Mary Edwards Walker. However, Mary’s life was more than just a medal. Not only was Mary a leading suffragist, the first female surgeon to serve in the United States Army, and an advocate of women’s dress reform, she was a woman who put the lives of others before hers. She sacrificed her personal happiness, her comforts, and her reputation in order to fight for the ideals she believed in, both during and after her service in the American Civil War. Mary was a nonconformist in every way, refusing to bow down to society’s establishments. When society towered above her, demanding her to surrender, Mary planted herself like a tree and stood her ground. Mary’s life is a testament to the idea of selflessness. Today, many Americans stand on her shoulders.This book is more than a simple biography of Mary's life. Instead, this book seeks to understand the woman behind the medal. It seeks to discover the core of Mary's being and the inspirations that turned her into who she was. People may know Dr. Walker. The question is: who was Mary?

    Drawing on new research, this account reveals the President-Elect as a work in progress, showing him on the verge of greatness, foiling an assassination attempt, and forging an unbreakable bond with the American people. On the eve of his 52nd birthday, February 11, 1861, the President-Elect of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, walked onto a train, the first step of his journey to the White House, and his rendezvous with destiny. But as the train began to carry Lincoln toward Washington, it was far from certain what he would find there. Bankrupt and rudderless, the government was on the verge of collapse. To make matters worse, reliable intelligence confirmed a conspiracy to assassinate him as he passed through Baltimore. It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of the Republic hung in the balance. How did Lincoln survive this grueling odyssey, to become the president we know from the history books? Lincoln on the Verge tells the story of a leader discovering his own strength, improvising brilliantly, and seeing his country up close during these pivotal thirteen days. From the moment the Presidential Special left the station, a new Lincoln was on display, speaking constantly, from a moving train, to save the Republic. The journey would draw on all of Lincoln’s mental and physical reserves. But the President-Elect discovered an inner strength, which deepened with the exhausting ordeal of meeting millions of Americans. Lincoln on the Verge tells the story of America’s greatest president and the obstacles he overcame, well before he could take the oath of office and deliver his inaugural address.

    W. Brands, the epic struggle over slavery as embodied by John Brown and Abraham Lincoln, two men with radically different views on how moral people must act when their democracy countenances evil.John Brown was a charismatic and deeply religious man who heard the God of the Old Testament speaking to him, telling him to destroy slavery by any means. In 1854, when Congress opened Kansas territory to slavery, Brown raised a band of followers to wage war against the institution--his men tore proslavery settlers from their homes and hacked them to death with broadswords. Three years later Brown and his men assaulted the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, hoping to arm slaves with weapons for the coming race war that would cleanse the nation of slavery once and for all.Brown's violence pointed ambitious Illinois lawyer and former office-holder Abraham Lincoln toward a different solution to slavery: politics. A member of the moderate wing of the new, antislavery Republican Party, he spoke cautiously and dreamed big, plotting his path to Washington and perhaps the White House. Yet Lincoln's caution couldn't preserve him from the vortex of violence Brown set in motion. Arrested and sentenced to death, Brown's righteous dignity on the way to the gallows led many in the North to see him as a martyr to liberty. Southerners responded in anger and horror that a terrorist was made into a saint. Lincoln shrewdly threaded the needle of the fracturing country and won election as president, still preaching moderation.But the time for moderation had passed, and as the nation careened toward war Lincoln would see his central faith, that democracy can resolve its moral crises peacefully, face the ultimate test. Master storyteller H. W. Brands narrates in thrilling fashion how two men confronted America's gravest scourge in the moments before the nation's darkest hour.

    After a morning of rain-drenched fury, tens of thousands crowded Washington's Capitol grounds that day to see Abraham Lincoln take the oath for a second term. As the sun emerged, Lincoln rose to give perhaps the greatest inaugural address in American history, stunning the nation by arguing, in a brief 701 words, that both sides had been wrong, and that the war's unimaginable horrors--every drop of blood spilled--might well have been God's just verdict on the national sin of slavery. Edward Achorn reveals the nation's capital on that momentous day--with its mud, sewage, and saloons, its prostitutes, spies, reporters, social-climbing spouses and power-hungry politicians--as a microcosm of all the opposing forces that had driven the country apart. A host of characters, unknown and famous, had converged on Washington--from grievously wounded Union colonel Selden Connor in a Washington hospital and the embarrassingly drunk new vice president, Andrew Johnson, to poet-journalist Walt Whitman; from soldiers' advocate Clara Barton and African American leader and Lincoln critic-turned-admirer Frederick Douglass (who called the speech "a sacred effort") to conflicted actor John Wilkes Booth--all swirling around the complex figure of Lincoln.In indelible scenes, Achorn vividly captures the frenzy in the nation's capital at this crucial moment in America's history and the tension-filled hope and despair afflicting the country as a whole, soon to be heightened by Lincoln's assassination. His story offers new understanding of our great national crisis, and echoes down the decades to resonate in our own time.

    Within a matter of hours, the Union ship's stern was blown open in a spray of wood planks. The explosion sank the ship, killing many of its crew. And the submarine, the first ever to be successful in combat, disappeared without a trace.For 131 years the eight-man crew of the HL Hunley lay in their watery graves, undiscovered. When finally raised, the narrow metal vessel revealed a puzzling sight. There was no indication the blast had breached the hull, and all eight men were still seated at their stations--frozen in time after more than a century. Why did it sink? Why did the men die? Archaeologists and conservationists have been studying the boat and the remains for years, and now one woman has the answers.In the Waves is much more than just a military perspective or a technical account. It's also the story of Rachel Lance's single-minded obsession spanning three years, the story of the extreme highs and lows in her quest to find all the puzzle pieces of the Hunley. Balancing a gripping historical tale and original research with a personal story of professional and private obstacles, In the Waves is an enthralling look at a unique part of the Civil War and the lengths one scientist will go to uncover its secrets.

    This escape to a place barely touched by war will prove to be anything but peaceful for the two strong-willed women.Montgomery Boaze is the wealthiest farmer in the upstate. He also happens to be a handsome widower. When distant relative Noemie returns home and butts heads with a mutual enemy, Montgomery appoints himself her and Ruth's protector. Not such a difficult task since he adores his kin…and finds the beautiful, young widow bewitching.Together, the three will become entangled in a battle over land, loyalty, and love that has nothing to do with North versus South.

