Showing titles in American Civil War

In the late 1950s, as America prepared for the Civil War centennial, two very old men lay dying. Albert Woolson, 109 years old, slipped in and out of a coma at a Duluth, Minnesota, hospital, his memories as a Yankee drummer boy slowly dimming. Walter Williams, at 117, blind and deaf and bedridden in his daughter's home in Houston, Texas, no longer could tell of his time as a Confederate forage master. The last of the Blue and the Gray were drifting away; an era was ending.

Not everyone sensed it right away, but after McClellan was dethroned in the fall of 1862, the focus of the war had shifted ever so subtly. Before that, the war was about reconciliation and bringing the two sides back together - with or without slavery. After Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation, there was no going back. The purpose of the war had changed. It was no longer about reuniting the two sides but about total victory, crushing the South, and eliminating slavery.

Traitor. Divider. Defender of slavery. This damning portrayal of Robert E. Lee has persisted through 150 years of history books. And yet it has no basis in fact. Weaving forgotten facts and revelations (Lee considered slavery a moral outrage) with striking personal details (for years he carried his weakened mother to and from her carriage), biographer John Perry crafts a compelling treatment of the virtuous warrior who endured withering opposition and sacrificed all to stand for Constitutional freedoms.

One of the most important, and controversial, Confederate generals during the Civil War was Lieutenant General James Longstreet, the man Robert E. Lee called his "old war horse". Longstreet was Lee's principal subordinate for most of the war, ably managing a corps in the Army of Northern Virginia and being instrumental in Confederate victories at Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chickamauga. Longstreet was also effective at Antietam and the Battle of the Wilderness, where he was nearly killed by a shot through the neck.

John Potts Slough, the Union commander at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, lived a life of relentless pursuit for success that entangled him in the turbulent events of mid-nineteenth-century America. As a politician, Slough fought abolitionists in the Ohio legislature and during Kansas Territory's fourth and final constitutional convention. He organized the 1st Colorado Volunteer Infantry after the Civil War broke out, eventually leading his men against Confederate forces at the pivotal engagement at Glorieta Pass.

Fort Sumter: Civil War Beginnings outlines the battle and explains how it came about. In less than an hour, you will meet the main participants, understand Union and Confederate troop movements, and learn how South Carolina initiated the first battle of the civil war. It's not the complete story, but enough to bring you up to speed, understand the issues of the day, and maybe encourage you to explore more on your own.

In May 1861, Virginian Thomas Henry Carter raised an artillery battery and joined the Confederate Army. Over the next four years, he rose steadily in rank from captain to colonel, placing him among the senior artillerists in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. During the war, Carter wrote more than 100 revealing letters to his wife, Susan, about his service. His interactions with prominent officers - including Lee, Jubal A.Early, John B. Gordon, Robert E. Rodes, and others - come to life in Carter's astute comments about their conduct and personalities.

The remarkable true story of Edward Kretchmer, a young Union soldier who served in General Grant’s Army in 1862 The Union Army under the leadership of General Ulysses S. Grant was having difficulty obtaining information about what was going on inside Vicksburg. The word went out from the general’s command that someone was needed to get inside the city of Vicksburg and gather intelligence about the strength and weaknesses of the enemy. In short, a spy was needed, and it was well-known that spies who were caught were summarily executed. Allison (Al) Collard is the great-grandson of Edward...

Ironically, one of the generals who often escapes the attention of Civil War fans who compile the lists of best generals is the man who won the war's most famous battle, George G. Meade (1815-1872). In fact, Meade has become a perfect example of how the generals who did not self-promote themselves and write memoirs after the war had their reputations suffer in the ensuing decades.

Understanding the origins of civil wars and their trajectories therefore demands some appreciation of the economic, political, social, cultural, and geographic order of societies. If there is one factor that best predicts why a civil war erupts, it is a prior civil war. That is why knowledge of a country's history of political violence, and associated narratives about who is to blame and why, are critical to understanding where a civil war might next occur.

"The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, 1864-1865" is an evocative and historically significant diary penned by Eliza Frances Andrews, which vividly captures the tumult and transformation of the American South during the waning days of the Civil War and the onset of Reconstruction.

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. The North managed to have spectacular success jointly coordinating operations between the Army and Navy, thanks in large measure to the leadership of officers like David Farragut. While generals like Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman received the lion’s share of the credit for Union victories, naval forces were instrumental, and Farragut was immediately recognized for his service.

Personalities. Characters. History. John C. Waugh, the author of the popular and award-winning The Class of 1846, presents forty of the most memorable and impactful individuals he has come across during his three decades of researching and writing about the American Civil War—or as he calls them, his “Unforgettables” in the aptly titled, Unforgettables: Winners, Losers, Strong Women, and Eccentric Men of the Civil War Era.

Robert E. Lee is remembered today for constantly defeating the Union's Army of the Potomac in the Eastern theater from 1862-1865, considerably frustrating Lincoln and his generals. His leadership of his army led to him being deified after the war by some of his former subordinates, especially Virginians, and he came to personify the lost cause's ideal Southern soldier. His reputation was secured, in the decades after the war, as a general who brilliantly led his men to amazing victories against all odds.

In the early 1900s, Watson Stewart set out to record the principal events of his life in a set of personal memoirs. These writings, originally finished on his 77th birthday in 1904, have been rediscovered and compiled - over 120 years later - by Watson’s descendants. The resulting text is an enlightening glimpse into life as a pioneer in a country on the brink of Civil War. Watson led a remarkable life filled with family tragedy, Native American relations, Civil War, and squabbles with some of the most famous historical figures in American history.

William Watson (1826-1906) was a Scottish native who enlisted in the Confederate Army. Watson recounts life in a volunteer corps of the Confederate army. He provides his personal views on the causes of the war, and the conduct of both sides. Detailing the lives of the soldiers, he describes their living conditions, daily rations, and the levels of destruction and death.

Much of it is outright lies and balderdash. For example, Napoleon looked at history as “a set of lies agreed upon.” Does it matter that he stole most of that line from Voltaire, who suggested, “History is a lie commonly agreed upon?” George Santayana harbored significant doubts about the entire field, telling friends, “History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.”

Benson Bobrick, recipient of the 2002 American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award, tells the story of Benjamin “Webb” Baker, his greatgrandfather. Webb enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 and thereafter suffered through horrid conditions in camp and absolute hell in combat. Benson’s fascinating look atthe Civil War also contains a heretofore unreleased collection of Webb’s letters.

Civil War General—B.F. Kelley is the newly released biography of Union Major General B.F. Kelley, written and narrated by the general’s great, great, great grandson T. F. Kelley. General Kelley served as a command officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War from then Colonel Kelley's planning and leading the first land battle of the Civil War at Philippi, then Virginia, in June of 1861—to the Civil War's end in 1865.

Before July 3, 1863, George Pickett was best known among his comrades for finishing last in his class at West Point, being a jocular but courageous soldier, and his carefully perfumed locks. As part of West Point's most famous Class of 1846, Pickett was classmates with men like Stonewall Jackson and George McClellan, and despite his poor class standing he distinguished himself fresh out of school during the Mexican-American War.