Download or read book Chattanooga a Death Grip on the Confederacy written by James L. McDonough and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 1984 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The trust of events in McDougall's highly charged narrative brings alive the key figures on this stage. The Unions four most successful generals served together in only this one campaign, which was the last for the controversial Braxton Bragg.
Download or read book Stones River Bloody Winter Tennessee written by James Lee McDonough and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 1983 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On December 31, 1862, some 10,000 Confederate soldiers streamed out of the dim light of early morning to stun the Federals who were still breakfasting in their camp. Nine months earlier the Confederates had charged the Yankees in a similarly devastating attack at dawn, starting the Battle of Shiloh. By the time this new battle ended, it would resemble Shiloh in other ways - it would rival that struggle's shocking casualty toll of 24,000 and it would become a major defeat for the South. By any Civil War standard, Stones River was a monumental, bloody, and dramatic story. Yet, until now, it has had no modern, documented history. Arguing that the battle was one of the significant engagements in the war, noted Civil War historian James Lee McDonough here devotes to Stones River the attention it ahs long deserved. Stones River, at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was the first big battle in the union campaign to seize the Nashville-Chattanooga-Atlanta corridor. Driving eastward and southward to sea, the campaign eventually climaxed in Sherman's capture of Savannah in December 1864. At Stones River the two armies were struggling desperately for control of Middle Tennessee's railroads and rich farms. Although they fought to a tactical draw, the Confederates retreated. The battle's outcome held significant implications. For the Union, the victory helped offset the disasters suffered at Fredericksburg and Chickasaw Bayou. Furthermore, it may have discouraged Britain and France from intervening on behalf of the Confederacy. For the South, the battle had other crucial effects. Since in convinced many that General Braxton Bragg could not successfully command an army, Stones River left the Southern Army torn by dissension in the high command and demoralized in the ranks. One of the most perplexing Civil War battles, Stones River has remained shrouded in unresolved questions. After driving the Union right wing for almost three miles, why could the Rebels not complete the triumph? Could the Union's Major General William S. Rosecrans have launched a counterattack on the first day of the battle? Was personal tension between Bragg and Breckenridge a significant factor in the events of the engagement's last day? McDonough uses a variety of sources to illuminate these and other questions. Quotations from diaries, letters, and memoirs of the soldiers involved furnish the reader with a rare, soldier's-eye view of this tremendously violent campaign. Tactics, strategies, and commanding officers are examined to reveal how personal strengths and weaknesses of the opposing generals, Bragg and Rosecrans, shaped the course of the battle. Vividly recreating the events of the calamitous battle, Stones River - Bloody Winter in Tennessee firmly establishes the importance of this previously neglected landmark in Civil War history. James Lee McDonough is professor of history at Auburn University, and author of Shiloh - In Hell before Night, Chattanooga - A Death Grip on the Confederacy, and co-author of Five Tragic Hours: The Battle of Franklin.