    From reinventing the nation's financial system to pushing President Lincoln to emancipate the slaves to the planning for Reconstruction, Congress undertook drastic measures to defeat the Confederacy, in the process laying the foundation for a strong central government that came fully into being in the twentieth century. Brimming with drama and outsized characters, Congress at War is also one of the most original books about the Civil War to appear in years, and will change the way we understand the conflict.

    As Adam Domby reveals here, this was not only an insidious goal; it was founded on falsehoods. The False Cause focuses on North Carolina to examine the role of lies and exaggeration in the creation of the Lost Cause narrative. In the process the book shows how these lies have long obscured the past and been used to buttress white supremacy in ways that resonate to this day.Domby explores how fabricated narratives about the war's cause, Reconstruction, and slavery--as expounded at monument dedications and political rallies--were crucial to Jim Crow. He questions the persistent myth of the Confederate army as one of history's greatest, revealing a convenient disregard of deserters, dissent, and Unionism, and exposes how pension fraud facilitated a myth of unwavering support of the Confederacy among nearly all white Southerners. Domby shows how the dubious concept of "black Confederates" was spun from a small number of elderly and indigent African American North Carolinians who got pensions by presenting themselves as "loyal slaves." The book concludes with a penetrating examination of how the Lost Cause narrative and the lies on which it is based continue to haunt the country today and still work to maintain racial inequality.

    The only thing missing is a husband. She is torn between two brothers competing for her affections, Seth who is devoted to the south and Sean who has bold ideas regarding the future. When the Civil War breaks out and the brothers fight for opposite sides, who will fight for Holden's heart? ---- This is book one in a thirty-six book series written by multiple authors. The books are published in chronological order, telling stories over the five years of the Civil War. It is a sweet and wholesome romance set against one of the bloodiest wars in the United States.

    Some might say a young woman can't be too fussy when almost every unattached young man is off fighting, but that shouldn't mean the daughter of a Union man has any excuse for canoodling with a Rebel. Still, eighteen-year-old Gigi longed for true love, and the dashing Texas Ranger turned Kentucky Confederate vies for her heart. How will they overcome the odds and a war to be together? A Civil War indeed, such an oxymoron!

    The third book, LIBERTY and DESTINY, was a second place finisher in the esteemed Valley Forge Romance Writers Sheila contest. Take a step back in time and fall in love with the heroes that helped forge this country. All three novels have been praised by both men and women and are suitable for teens. NOBLE CAUSE: Called “a riveting piece of historical fiction” by the Midwest Book Review and often compared to Gone with the Wind, Noble Cause takes readers across the rolling hills of Virginia in a page-turning tale of courage and love. ABOVE AND BEYOND: A romantic tale of two people thrown together by war and torn apart by Destiny. “Jessica James has a gift for reaching into the past and bringing it back to life.” – Tiffany Kohler LIBERTY and DESTINY: The spark from a single candle can light a sacred flame... Two patriots show their devotion to freedom as they struggle to survive in a war-torn country full of deceivers and spies during the American Revolution.

    

    The story chronicles his escape from war-ravaged Bangladesh to the relative safety of a barbed-wired internment camp in the foothills of the Himalayas, his day-to-day life as a civilian prisoner of war, and his thousand-mile, two-year-long journey back to Pakistan

    His March to the Sea, which resulted in a devastated swath of the South from Atlanta to Savannah, cemented his place in history as the pioneer of total war.In The Scourge of War, preeminent military historian Brian Holden Reid offers a deeply researched life and times account of Sherman. By examining his childhood and education, his business ventures in California, his antebellum leadership of a military college in Louisiana, and numerous career false starts, Holden Reid shows how unlikely his exceptional Civil War career would seem. He also demonstrates how crucial his family was to his professional path, particularly his wife's intervention during the war. He analyzes Sherman's development as a battlefield commander and especially his crucial friendships with Henry W. Halleck and Ulysses S. Grant. In doing so, he details how Sherman overcame both his weaknesses as a leader and severe depression to mature as a military strategist. Central chapters narrate closely Sherman's battlefield career and the gradual lifting of his pessimism that the Union would be defeated. After the war, Sherman became a popular figure in the North and the founder of the school for officers at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, known as the "intellectual center of the army." Holden Reid argues that Sherman was not hostile to the South throughout his life and only in later years gained a reputation as a villain who practiced barbaric destruction, particularly as the neo-Confederate Lost Cause grew and he published one of the first personal accounts of the war.A definitive biography of a preeminent military figure by a renowned military historian, The Scourge of War is a masterful account of Sherman' life that fully recognizes his intellect, strategy, and actions during the Civil War.

    . . a distant cousin from England . . . has come to claim what is rightfully his inheritance.1860, Charleston.Antoinette Delacourte enters her uncle’s office and is shocked to find a handsome stranger sitting behind the desk. She’s even more shocked when Elliot Fleming introduces himself as the legitimate heir to her late father’s estate, which includes the company she’s always believed to be hers. Or it will be as soon as she comes of age. And if there is anything left of a business that seldom turns a profit.With secrets of his own, Elliot must focus on his mission, even if it means deceiving an innocent young lady. He doesn’t have time for romantic entanglements, but despite his resolve, he finds himself drawing ever closer to Antoinette. When love blossoms between the two, Antoinette dares to dream of a future she never expected to have.James Blandon, Antoinette’s maternal uncle, never misses an opportunity to remind his orphaned niece that it is only by virtue of his kind heart that she even has a roof over her head. Thanks to her late father’s mismanagement, his estate doesn’t generate enough income to cover her living expenses. That’s what her uncle says anyway.But the estate is quite lucrative. Blandon has looted it for many years and is furious it’s about to be snatched away from him.When Elliot attempts to untangle Blandon’s web of lies, he discovers an adversary who will stop at nothing to keep a stolen fortune.Will Antoinette and Elliot survive her uncle’s attempts to destroy them? Or will Elliot’s own deception force them apart?

