Drawing on original source material, from soldiers' letters to official military records of the war, Stephen W. Sears's Gettysburg is a remarkable and dramatic account of the legendary campaign. He takes particular care in his study of the battle's leaders and offers detailed analyses of their strategies and tactics, depicting both General Meade's heroic performance in his first week of army command and General Lee's role in the agonizing failure of the Confederate army. With characteristic style and insight, Sears brings the epic tale of the battle in Pennsylvania vividly to life.

    Two young Southern girls, one the daughter of a plantation owner and one the daughter of a slave, barely survive the onset of the Civil War and the loss of both their families. When these tragic circumstances bring them together, they join forces to discover if they can make a life for themselves. As their preconceptions give way to experience, they gradually learn to value their contrasting and complementing strengths and skills as they face the formidable task of keeping body and soul together in the aftermath of this devastating war. But is it possible the Lord they have come to know has something bigger in mind for the plantation than either of them can imagine?

    Mistresses were powerful beings in the hierarchy of slavery rather than powerless victims of the same patriarchal system responsible for the oppression of the enslaved. Glymph challenges popular depictions of plantation mistresses as "friends" and "allies" of slaves and sheds light on the political importance of ostensible private struggles, and on the political agendas at work in framing the domestic as private and household relations as personal.Recommended by the Association of Black Women Historians.

    This is a careful, insightful examination of the role women played in shaping the perceptions of two generations of southerners, not simply through rhetoric but through the creation of a remarkably effective organization whose leadership influenced the teaching of history in the schools, created a landscape of monuments that honored the Confederate dead, and provided assistance to elderly veterans, their widows, and their children."--Carol Berkin, City University of New YorkEven without the right to vote, members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy proved to have enormous social and political influence throughout the South--all in the name of preserving Confederate culture. Karen L. Cox's history of the UDC, an organization founded in 1894 to vindicate the Confederate generation and honor the Lost Cause, shows why myths surrounding the Confederacy continue to endure.The Daughters, as UDC members were popularly known, were literally daughters of the Confederate generation. While southern women had long been leaders in efforts to memorialize the Confederacy, UDC members made the Lost Cause a movement about vindication as well as memorialization. They erected monuments, monitored history for "truthfulness," and sought to educate coming generations of white southerners about an idyllic past and a just cause--states' rights. Soldiers' and widows' homes, perpetuation of the mythology of the antebellum South, and pro-southern textbooks in the region's white public schools were all integral to their mission of creating the New South in the image of the Old.UDC members aspired to transform military defeat into a political and cultural victory, in which states' rights and white supremacy remained intact. To the extent they were successful, the Daughters helped to preserve and perpetuate an agenda for the New South that included maintaining the social status quo. Placing the organization's activities in the context of the postwar and Progressive-Era South, Cox describes in detail the UDC's origins and early development, its efforts to collect and preserve manuscripts and artifacts and to build monuments, and its later role in the peace movement and World War I.This remarkable history of the organization presents a portrait of two generations of southern women whose efforts helped shape the social and political culture of the New South. It also offers a new historical perspective on the subject of Confederate memory and the role southern women played in its development.Karen L. Cox is assistant professor and director of the public history program at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

    -- Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 12, 1862April 12, 1861. With one jerk of a lanyard, one shell arching into the sky, years of tension explode into civil war. And for those men who do not know in which direction their loyalty calls them, it is a time for decisions. Such a one is Lieutenant Samuel Bowater, an officer of the U.S. Navy and a native of Charleston, South Carolina.Hard-pressed to abandon the oath he swore to the United States, but unable to fight against his home state, Bowater accepts a commission in the nascent Confederate Navy, where captains who once strode the quarterdecks of the world's most powerful ships are now assuming command of paddle wheelers and towboats. Taking charge of the armed tugboat Cape Fear, and then the ironclad Yazoo River, Bowater and his men, against overwhelming odds, engage in the waterborne fight for Southern independence.

