduct (no smoking, swearing, drinking, or gambling), striving to maintain integrity and honor in the face of war's hardships and temptations. Influenced by the abolitionist values of his community and college, Cram's observations on the effects of slavery and on the poverty of many of the Southerners are especially illuminating. Civil War scholars and general readers alike will learn much from Cram's discoveries and observations—from his sympathy for poor whites to his grudging respect for the Confederates—that reveal the character of a young man maturing at war.

A Journal of the American Civil War: Chickamauga & Chattanooga (Civil War Regiments , Vol 7, No 1)


Theodore P. Savas - 2000
    Six in-depth essays by leading scholars on the battles that sealed the fate of Chattanooga and opened the heartland to Federal invasion. Topics include Patrick Cleburne's Confederate Brigade at Chattanooga; the Highlanders at Fort Sanders; the role of the Federal Regulars; the Chattanooga civilians; an analysis of commanders Braxton Bragg and William Rosecrans; more. Also includes book reviews and an interview with a leading historian.

Writing & Fighting the Civil War: Soldier Correspondence to the New York Sunday Mercury


Brian C. Pohanka - 2000
    Eager for first-hand news from the battlefield, the editors of the New York Sunday Mercury asked the departing volunteers to write and "inform us of any events of interest." This simple request for news generated the largest and most impressively detailed collection of journalist correspondence ever written during the Civil War. For four long and bloody years, hundreds of soldiers wrote thousands of letters to the Sunday Mercury creating a unique history of the great American Conflict.

Beyond the Gatehouse: Gettysburg's Evergreen Cemetery


Brian A. Kennell - 2000
    Beyond the gatehouse lies an encyclopedia of people who built Gettysburg, defended it throughout the battle and continue to expand its legacy into the 21st century. Written by the present caretaker of Evergreen, this is the first documented history of Gettysburg's "other cemetery."

Fort Monroe: The Key to the South


John V. Quarstein - 2000
    Strategically located on Old Point Comfort guarding the entrance to Hampton Roads and dominating the lower Chesapeake Bay, Fort Monroe quickly became a Federal bastion within the Confederacy and influenced many of the Civil War's greatest events. Known as Freedom's Fortress following Ben Butler's May 1861 decision to consider slaves escaping into Union lines as contraband of war, Fort Monroe quickly became a symbol of freedom and helped to define the wartime objective to end slavery. Soldiers on Fort Monroe's ramparts witnessed first-hand several new technologies, including the first balloon launching to observe enemy operations and the first battle between ironclad warships. Fort Monroe also played a critical role in the eventual Union victory, serving as a base for amphibious operations against Southern ports as well as staging campaigns against the nearby Confederate capital in Richmond. The drama played along the parapets of Fort Monroe during the Civil War has been brought to life by this comprehensive visual history. Fort Monroe: The Key to the South features over 175 images documenting this massive fort and its role in pivotal events like the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, Monitor-Virginia (Merrimack) engagement, and the Hampton Roads Peace Conference. Whether views of famous men like Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, and Jefferson Davis or scenes of the many soldiers and civilians serving on Old Point Comfort, this pictorial vividly chronicles Fort Monroe's tremendous Civil War heritage.