    She also has to deal with two rogue Yankee soldiers who’ve beaten her, stolen her food, and keep coming back to cause more trouble. Jack Fuller is a God-fearing Christian fighting for the Union. During a surprise encounter, he shoots and kills a Rebel soldier. In his final breaths, the Rebel asks Jack to deliver a letter to his wife—and he agrees. But when he arrives at Cristina’s small farm in West Virginia, she assumes Jack is one of the Yankee trouble-makers, trains her rifle on him, and fires. As he lies on the ground bleeding, he explains the purpose of his visit, and out of a sense of obligation, she decides to nurse him back to health. What will happen when Cristina discovers Jack is the one who made her a widow? Will her rebel heart forgive him—or finish him off?

    To be sure, environmental factors such as topography and weather powerfully shaped the outcomes of battles and campaigns, and the war could not have been fought without the horses, cattle, and other animals that were essential to both armies. But here Judkin Browning and Timothy Silver weave a far richer story, combining military and environmental history to forge a comprehensive new narrative of the war's significance and impact. As they reveal, the conflict created a new disease environment by fostering the spread of microbes among vulnerable soldiers, civilians, and animals; led to large-scale modifications of the landscape across several states; sparked new thinking about the human relationship to the natural world; and demanded a reckoning with disability and death on an ecological scale. And as the guns fell silent, the change continued; Browning and Silver show how the war influenced the future of weather forecasting, veterinary medicine, the birth of the conservation movement, and the establishment of the first national parks. In considering human efforts to find military and political advantage by reshaping the natural world, Browning and Silver show not only that the environment influenced the Civil War's outcome but also that the war was a watershed event in the history of the environment itself.

    Exploring the connections among the Civil War, the Indian wars, and western expansion, Nelson reframes the era as one of national conflict—involving not just the North and South, but also the West. Against the backdrop of this larger series of battles, Nelson introduces nine individuals: John R. Baylor, a Texas legislator who established the Confederate Territory of Arizona; Louisa Hawkins Canby, a Union Army wife who nursed Confederate soldiers back to health in Santa Fe; James Carleton, a professional soldier who engineered campaigns against Navajos and Apaches; Kit Carson, a famous frontiersman who led a regiment of volunteers against the Texans, Navajos, Kiowas, and Comanches; Juanita, a Navajo weaver who resisted Union campaigns against her people; Bill Davidson, a soldier who fought in all of the Confederacy’s major battles in New Mexico; Alonzo Ickis, an Iowa-born gold miner who fought on the side of the Union; John Clark, a friend of Abraham Lincoln’s who embraced the Republican vision for the West as New Mexico’s surveyor-general; and Mangas Coloradas, a revered Chiricahua Apache chief who worked to expand Apache territory in Arizona. As we learn how these nine charismatic individuals fought for self-determination and control of the region, we also see the importance of individual actions in the midst of a larger military conflict. The Three-Cornered War is a captivating history—based on letters and diaries, military records and oral histories, and photographs and maps from the time—that sheds light on a forgotten chapter of American history.

    

    Gallagher highlights the complexity and richness of the war, from its origins to its memory, as topics for study, contemplation, and dispute. He places contemporary understanding of the Civil War, both academic and general, in conversation with testimony from those in the Union and the Confederacy who experienced and described it, investigating how mid-nineteenth-century perceptions align with, or deviate from, current ideas regarding the origins, conduct, and aftermath of the war. The tension between history and memory forms a theme throughout the essays, underscoring how later perceptions about the war often took precedence over historical reality in the minds of many Americans.The array of topics Gallagher addresses is striking. He examines notable books and authors, both Union and Confederate, military and civilian, famous and lesser known. He discusses historians who, though their names have receded with time, produced works that remain pertinent in terms of analysis or information. He comments on conventional interpretations of events and personalities, challenging, among other things, commonly held notions about Gettysburg and Vicksburg as decisive turning points, Ulysses S. Grant as a general who profligately wasted Union manpower, the Gettysburg Address as a watershed that turned the war from a fight for Union into one for Union and emancipation, and Robert E. Lee as an old-fashioned general ill-suited to waging a modern mid-nineteenth-century war. Gallagher interrogates recent scholarly trends on the evolving nature of Civil War studies, addressing crucial questions about chronology, history, memory, and the new revisionist literature. The format of this provocative and timely collection lends itself to sampling, and readers might start in any of the subject groupings and go where their interests take them.

    As shown by their blaming British and Northern slave traders for saddling them with slavery, most were uncomfortable with the institution. While many wanted it ended, most were content to leave that up to God. All that changed with the election of Abraham Lincoln.Rebels in the Making is a narrative-driven history of how and why secession occurred. In this work, senior Civil War historian William L. Barney narrates the explosion of the sectional conflict into secession and civil war. Carefully examining the events in all fifteen slave states and distinguishing the political circumstances in each, he argues that this was not a mass democratic movement but one led from above.The work begins with the deepening strains within Southern society as the slave economy matured in the mid-nineteenth century and Southern ideologues struggled to convert whites to the orthodoxy of slavery as a positive good. It then focuses on the years of 1860-1861 when the sectional conflict led to the break-up of the Union. As foreshadowed by the fracturing of the Democratic Party over the issue of federal protection for slavery in the territories, the election of 1860 set the stage for secession. Exploiting fears of slave insurrections, anxieties over crops ravaged by a long drought, and the perceived moral degradation of submitting to the rule of an antislavery Republican, secessionists launched a movement in South Carolina that spread across the South in a frenzied atmosphere described as the great excitement. After examining why Congress was unable to reach a compromise on the core issue of slavery's expansion, the study shows why secession swept over the Lower South in January of 1861 but stalled in the Upper South. The driving impetus for secession is shown to have come from the middling ranks of the slaveholders who saw their aspirations of planter status blocked and denigrated by the Republicans. A separate chapter on the formation of the Confederate government in February of 1861 reveals how moderates and former conservatives pushed aside the original secessionists to assume positions of leadership. The final chapter centers on the crisis over Fort Sumter, the resolution of which by Lincoln precipitated a second wave of secession in the Upper South.Rebels in the Making shows that secession was not a unified movement, but has its own proponents and patterns in each of the slave states. It draws together the voices of planters, non-slaveholders, women, the enslaved, journalists, and politicians. This is the definitive study of the seminal moment in Southern history that culminated in the Civil War.