    A wounded Confederate soldier appears at the family’s Virginia farm, and Haswell convinces his mother and sister to take the man in, despite the certain repercussions if the enemy Yankees were to catch them in such a “traitorous” act. Unfortunately, this is precisely what happens, setting off a horrific chain of events that leaves Haswell’s mother dead and the farmhouse burned to the ground.After leading his younger sister to safety with relatives, Haswell sets out on his journey in search of his older brother, a Confederate soldier. His quest is also a passage into manhood, as he experiences the last bloody days of the Civil War. Skillful storytelling, well-developed characters, and a fast-paced plot distinguish this compelling family story by an award-winning author.

    Lee's goals for the battle. Author and Gettysburg National Military Park historian Troy D. Harman believes this view is misinformed. Lee's Real Plan at Gettysburg presents a provocative new theory regarding Lee's true tactical objectives during this pivotal battle of the American Civil War.

    The Civil War has dragged on longer than anyone anticipated. Some in the Confederacy have proposed desperate measures to end the war, even embracing a plot to destroy the Union with a deadly epidemic. Fearing that the actions of Southern radicals could jeopardize Europe's acceptance of the Confederacy, the Confederate Secret Service sends an agent to stop the madman who plans to unleash Rebel Fever in Washington. Not all the enemies wear gray, and nothing less is at stake than the lives of thousands and the future of a nation. Based on an actual incident, this historical thriller offers non-stop suspense and an accurate portrayal of Civil War-era Washington.

    You can see the hills of northern Kentucky and the rooftops of Ripley’s riverfront houses. And you can see what the abolitionist John Rankin saw from his house at the top of that hill, where for nearly forty years he placed a lantern each night to guide fugitive slaves to freedom beyond the river. In Beyond the River, Ann Hagedorn tells the remarkable story of the participants in the Ripley line of the Underground Railroad, bringing to life the struggles of the men and women, black and white, who fought “the war before the war” along the Ohio River. Determined in their cause, Rankin, his family, and his fellow abolitionists—some of them former slaves themselves—risked their lives to guide thousands of runaways safely across the river into the free state of Ohio, even when a sensational trial in Kentucky threatened to expose the Ripley “conductors.” Rankin, the leader of the Ripley line and one of the early leaders of the antislavery movement, became nationally renowned after the publication of his Letters on American Slavery, a collection of letters he wrote to persuade his brother in Virginia to renounce slavery. A vivid narrative about memorable people, Beyond the River is an inspiring story of courage and heroism that transports us to another era and deepens our understanding of the great social movement known as the Underground Railroad.

    The one certainty was that any war between the states would be fought in their fields and streets.Edward L. Ayers gives us a different Civil War, built on an intimate scale. He charts the descent into war in the Great Valley spanning Pennsylvania and Virginia. Connected by strong ties of every kind, including the tendrils of slavery, the people of this borderland sought alternatives to secession and war. When none remained, they took up war with startling intensity. As this book relays with a vivid immediacy, it came to their doorsteps in hunger, disease, and measureless death. Ayers's Civil War emerges from the lives of everyday people as well as those who helped shape history—John Brown and Frederick Douglass, Lincoln, Jackson, and Lee. His story ends with the valley ravaged, Lincoln's support fragmenting, and Confederate forces massing for a battle at Gettysburg.

    It was fought 140 years ago this July, in the farmlands of Pennsylvania. Years in the making, it draws together the most complete collection of Gettysburg imagery ever published in a single volume along with a robust narrative. The author takes the reader on a day-by-day journey through the battle, illustrated throughout with more than 480 photographs, many of them rare, including shots of Robert E. Lee and George Meade. Two visual features of this book are particularly compelling: Period photographs of key battlefield sites - taken just as the guns stilled - are juxtaposed with images of those same sites today. Three-dimensional maps were created especially for this book and offer a distinctive perspective on military strategy. Essays by civil war experts and a foreword by historian James M. McPherson complete this handsome and authoritative history. An essential addition to the Civil War library, Gettysburg Battlefield is a compelling chronicle of a legendary conflict and the ultimate pictorial record.