Download or read book War in Kentucky written by James L. McDonough and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: War in Kentucky From Shiloh to Perryville James Lee McDonough A compelling new volume from the author of Shiloh In Hell before Night and Chattanooga A Death Grip on the Confederacy, this book explores the strategic importance of Kentucky for both sides in the Civil War and recounts the Confederacy's bold attempt to capture the Bluegrass State. In a narrative rich with quotations from the diaries, letters, and reminiscences of participants, James Lee McDonough brings to vigorous life an episode whose full significance has previously eluded students of the war. In February of 1862, the fall of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson near the Tennessee-Kentucky border forced a Confederate retreat into northern Alabama. After the Southern forces failed that spring at Shiloh to throw back the Federal advance, the controversial General Braxton Bragg, newly promoted by Jefferson Davis, launched a countermovement that would sweep eastward to Chattanooga and then northwest through Middle Tennessee. Capturing Kentucky became the ultimate goal, which, if achieved, would lend the war a different complexion indeed. Giving equal attention to the strategies of both sides, McDonough describes the ill-fated Union effort to capture Chattanooga with an advance through Alabama, the Confederate march across Tennessee, and the subsequent two-pronged invasion of Kentucky. He vividly recounts the fighting at Richmond, Munfordville, and Perryville, where the Confederate dream of controlling Kentucky finally ended. The first book-length study of this key campaign in the Western Theater, War in Kentucky not only demonstrates the extent of its importance but supports the case that 1862 should be considered the decisive year of the war. The author: James Lee McDonough, a native of Tennessee, is professor of history at Auburn University. Among his other books are Stones River Bloody Winter in Tennessee and Five Tragic Hours: The Battle of Franklin, which he co-wrote with Thomas L. Connelly. "
Download or read book Shiloh in Hell Before Night written by James Lee McDonough and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 1977-06-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed investigation of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War looks at events and participants to illuminate the controversy surrounding the engagement and to explore the factors creating the disorganization that characterized the battle and led to so many deaths
Download or read book Nashville written by James L. McDonough and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's forces ravaged Atlanta in 1864, Ulysses S. Grant urged him to complete the primary mission Grant had given him: to destroy the Confederate Army in Georgia. Attempting to draw the Union army north, General John Bell Hood's Confederate forces focused their attacks on Sherman's supply line, the railroad from Chattanooga, and then moved across north Alabama and into Tennessee. As Sherman initially followed Hood's men to protect the railroad, Hood hoped to lure the Union forces out of the lower South and, perhaps more important, to recapture the long-occupied city of Nashville. Though Hood managed to cut communication between Sherman and George H. Thomas's Union forces by placing his troops across the railroads south of the city, Hood's men were spread over a wide area and much of the Confederate cavalry was in Murfreesboro. Hood's army was ultimately routed. Union forces pursued the Confederate troops for ten days until they recrossed the Tennessee River. The decimated Army of Tennessee (now numbering only about 15,000) retreated into northern Alabama and eventually Mississippi. Hood requested to be relieved of his command. Less than four months later, the war was over. Written in a lively and engaging style, Nashville presents new interpretations of the critical issues of the battle. James Lee McDonough sheds light on how the Union army stole past the Confederate forces at Spring Hill and their subsequent clash, which left six Confederate generals dead. He offers insightful analysis of John Bell Hood's overconfidence in his position and of the leadership and decision-making skills of principal players such as Sherman, George Henry Thomas, John M. Schofield, Hood, and others. Within the pages of Nashville, McDonough's subjects, both common soldiers and officers, present their unforgettable stories in their own words. Unlike most earlier studies of the battle of Nashville, McDonough's account examines the contributions of black Union regiments and gives a detailed account of the battle itself as well as its place in the overall military campaign. Filled with new information from important primary sources and fresh insights, Nashville will become the definitive treatment of a crucial battleground of the Civil War. James Lee McDonough is retired professor of history from Auburn University. He is the author of numerous books on the Civil War, including Shiloh--In Hell Before Night, Chattanooga--Death Grip on the Confederacy, and War in Kentucky: From Shiloh to Perryville.