    Since it did, however, Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War, marveling at the size of the battles, the leadership of the generals, and the courage of the soldiers. For over 150 years, the war has been subjected to endless debate among civilians, historians, and the generals themselves. The Civil War is often considered one of the first modern wars, and while technology affected what happened on the battlefield, technology and new methods also improved the way soldiers were cared for away from the front lines. Civil War medicine is understandably (and rightly) considered primitive by 21st century standards, but the ways in which injured and sick soldiers were removed behind the lines and nursed were considered state-of-the-art in the 1860s, and nobody was more responsible for that than Clara Barton, the “Florence Nightingale of America.” Barton had been an educator and clerk before the Civil War broke out in 1861, but almost immediately, she went to work attempting to nurse injured Union soldiers and ensure army hospitals were properly supplied. By 1862, she was shadowing Union armies near Washington to bring supplies, clean field hospitals, and directly nurse wounded soldiers herself. In short order, she was recognized as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” In the wake of the war, she gave speeches about her experiences and even went abroad to serve in a similar capacity during the Franco-Prussian War, and eventually she brought back the tenets of the International Red Cross to found the American Red Cross. Under her leadership, the organization would assist not just during wars, but also during natural disasters and other humanitarian crises, roles that the American Red Cross continues to fulfill today. Clara Barton: The Life and Legacy of the Civil War Nurse Who Founded the American Red Cross chronicles her remarkable life, and the manner in which she changed nursing in America forever. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Clara Barton like never before.

    To date the first and second edition of this book has sold over 135,000 copies!Not for the faint of heart, The South Was Right! is an authoritative and well-documented study of the mythology behind "Civil War" history and its ongoing effects. In their new edition for a 21st century audience, the Kennedys have updated their message to provide guidance for the harsh conditions against liberty and even the survival of the South that face us in this time.If you love the South, you need this book!◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆PASSAGES FROM THE NEW EDITION"The central theme of this book is that the Northern majority used unconstitutional, illegal, and immoral methods to change the Original Constitutional Republic of Sovereign States into a centralized, supreme, federal government that is now (2020) controlled by an evil leftist shadow government.""Through aggressive war and post-war unconstitutional political acts, the Yankee Empire changed the nature of the government from a voluntary compact among sovereign states to an empire established by the Northern majority via the conquest of the numerical minority of the South.""After Reconstruction the South accepted its secondary place in the newly created Yankee Empire in exchange for nominal control of the puppet governments foisted upon the Southern States and agreed not to secede from the newly created 'indivisible' nation. The Yankee Empire broke the bargain! The South is no longer 'patriotically' required to remain loyal to the Yankee Empire...""If Southerners continue to remain pacified subjects of a supreme federal government that is actively engaged in anti-South, cultural genocide, then the South will turn into another Detroit, Chicago, Zimbabwe or Venezuela....""If the ruling elites in Washington reject the demands of the people for a government more respectful of our rights, then it will be faced with the prospect of the Southern people-as well as people in conservative "red counties" across America following the lead of Lithuania (1990) and England via Brexit (2016) as we demand the right of self-determination.""This book is a call to action to all people who love liberty and truth."

    The end of the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln had thrown the future of Lincoln's vision for the country into considerable doubt; the years that followed--marked by impeachment, constitutional change, presidential scandals, and the contested election of 1876--saw Republicans fighting to retain power as they transitioned into the party of "big business." Enter James A. Garfield, a seasoned politician known for his advocacy of civil rights, who represented the last potential Reconstruction presidency: truly, Benjamin T. Arrington suggests in this book, the last "Lincoln Republican."The story of the presidential election of 1880, fully explored for the first time in The Last Lincoln Republican, is a political drama of lasting consequence and dashed possibilities. A fierce opponent of slavery before the war, Garfield had fought for civil rights for African Americans for years in Congress. Holding true to the original values of the Republican Party, Garfield wanted to promote equal opportunity for all; meanwhile, Democrats, led by Winfield Scott Hancock, sought to return the South to white supremacy and an inferior status for African Americans. With its in-depth account of the personalities and issues at play in 1880, Arrington's book provides a unique perspective on how this critical election continues to resonate through our national politics and culture to this day.A close look at the contest of 1880 reveals that Garfield's victory could have been the start of a period of greater civil rights legislation, a continuation of Lincoln's vision. This was the choice made by the American people--and, as The Last Lincoln Republican makes poignantly clear, the great opportunity forever lost when Garfield was assassinated just a few months into his term.

    Grant in Tennessee as an impetus to reverse the tides of war. David A. Powell’s sophisticated strategic and operational analysis of Grant’s command decisions and actions shows how his determined leadership relieved the siege and shattered the enemy, resulting in the creation of a new strategic base of Union operations and Grant’s elevation to commander of all the Federal armies the following year. Powell’s detailed exploration of the Union Army of the Cumberland’s six-week-long campaign for Chattanooga is complemented by his careful attention to the personal issues Grant faced at the time and his relationships with his superiors and subordinates. Though unfamiliar with the tactical situation, the army, and its officers, Grant delivered another resounding victory. His success, explains Powell, was due to his tactical flexibility, communication with his superiors, perseverance despite setbacks, and dogged determination to win the campaign. Through attention to postwar accounts, Powell reconciles the differences between what happened and the participants’ memories of the events. He focuses throughout on Grant’s controversial decisions, showing how they were made and their impact on the campaign. As Powell shows, Grant’s choices demonstrate how he managed to be a thoughtful, deliberate commander despite the fog of war.

    The Republican Party platform opposed the expansion of slavery to the western states, but it did not embrace abolition. The real cause of the war was a dispute over money and self-determination. Before the Civil War, the South financed most of the federal government—because the federal government was funded by tariffs, which were paid disproportionately by the agricultural South that imported manufactured goods. Yet, most federal government spending and subsidies benefited the North. The South wanted a more limited federal government and lower tariffs—the ideals of Thomas Jefferson—and when the South could not get that, it opted for independence. Lincoln was unprepared when the Southern states seceded, and force was the only way to bring them—and their tariff money—back. That was the real cause of the war. A well-documented and compelling read by a master historian, It Wasn’t About Slavery will change the way you think about Abraham Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the cause and legacy of America’s momentous Civil War.