    While many books have been written about the landmark battle, When the Smoke Cleared at Gettysburg differs from the rest by detailing the horrific aftermath of the battle, detailing what it takes to put a town back together after two armies have fought through its streets and across the surrounding countryside. The small town of 2,400 inhabitants was faced with the enormous problem of burying more than 7,000 dead soldiers and caring for 20,000 wounded men who had been left behind by both armies. Fields that just days earlier maintained crops and livestock were now littered with firearms, munitions, and swords, and nearly every building still standing was turned into a field hospital with mounds of amputated limbs left behind after the surgeons had completed their grizzly work. When the Smoke Cleared at Gettysburg provides firsthand accounts of life in the town and on the battlefield in the days and months following the brutal fighting. Included are stories and vivid descriptions from soldiers, reporters, civilians, doctors, and nurses. Good Samaritans came to help the wounded and the dying, and profiteers and souvenir hunters were not far behind. Then came the politicians, followed by legions of families seeking the remains of their fallen sons. When the Smoke Cleared at Gettysburg presents the heart-breaking human misery resulting from his battle and by the ongoing war wherever it went. From the backbreaking chore of clearing the battlefield of the wounded and dead to nursing the amputees, one can learn much of the battle by seeing what ordinary people who were pulled into the war did to survive and rebuild their lives.

    But the Civil War and Reconstruction left it reeling, impoverished, and so deeply divided that it never regained the level of prosperity it had previously enjoyed. Although most of the major battles of the war occurred elsewhere, Arkansas was critical to the Confederate war effort in the vast Trans-Mississippi region, and Arkansas soldiers served—some for the Union and more for the Confederacy—in every major theater of the war. And the war within the state was devastating. Union troops occupied various areas, citizens suffered greatly from the war’s economic disruption, and guerilla conflict and factional tensions left a bitter legacy. Reconstruction was in many ways a continuation of the war as the prewar elite fought to regain economic and political power. In this, the fourth volume in the Histories of Arkansas series, Thomas DeBlack not only describes the major players and events in this dramatic and painful story, but also explores the experiences of ordinary people. Although the historical evidence is complex—and much of the secondary literature is extraordinarily partisan—DeBlack offers a balanced, vivid overview of the state’s most tumultuous period.

    254 pp., illus., 244 photos, maps, notes, biblio., index, hardcover, dj., signed by the author, 8 1/2 x 11 inches. A rather rare account of ohio's soldier's part in the battle of Gettysburg.

    Less well known, however, is that the Hunley was not alone under the waters of America during the Civil War. Both the Union and Confederacy built a wide and incredible array of vessels that could maneuver underwater, and many were put to use patrolling enemy waters. In Submarine Warfare in the Civil War, Mark Ragan, who spent years mining factory records and log books, brings this little-known history to the surface.The hardcover edition, Union and Confederate Submarine Warfare in the Civil War, was published to wide acclaim in 1999. For this new paperback edition, Ragan has revised and updated the text to include the full story of the Hunley's recovery and restoration.

    After fighting with the 5th Texas Infantry Regiment in the famed Hood's Texas Brigade, Campbell recorded the first months of his service for the benefit of future generations of his family. Now editors George Skoch and Mark W. Perkins bring Campbell's riveting eyewitness accounts from the frontline to the public in Lone Star Confederate: A Gallant and Good Soldier of the 5th Texas Infantry, a lively and telling glimpse into a Johnny Reb's life.This young Confederate's tale of battle begins with his introduction to the unit in Virginia and continues through to his furlough home after he suffers a serious battle wound at Second Manassas. Among the thousands who served in what arguably was the most renowned combat unit in the Southern army, Hood's Texas Brigade, Campbell holds the dubious distinction of being the most wounded man, sustaining six wounds during the course of the war.Campbell praises Southern women who cared for soldiers along the railroad line from Richmond to Montgomery and recalls eating ten ears of green corn after three days of short rations and a hard day of fighting. He recounts falling asleep on picket duty despite the fear of punishment by death, and describes being under cannon fire and suffering a painful leg injury. The terrible conditions of battle—eating and sleeping too little, marching and drilling too much, cleaning weapons and standing watch in the rain and cold—are vividly real under Campbell's pen, which also praises his leaders, Lee, Jackson, and other Confederate officers.Skoch and Perkins have supplemented the record of Campbell's wartime service with his letters written during and after the war. His remarkable firsthand account of life in the 5th Texas will find a permanent niche in the literature of the Civil War.