Download or read book Chickamauga and Chattanooga written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-03-02 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of the battles' important generals. *Includes several maps of the battles. *Includes accounts of the fighting written by important generals like Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Bragg, Rosecrans, Longstreet, George H. Thomas, D.H. Hill, and more. *Includes a Bibliography for further reading. "I know Mr. Davis thinks he can do a great many things other men would hesitate to attempt. For instance, he tried to do what God failed to do. He tried to make a soldier of Braxton Bragg." - General Joseph E. Johnston Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War and its biggest battles, particularly Gettysburg, Antietam, and Shiloh, all of which involved Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant. But the second biggest battle of the entire war mostly gets overlooked among casual readers, despite the fact it represented the last great chance for the Confederates to salvage the Western theater. In mid-September, the Union Army of the Cumberland under General William Rosecrans had taken Chattanooga, but rather than be pushed out of the action, Army of Tennessee commander Braxton Bragg decided to stop with his 60,000 men and prepare a counterattack south of Chattanooga at a creek named Chickamauga. To bolster his fire-power, Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent 12,000 additional troops under the command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet, whose corps had just recently fought at Gettysburg in July. The Confederates nearly destroyed the Union army on September 20 during the battle of Chickamauga, when a Union blunder opened up a gap in front of a Confederate attack that sliced their army in two. As the Confederate assault continued, George H. Thomas led the Union left wing against heavy Confederate attack even after nearly half of the Union army abandoned their defenses and retreated from the battlefield, racing toward Chattanooga. Thomas rallied the remaining parts of the army and formed a defensive stand on Horseshoe Ridge, with more units spontaneously rallying to the new defensive line. Thomas and his men managed to hold until nightfall, when they made an orderly retreat to Chattanooga while the Confederates occupied the surrounding heights, ultimately besieging the city. Dubbed "The Rock of Chickamauga," Thomas's heroics ensured that Rosecrans' army was able to successfully retreat back to Chattanooga. In late September 1863, the Confederates began laying siege to the Union Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga in what would be their last gasp for supremacy in the West. Having lost faith in Rosecrans after Chickamauga, Washington delegated Ulysses S. Grant with the task of lifting the siege by placing him in command of nearly the entire theater. Grant replaced Rosecrans with George H. Thomas, who had saved the army at Chickamauga, and ordered him to "hold Chattanooga at all hazards." Thomas replied, "We will hold the town till we starve." What followed were some of the most remarkable operations of the entire Civil War. Hooker and his reinforcements helped open up a vital supply line known as the "cracker line," effectively ensuring that enough supplies could reach Knoxville. With that, preparations turned to a pitched battle between the two sides, and in a series of actions in late November, Grant sought to lift the siege and drive back Bragg's Confederate army by attacking their positions on high ground. Although the Chattanooga Campaign was months long and involved several battles, it has become mostly remembered for the Battle of Missionary Ridge, one of the most remarkable and successful charges of the war. While Pickett's Charge, still the most famous attack of the war, was one unsuccessful charge, the Army of the Cumberland made over a dozen charges up Missionary Ridge and ultimately succeeded, winning the campaign for the Union. With this book, you'll learn about Chickamauga and Chattanooga like you never have before.
Download or read book Shiloh In Hell Before Night written by and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colorful, dramatic, blundering, and tragic - these are some of the adjectives that have been applied to the two-day engagement at Shiloh. This battle, which bears the biblical name meaning "place of peace," was one of the bloodiest encounters of the Civil War. The Union colonel, whose words give the present book its title, foretold the losses when he told his men: "Fill your canteens Boys! Some of you will be in hell before night...." Fought in the early spring of 1862 on the west bank of the Mississippi state line, Shiloh was, up to that time, the biggest battle of American history. One hundred thousand men were involved, and major Civil War commanders such as Grant, Sherman, Johnston, Beauregard, Bragg, and Forrest participated. The battle took the life of Johnston and it left a lasting impact on the reputation of other commanders. More-over, it played a significant role in the campaign for control of the Mississippi Valley. Although hundreds of books have been written about the Civil War and its battle, questions about the disorganized struggle at Shiloh have continued to perplex historians. Why was Grant absent when his army was attacked? Why did Grant and Sherman apparently ignore evidence of a Confederate advance? What happened to Lew Wallace that he never got his division into the fight on the first day of battle? Why did it take the Rebels so long to make their way from Corinth to the battlefield? Did the Rebels really have a distinct opportunity to win the battle, as it seems in retrospect, or were they doomed from the start? Were Johnston and Beauregard working at cross-purposes? Shiloh-In Hell Before Night provides answers or clues to answers of clues to answers for these and other questions arising from this controversial engagement. The author tells his story by placing Shiloh in the larger context of the war and by exploring the very personal side of the conflict through the words of the Union and Confederate participants, officers and common soldiers alike. Touches of humor and even or romance are revealed in the midst of the carnage, but the overriding element is the specter of death. Among those who survived, the soldiers who had been eager to "see the elephant," as they commonly referred to combat, could never again feel so eager for a fight. James Lee McDonough is professor of history at Auburn University, and the author of Stones River - Bloody Winter in Tennessee, Chattanooga - A Death Grip on the Confederacy, and the co-author of Five Tragic Hours: The Battle of Franklin.