    Brutally beaten while laboring in the swamp lands of Maryland, she was left with hellish memories and permanent neural damage. Despite it all, she DID live on. . .to claim a place in history's annals, for Tubman wasn't content to be free while others remained in shackles.Guided by compassion and unwavering faith, she emancipated herself and led hundreds of others to refuge. Along the way, Ms. Tubman experienced heartbreak and poverty at every turn. Mortal danger was ceaseless. In wartime, she rallied for women's rights; in times of peace, for brothers and sisters still deprived of their liberty.Yet, Tubman's true contribution to mankind was - and is - her legacy. Having entered the immortal pantheon of American heroes, she's inspired generations to stand up in the face of prejudice and tyranny. She came from nothing but managed to give us the very greatest gift of all: conviction in ourselves.What readers and listeners are saying: "Well written and immensely important to read, this excellent examination of the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman is a book that should be read/listened to by everyone - a source of learning and inspiration for all.""How I would have love to have sat with [Harriet Tubman] and felt her kindness."This is a very readable/listenable, introductory overview particularly well-suited for students; those older adults who may have never formally learned about Harriet Tubman during their public school years will also find it informative.""By writing about Tubman's character and fiery power, Ramos inspires us reach higher in our own American and human dreams."The trauma and triumph of Harriet Tubman is history that can't be missed. Listen/read on. You may just find the strength to build a brighter future. KINDLE ⇒ 141pps.PAPERBACK ⇒ 139pps.AUDIBLE RUNNING TIME ⇒ 2hrs. and 33mins.©2020 Sea Vision Publishing, LLC (P)2020 Sea Vision Publishing, LLC

    

    Morel argues that the most important influence on Abraham Lincoln’s political thought and practice was what he learned from the leading figures of and documents from the birth of the United States. In this systematic account of those principles, Morel compellingly demonstrates that to know Lincoln well is to understand thoroughly the founding of America.   With each chapter describing a particular influence, Morel leads readers from the Founding Father, George Washington; to the founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and Constitution; to the founding compromise over slavery; and finally to a consideration of how the original intentions of the Founding Fathers should be respected in light of experience, progress, and improvements over time. Within these key discussions, Morel shows that without the ideals of the American Revolution, Lincoln’s most famous speeches would be unrecognizable, and the character of the nation would have lost its foundation on the universal principles of human equality, individual liberty, and government by the consent of the governed. Lincoln thought that the principles of human equality and individual rights could provide common ground for a diverse people to live as one nation and that some old things, such as the political ideals of the American founding, were worth preserving. He urged Americans to be vigilant in maintaining the institutions of self-government and to exercise and safeguard the benefits of freedom for future generations. Morel posits that adopting the way of thinking and speaking Lincoln advocated, based on the country’s founding, could help mend our current polarized discourse and direct the American people to employ their common government on behalf of a truly common good.

    Seven states had seceded, and at least another four and as many as eight remained up for grabs, depending how the new president handled the secession crisis, especially at the flashpoint of Fort Sumter in South Carolina, heart of the rebellion. The fate of the republic quite literally hung in the balance. Lincoln's First Crisis covers four of the most consequential months in American history, December 1860 through April 1861. The seceded states hoped to maneuver Lincoln into firing the first shots at Sumter and sparking a civil war, and actively worked toward that goal. The Sumter crisis has been hotly debated, and deeply researched, for more than 150 years. In this thoughtful, careful reassessment, Johnson combines thorough research and the latest historiography with a litigator's methodical analysis and a storyteller's ear to reconstruct the beginning of the Civil War from the White House to Brooklyn Navy Yard, from Charleston Harbor to Richmond. Through perseverance, principle, and personality, Lincoln bested his rivals and established himself as commander in chief, and even though his actions to relieve Sumter helped spark the war, he did so on his own political, moral, and military terms that helped lay the foundations for meaningful Union victory. Johnson breathes new life into this old, but US-shatteringly important story.

    Her home is left in shambles. And she is forced to give up the only man capable of putting the pieces back together. Aurora Haverwood has loved Zachery Saberton for as long as she can remember. Her dreams of being his wife are cruelly dashed when the American Civil War draws to a close with news that Zach is missing and presumed dead. Refusing to believe he will never return to her, she sets out to find the truth. Captain Zach Saberton, notorious blockade runner for the Confederate Navy, has outfoxed the Yankee War Department once too often. In order to save his neck, Zach agrees to go undercover in London to help the Union recover a million dollars’ worth of gold bullion missing from the failed Confederate Treasury. When Aurora discovers Zach Saberton is alive and well in England, attending one social affair after another, she decides to pay a visit to her uncle, the Earl of Kendal, in hopes of finding some answers. The journey from her devastated homeland to elegant London society plunges her into a web of danger. Zach, desperately trying to avoid another civil rebellion, soon comes to realize that it’s Aurora who holds the key to their survival. But in accepting her help, he risks losing her forever.

    For generations of Americans this word--the name of a bucolic stream in western Maryland--held the same sense of horror and carnage that the simple date 9/11 does for modern America. But Antietam eclipses even this modern tragedy as America's single bloodiest day, on which 22,000 men became casualties in a war to determine our nation's future.Antietam is forever burned into the American psyche, a battle bathed in blood that served no military purpose, brought no decisive victory. This much Americans know. What they didn't know is why this is so--until now. The Cornfield: Antietam's Bloody Turning Point tells for the first time the full story of the exciting struggle to control "the Cornfield," the action on which the costly battle of Antietam turned, in a thorough yet readable narrative. It explains what happened in Antietam's Cornfield and why. Because Federal and Confederate forces repeatedly traded control of the spot, the fight for the Cornfield is a story of human struggle against fearful odds, of men seeking to do their duty, of simply trying to survive. Many of the included firsthand accounts have never been revealed to modern readers and never have they been assembled in such a comprehensive, readable form.At the same time, The Cornfield offers fresh views of the battle as a whole, arguing that it turned on events in the Cornfield because of two central facts -- Union General George McClellan's linear thinking demanded that the Cornfield must be taken and, because of this, the repeated failure by the generals McClellan charged with fulfilling this task created a self-reinforcing cycle of disaster that doomed the Union's prospects for success--at the cost of thousands of lives.The Cornfield offers new perspectives that may be controversial--particularly to those who accept unchallenged the views of the battle's first historians and its generals, who too often sought to shape our understanding for their own purposes--but which are certain to change modern understanding of how the battle of Antietam was fought and its role in American history.