    It was December 1849. The U.S.-Mexican War had just ended, doubling the size of the country. A grave problem emerged: whether slavery should be admitted into the new territories that were to be carved out of the vast new domain resulting from the war. This dilemma strained the relationship between the slave-holding South and the antislavery North. Other issues loomed as well: where to draw the Texas boundary line with the New Mexico territory, how to settle the Texas debt claims, and what to do about the problem of fugitive slaves escaping to the North and the slavetrade in the District of Columbia. The nation was on the brink of secession, dissolution, and civil war. On the Brink of Civil War tells the dramatic story of what happened when a handful of senators-towering figures in nineteenth-century American history-tried to hammer out a compromise to save the Union. The characters in this critical political drama included Henry Clay, seasoned politician and statesman known as the "Great Pacificator," who formulated an agreement in the Senate and would fight to get it through Congress; the gifted orator Daniel Webster, who helped Clay in his efforts by delivering the "Seventh of March" compromise speech on the Senate floor, one of the most memorable speeches in American history; and John C. Calhoun, a fervent defender of slavery and the South who, though nearing death, spoke to the Senate and demanded equal rights for the South in the new Western territories. Four young senators stepped into the fray to play their own unique, important roles: Henry Seward, the Whig from New York who many say controlled President Zachary Taylor and who opposed compromise; Stephen A. Douglas, the dynamic "Little Giant" from Illinois who favored agreement; Salmon P. Chase, the voice of the Free-Soilers and foe of compromise and concessions to the South; and Jefferson Davis, Mexican War hero and second only to Calhoun as the V

    Connell details significant battles and profiles key historical figures as she conveys the heart-wrenching turbulence of a family and nation divides.

    This lively, illustrated guide focuses on Wisconsin in the Civil War, but is broadly applicable to Civil War research anywhere. Images of original documents and historic photographs illustrate every chapter, acquainting readers with both the Civil War and its sources. The easy-to-use and informative text is unlike anything else currently on the market.Throughout the book, boxed features and sidebars provide background information and tips on how to do research. Author Brett Barker explains how to uncover the history of an individual soldier, his regiment, and his role in the Union Army using rosters, military records, pension files, and memoirs. And, he shows how to explore the home front during the war using the census, newspapers, city directories, and government records.

    

    Best known for his powerful Civil War images, Mathew Brady was America's most famous photographer in the mid-19th century. This volume contains more than 70 of his most significant images.

    Although recruited in a slave state where Lincoln received only 0.9 percent of the 1860 presidential vote, the men of the Fifteenth Kentucky fought and died for the Union for over three years, participating in all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, as well as the battles

    Lee's famous Army of Northern Virginia. These men--ordnance officers, engineers, aides-de-camp, and quartermasters, among others--worked at the side of many of the Confederacy's greatest figures, helping to feed and clothe the army, maintain its discipline, and operate its military machinery.A typical entry includes the officer's full name, the date and place of his birth and death, details of his education and occupation, and a synopsis of his military record. An introduction discusses the role of staff officers in the Confederate army, describes the evolution and importance of individual staff positions, and makes some broad generalizations about the officers' common characteristics. Two appendixes provide a list of more than 3,000 staff officers who served in other armies of the Confederacy and complete rosters of known staff officers of each general in the Army of Northern Virginia.Synthesizing the contents of thousands of unpublished official documents, "Staff Officers in Gray" will be of interest to anyone studying the battles, personnel, and organization of the Army of Northern Virginia.

    Now Michael Thurmond presents this unique, fascinating story of black Georgia from the early eighteenth century until the end of the Civil War.