    When it happened, on May 24, 1861, the entire North was aghast. Ellsworth was a celebrity and had just finished traveling with his famed and entertaining U. S. Zouave Cadets drill team. They had performed at West Point, in New York City, and for President Buchanan before returning home to Chicago. Ellsworth then joined his friend and law mentor Abraham Lincoln in his quest for the presidency. When Lincoln put out the call for troops after Fort Sumter was fired upon, Ellsworth responded. Within days he was able to organize over a thousand New York firefighters into a regiment of volunteers.Was it youthful enthusiasm or a lack of formal training that resulted in his death? There is evidence on both sides. What is definite is that the Lincolns rushed to the Navy Yard to view the body of the young man they had loved as a son. Mary Lincoln insisted that he lie in state in the East Room of their home. The elite of New York brought flowers to the Astor House en memoriam. Six members of the 11th New York accompanied their commander’s coffin. When the young colonel’s remains were finally interred in the Hudson View Cemetery, the skies opened up. A late May afternoon thunderstorm broke out in the middle of the procession, referred to as “tears from God himself.” Only eight weeks later, the results of the battle of First Bull Run knocked Ellsworth out of the headlines. The trickle of blood had now become a torrent, not to end for four more years of war.Groeling’s well-written biography is grounded in years of examining archival resources, diaries, personal letters, newspapers, and other accounts. In the sixty intervening years since the last portrait of Ellsworth was written, new information has arisen that gives readers and historians a better understanding of the Ellsworth phenomenon. The author’s interwoven accounts of John Hay, George Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, and the Lincoln family put Ellsworth clearly at the forefront of the excitement that led up to the election of a president.First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the North’s First Civil War Hero examines every facet of Ellsworth’s complex, fascinating life. It is the story of many young men who fought and died for the Union. Elmer, however, was the first and--according to those who remember him--perhaps the best.

    Kenneth W. Noe suggests it should instead be understood as a war between the North, the South, and the weather. In The Howling Storm, Noe retells the history of the conflagration with a focus on the ways in which weather and climate shaped the outcomes of battles and campaigns. He further contends that events such as floods and droughts affecting the Confederate home front constricted soldiers' food supply, lowered morale, and undercut the government's efforts to boost nationalist sentiment. By contrast, the superior equipment and open supply lines enjoyed by Union soldiers enabled them to cope successfully with the South's extreme conditions and, ultimately, secure victory in 1865.Climate conditions during the war proved unusual, as irregular phenomena such as El Ni�o, La Ni�a, and similar oscillations in the Atlantic Ocean disrupted weather patterns across southern states. Taking into account these meteorological events, Noerethinks conventional explanations of battlefield victories and losses, compelling historians to reconsider long-held conclusions about the war. Unlike past studies that fault inflation, taxation, and logistical problems for the Confederate defeat, his work considers how soldiers and civilians dealt with floods and droughts that beset areas of the South in 1862, 1863, and 1864. In doing so, he addresses the foundational causes that forced Richmond to make difficult and sometimes disastrous decisions when prioritizing the feeding of the home front or the front lines.The Howling Storm stands as the first comprehensive examination of weather and climate during the Civil War. Its approach, coverage, and conclusions are certain to reshape the field of Civil War studies.

    The expression refers to one of the cornerstone initiatives of the organization—mapping the battlefields of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the American Civil War. The American Battlefield Trust is the premier battlefield preservation organization in the United States. Over the last thirty years, the American Battlefield Trust and its members have preserved more than 52,000 acres of battlefield land across 143 battlefields in twenty-four states—at sites such as Antietam, Vicksburg, Chancellorsville, Shiloh, and Gettysburg. Outside of physically walking across the hallowed battle grounds that the American Battlefield Trust preserves, the best way to illustrate the importance of the parcels of land that they preserve is through their battle maps. Through the decades, the American Battlefield Trust has created dozens of maps detailing the action of hundreds of battles. Now, for the first time in book form, they have collected the maps of some of the most iconic battles of the Eastern Theater of the Civil War into one volume. From First Bull Run to the Surrender at Appomattox Court House, you can follow the major actions of the Eastern Theater from start to finish utilizing this unparalleled collection.

    But few stories top the one lived by Wright Stephen Batchelor. Like most North Carolina farmers, Batchelor eschewed slaveholding. He also opposed secession and war, yet he fought on both sides of the conflict. During his time in each uniform, Batchelor barely avoided death at the Battle of Gettysburg, was captured twice, and survived one of the war’s most infamous prisoner-of-war camps. He escaped and, after walking hundreds of miles, rejoined his comrades at Petersburg, Virginia, just as the Union siege there began. Once the war ended, Batchelor returned on foot to his farm, where he took part in local politics, supported rights for freedmen, and was fatally involved in a bizarre hometown murder.                Michael K. Brantley’s story of his great-great-grandfather’s odyssey blends memory and Civil War history to look at how the complexities of loyalty and personal belief governed one man’s actions—and still influence the ways Americans think about the conflict today.

    

    But when she arrives from the orphanage to her aunt’s boarding house, the last of her hope crashes into reality: Aunt Eba doesn’t want her. No one does. No one ever will. And all the blame lies in every last blue belly who took her father’s life. Then something changes. A locked door upstairs, strange noises, a hand wrapped in chains—until Linney is forced into the kind of nightmare she never imagined. Would her father ever forgive her if she rescued an enemy? Would she ever forgive herself if she didn’t? She Loved the Man She HatedThere’d always been so many things between them. His drinking, the gambling, the posters—their child’s death. But never bars. She stood in front of the cell with her fingers curled around the iron. “I want to know.”A western short story, set in the Territory of Utah, about the wife of a bounty hunter who’s heart of hatred is held together by a trembling thread of love. The Tiny GiftA sob sputtered from her lips, but she sucked it back quickly. He should have danced with her tonight at the Christmas party. Instead, he was a gumshoe faking romance with a cheap singer. He was placing his life in jeopardy for the hundredth time. He was roaming the cold streets with a name that wasn’t his, with a lie in every word he spoke, with a hidden gun in the pocket of his flogger. How many more Christmases before the cops brought home his body?A 1930’s vintage Christmas short story about a high society wife whose husband’s detective job endangers not only his life—but their marriage. Will a wretched old woman and a tiny gift be enough to reconcile old feelings? Or is loving him not worth the risk? Jes’ Didn’t Need SaidI didn’t need no letter to tell me my son was dead. I knew the night it happened, just like I know when the first night of frost is goin’ to sneak up on summer’s tail… A short story that will transport you back to the Civil War, where battles are not only fought by uniformed soldiers, but also by grieving hearts.

    

    

    Grant was finally at the doorstep of Vicksburg. What followed was a series of attacks and maneuvers against the last major section of the Mississippi River controlled by the Confederacy--and one of the most important operations of the Civil War. Grant intended to end the campaign quickly by assault, but the stalwart defense of Vicksburg's garrison changed his plans. The Union Assaults at Vicksburg is the first comprehensive account of this quick attempt to capture Vicksburg, which proved critical to the Union's ultimate success and Grant's eventual solidification as one of the most significant military commanders in American history.Establishing a day-to-day--;and occasionally minute-to-minute--;timeline for this crucial week, military historian Timothy B. Smith invites readers to follow the Vicksburg assaults as they unfold. His finely detailed account reaches from the offices of statesmen and politicians to the field of battle, with exacting analysis and insight that ranges from the highest level of planning and command to the combat experience of the common soldier. As closely observed and vividly described as each assault is, Smith's book also puts the sum of these battles into the larger context of the Vicksburg campaign, as well as the entire war. His deeply informed, in-depth work thus provides the first full view of a key but little-studied turning point in the fortunes of the Union army in the West, Ulysses S. Grant, and the United States of America.

    Mary Edwards Walker, the only American woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor. President Andrew Johnson issued the award in 1865 in recognition of the incomparable medical service Walker rendered during the Civil War. Yet few people today know anything about the woman so well-known--even notorious--in her own lifetime. Kaminski shares a different way of looking at the Civil War, through the eyes of a woman confident she could make a contribution equal to that of any man. This part of the story takes readers into the political cauldron of the nation’s capital in wartime, where Walker was a familiar if notorious figure. Mary Walker’s relentless pursuit of gender and racial equality is key to understanding her commitment to a Union victory in the Civil War. Her role in the women’s suffrage movement became controversial and the US Army stripped Walker of her medal, only to have the medal reinstated in 1977.

    This lively collection of essays and feature stories celebrates the novels, popular histories, magazines, movies, television shows, photography, and songs that have enticed Americans to learn more about our most dramatic historical era. From Ulysses S. Grant’s Memoirs to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, from Roots to Ken Burns’s The Civil War, from “Dixie” to “Ashokan Farewell,” and from Civil War photography to the Gettysburg Cyclorama, trendy and well-loved depictions of the Civil War are the subjects of twenty contributors who tell how they and the general public have been influenced by them. Sarah Kay Bierle examines the eternal appeal of Gone with the Wind and asks how it is that a protagonist who so opposed the war has become such a figurehead for it. H. R. Gordon talks with New York Times–bestselling novelist Jeff Shaara to discuss the power of storytelling. Paul Ashdown explores ColdMountain’s value as a portrait of the war as national upheaval, and Kevin Pawlak traces a shift in cinema’s depiction of slavery epitomized by 12 Years a Slave. Tony Horwitz revisits his iconic Confederates in the Attic twenty years later. The contributors’ fresh analysis articulates a shared passion for history’s representation in the popular media. The variety of voices and topics in this collection coalesces into a fascinating discussion of some of the most popular texts in the genres. In keeping with the innovative nature of this series, web-exclusive material extends the conversation beyond the book.

    Nothing has been quite as she imagined since coming to Charleston, and the worst of it is the uncertainty that leaves her wanting both to take a leap of faith and to protect her heart. Still, she is determined to restore the Ravenel-Thompson House and discover what secrets and mysteries lie beneath its hallowed walls. Charleston, 1861:Shannon Haley’s choice is made. Plunging into a war-torn land, she will risk everything to reach her family. Reconciliation is only a vague and distant hope, but what awaits her when she arrives in the South, she can only guess. Crushed by loss and despair, can she find a new life among the ruins of her home, her marriage, and her peace?

    Award-winning historian Earl J. Hess reveals how that dynamic served as the key to success, especially for the Union army as it undertook bold offensives striking far behind Confederate lines. How generals and their subordinates organized military resources to provide food for both men and animals under their command, he argues, proved essential to Union victory.The Union army developed a powerful logistical capability that enabled it to penetrate deep into Confederate territory and exert control over select regions of the South. Logistics and supply empowered Union offensive strategy but limited it as well; heavily dependent on supply lines, road systems, preexisting railroad lines, and natural waterways, Union strategy worked far better in the more developed Upper South. Union commanders encountered unique problems in the Deep South, where needed infrastructure was more scarce. While the Mississippi River allowed Northern armies to access the region along a narrow corridor and capture key cities and towns along its banks, the dearth of rail lines nearly stymied William T. Sherman's advance to Atlanta. In other parts of the Deep South, the Union army relied on massive strategic raids to destroy resources and propel its military might into the heart of the Confederacy.As Hess's study shows, from the perspective of maintaining food supply and moving armies, there existed two main theaters of operation, north and south, that proved just as important as the three conventional eastern, western, and Trans-Mississippi theaters. Indeed, the conflict in the Upper South proved so different from that in the Deep South that the ability of Federal officials to negotiate the logistical complications associated with army mobility played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the war.