    Organized at Harpers Ferry, they fought in the first battle of the war at Bull Run, and distinguished themselves for their valor. The Marylanders fought in the Shenandoah Valley under Jackson, bringing new honors to their fame. During the Seven Day Campaign they made an outstanding charge across open fields to help break the Union lines at Gaines's Mill. Disbanded in 1862, they quickly reorganized and gathered new recruits to become the Second Maryland Infantry. These gallant Marylanders defended the Shenandoah Valley during the winter of 1862-63, and then fought in the battle of Winchester in 1863. Joining Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, they charged up Culp's Hill on July 2-3, losing half their number. In june, 1864, the Marylanders charged without orders and closed a gap in the Confederate lines at Cold Harbor. Defending Petersburg, they were in several counterattacks to recover the Weldon Railroad. During the winter of 1864-65 the Marylanders were constantly called on for picket duty, while others around them deserted. They fought to the last at Petersburg in April, 1865, and the survivors surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. 2003, 6 x 9, index, cloth, 581 pp.

    The Civil War on the Web, SR Books' highly acclaimed guide to Internet resources, eliminates this problem. The authors have examined thousands of websites to prepare this invaluable book. This newly revised edition contains only the most carefully constructed, highly informative, artfully designed sites on the Civil War. Sites that have become outdated since the release of the first edition in 2000 have been deleted and additional outstanding sources of information have been added.The Civil War on the Web includes: * Detailed reviews of the top 100 sites * A one- to five-star rating of each site's content, aesthetics, and navigation * A list of over 300 additional recommended sites including URLs and brief descriptions * Free CD-ROM (PC and MAC compatible) with hotlinks to all 400-plus sites in the bookThe Civil War on the Web is the indispensable 'toolkit' for Civil War buffs, history enthusiasts, and web surfers to pinpoint the best websites on the Civil War.

    Stuart traces the charmed life of Confederate Cavalry General James Ewell Brown Stuart from his birth in southwestern Virginia through his schooling at West Point, through his military postings in Texas and Kansas, then through his three-year career on battlefields in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

    Lee, Clara Barton, Frederick Douglass, and Ulysses S. Grant. 16-page color photo insert.

    The transcripts alone, which present eyewitness accounts from sixteen participant officers at Gettysburg, offer a wealth of information about the what and the why of one of the most pivotal battles in American history; but it is the addition of contextual comments and background material by Bill Hyde that unleashes this virtually untapped resource for readers. Laden with ulterior motives, prejudices, faulty recollection, and outright lies, the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War's report is a minefield of inaccuracies. Hyde's comprehensive analysis, informed by recent scholarship, transforms it into an accessible, rewarding aid for students of the Gettysburg chapter in the Civil War.In the course of the volume, Hyde gives thorough examination to the origins and purpose of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, the political climate and military thinking in Washington at the time of the Meade hearings, and the hidden agendas of the witnesses and seven committee members. He maintains that the JCCW's dissatisfaction with Meade went much deeper than disapproval of the general's hesitancy to pursue and cripple Lee's Army of Northern Virginia on July 4, 1863 -- a failure that dissappointed every northern citizen from Lincoln to the ordinary soldier. The bipartisan body of mostly radical Republicans who favored a ruthless defeat of the South aimed, Hyde shows, to restore power to the committee's favorite, Major General Joseph Hooker, whom Meade had succeeded as commander of the Army of the Potomac only three days before Gettysburg.The unfolding of the Gettysburg campaign, the career of General Meade, and the North's highly politicized method of warmaking all receive new illumination in The Union General's Speak. Hyde's balanced critique of this important primary source reminds us that though Meade is remembered now mainly for his role in defeating the Confederates at Gettysburg, the JCCW hearings confirmed that he was not the leader to win the war.

    Though Lincoln had hundreds of acquaintances and dozens of admirers, he had almost no intimate friends. Behind his mask of affability and endless stream of humorous anecdotes, he maintained an inviolate reserve that only a few were ever able to penetrate. In this highly original book, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner David Herbert Donald examines, for the first time, these close friendships and explores their role in shaping Lincoln's career.