    Cushing, US Navy, receive a vote of thanks from Congress for his important, gallant and perilous achievement in destroying the rebel ironclad steamer Albemarle."–Abraham Lincoln to Congress, December 18, 1864Civil War Commando is the incredible tale of two giants on a historic collision course: Will Cushing, the United States Navy's first naval commando, and the unsinkable Confederate ironclad Albemarle, Terror of the Roanoke, an innovative war machine that seized control of the Roanoke River Valley and threatened to cost the Union the war.Cushing has been cited by historians as the inspiration for Star Wars' Luke Skywalker character, and his attack on the Albemarle called the "greatest feat of arms in American military history."Yet the full story of the man-and his daring mission of personal revenge against an iron monster-has never been told.Using primary source materials, contemporaneous journals, and archival military records, richly illustrated with photos, maps, and rare hand-drawn schematics not seen in over a 150 years, Civil War Commando will reveal the dramatic story of the Albemarle's creation, Will Cushing's colorful life and career, and the groundbreaking naval tactics he developed-tactics that not only saved Abraham Lincoln's presidency, but were the foundation of the modern day Navy SEALs.

    Frazier’s award-winning Louisiana Quadrille series. Picking up the story of the Civil War in Louisiana and Texas after the fall of Port Hudson and Vicksburg, Tempest Over Texas describes Confederate confusion on how to carry on in the Trans-Mississippi given the new strategic realities. Likewise, Federal forces gathered from Memphis to New Orleans were in search of a new mission. International intrigues and disasters on distant battlefields would all conspire to confuse and perplex war-planners. One thing remained, however. The Stars and Stripes needed to fly once again in Texas, and as soon as possible.

    

    The story of the war has been retold in countless films, novels, poems, memoirs, plays, sculptures, and monuments. Often remembered as an emancipatory struggle, as an attempt to destroy slavery in America now and forever, it is also memorialized as a fight for Southern independence; as a fratricide that divided the national family; and as a dark, cruel conflict defined by its brutality. What do these stories, myths, and rumors have in common, and what do they teach us about modern America?In this fascinating book, Cody Marrs reveals how these narratives evolved over time and why they acquired such lasting power. Marrs addresses an eclectic range of texts, traditions, and creators, from Walt Whitman, Abram Ryan, and Abraham Lincoln to Margaret Mitchell, D. W. Griffith, and W. E. B. Du Bois. He also identifies several basic plots about the Civil War that anchor public memory and continually compete for cultural primacy. In other words, from the perspective of American cultural memory, there is no single Civil War.Whether they fill us with elation or terror; whether they side with the North or the South; whether they come from the 1860s, the 1960s, or today, these stories all make one thing vividly clear: the Civil War is an ongoing conflict, persisting not merely as a cultural touchstone but as an unresolved struggle through which Americans inevitably define themselves. A timely, evocative, and beautifully written book, Not Even Past is essential reading for anyone interested in the Civil War and its role in American history.

    The reality, however, was far more complex and troubling. In his latest book, Paul Escott lays bare the contrast between progress on emancipation and the persistence of white supremacy in the Civil War North. Escott analyzes northern politics, as well as the racial attitudes revealed in the era's literature, to expose the nearly ubiquitous racism that flourished in all of American society and culture.Contradicting much recent scholarship, Escott argues that the North's Democratic Party was consciously and avowedly "the white man's party," as an extensive examination of Democratic newspapers, as well as congressional debates and other speeches by Democratic leaders, proves. The Republican Party, meanwhile, defended emancipation as a war measure but did little to attack racism or fight for equal rights. Most Republicans propagated a message that emancipation would not disturb northern race relations or the interests of northern white voters: freed slaves, it was felt, would either leave the nation or remain in the South as subordinate laborers.Escott's book uncovers the substantial and destructive racism that lay beyond the South's borders. Although emancipation represented enormous progress, racism flourished in the North, and assumptions of white supremacy remained powerful and nearly ubiquitous throughout America.

    A Confederate horseman carried a humble white linen towel into the lines of General George Custer, near the courthouse at Appomattox. The horseman was sent on behalf of General Robert E. Lee, who was requesting a suspension of hostilities while General Ulysses S. Grant proposed terms of surrender.Focusing on this Confederate Flag of Truce, Afro-Caribbean American artist (and professor at Amherst College) Sonya Clark (born 1967) explores the legacy of symbols and challenges the power of propaganda, erasures and omissions through her works. By making the Truce Flag--a cloth that brokered peace and represented the promise of reconciliation--into a monumental alternative to the infamous Confederate Battle Flag and its pervasive divisiveness, Clark instigates a role reversal and aims to correct a historical imbalance.

    LESLIE R. TUCKER has thought long and hard about the injustice of the current jihad in America against the historic and still existing Southern people. The result is this careful, candidly unreconstructed review of the history of the South which rejects the “freeing the slaves” interpretation of the War Between the States and demonstrates forcefully that Southerners have little for which to apologise and certainly less than our fervid critics. Leslie R. Tucker, Ph.D. is an Oklahoman. He is the author of Major General Isaac Ridgeway Trimble: A Biography of a Baltimore Confederate; Brigadier General John Adams, CSA: A Biography; Magnolias and Cornbread: An Outline of Southern History for Unreconstructed Southerners; and Tribulations of an Old Hippy: One Confused Neo-Confederate Existentialist Baby Boomer.

    Lost in the bloody battlefields of the West, he discovers a second home for his loyalty.Clara believes she has escaped from a predictable future of obligation and privilege, but her new life in the Appalachian Hills of Tennessee is decaying around her. In the mansion of Comrie, long hidden secrets are being slowly exhumed by a war that creeps ever closer.The first novel from multi-award winning short-story writer Richard Buxton, Whirligig is at once an outsider’s odyssey through the battle for Tennessee, a touching story of impossible love, and a portrait of America at war with itself. Self-interest and conflict, betrayal and passion, all fuse into a fateful climax.

    Combining expert historical insight with the eyewitness accounts of soldiers and civilians, A Short History of the Civil War offers a brilliant summary of the key events and wider context of the hostilities between North and South.Profiles of influential military and political leaders, and thought-provoking features on themes and experiences, from the evils of slavery to the treatment of wounded soldiers, bring the story dramatically to life. This book also features clear timelines that give an instant overview of the developments during the tumultuous war.Richly illustrated with a wealth of original artifacts, weaponry, and equipment, photography, and maps, this unique combination of imagery provides the most accessible, episode-by-episode account ever.