Download or read book General Braxton Bragg C S A written by Samuel J. Martin and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: General Braxton Bragg is often described as a despicable, friendless man, the most hated general of the Confederacy. Historians have denigrated Bragg by accepting without challenge the self-serving accusations of prominent, disgruntled subordinates, each of whom sought to explain their own failures by assigning them to Bragg. This biography, without dodging Bragg's deficiencies, refutes much of this false testimony. The result is a balanced view of this controversial general, from his early rise to power in the Western theater to his subsequent fall from grace in the latter years of the Civil War.
Download or read book A Companion to the U S Civil War written by Aaron Sheehan-Dean and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-02-05 with total page 1223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to the U.S. Civil War presents a comprehensive historiographical collection of essays covering all major military, political, social, and economic aspects of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Represents the most comprehensive coverage available relating to all aspects of the U.S. Civil War Features contributions from dozens of experts in Civil War scholarship Covers major campaigns and battles, and military and political figures, as well as non-military aspects of the conflict such as gender, emancipation, literature, ethnicity, slavery, and memory
Download or read book Soldier of Tennessee General Alexander P Stewart and the Civil War in the West written by and published by LSU Press. This book was released on with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Companion to the U S Civil War 2 Volume Set written by Aaron Sheehan-Dean and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 1223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to the U.S. Civil War presents a comprehensive historiographical collection of essays covering all major military, political, social, and economic aspects of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Represents the most comprehensive coverage available relating to all aspects of the U.S. Civil War Features contributions from dozens of experts in Civil War scholarship Covers major campaigns and battles, and military and political figures, as well as non-military aspects of the conflict such as gender, emancipation, literature, ethnicity, slavery, and memory
Download or read book River of Death The Chickamauga Campaign written by William Glenn Robertson and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2018-10-03 with total page 697 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of Chickamauga was the third bloodiest of the American Civil War and the only major Confederate victory in the conflict's western theater. It pitted Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee against William S. Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland and resulted in more than 34,500 casualties. In this first volume of an authoritative two-volume history of the Chickamauga Campaign, William Glenn Robertson provides a richly detailed narrative of military operations in southeastern and eastern Tennessee as two armies prepared to meet along the "River of Death." Robertson tracks the two opposing armies from July 1863 through Bragg's strategic decision to abandon Chattanooga on September 9. Drawing on all relevant primary and secondary sources, Robertson devotes special attention to the personalities and thinking of the opposing generals and their staffs. He also sheds new light on the role of railroads on operations in these landlocked battlegrounds, as well as the intelligence gathered and used by both sides. Delving deep into the strategic machinations, maneuvers, and smaller clashes that led to the bloody events of September 19@–20, 1863, Robertson reveals that the road to Chickamauga was as consequential as the unfolding of the battle itself.
Download or read book The American Civil War written by Steven E. Woodworth and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1996-12-09 with total page 769 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The single most important volume for anyone interested in the Civil War to own and consult. (From the foreword by James M. McPherson) The first guide to Civil War literature to appear in nearly 30 years, this book provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and informative survey and analysis of the vast body of Civil War literature. More than 40 essays, each by a specialist in a particular subfield of Civil War history, offer unmatched thoroughness and discerning assessments of each work's value. The essays cover every aspect of the war from strategy, tactics, and battles to logistics, intelligence, supply, and prisoner-of-war camps, from generals and admirals to the men in the ranks, from the Atlantic to the Far West, from fighting fronts to the home front. Some sections cover civilian leaders, the economy, and foreign policy, while others deal with the causes of war and aspects of Reconstruction, including the African-American experience during and after the war. Breadth of topics is matched by breadth of genres covered. Essays discuss surveys of the war, general reference works, published and unpublished papers, diaries and letters, as well as the vast body of monographic literature, including books, dissertations, and articles. Genealogical sources, historical fiction, and video and audio recordings also receive attention. Students of the American Civil War will find this work an indispensable gateway and guide to the enormous body of information on America's pivotal experience.
Download or read book The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Civil War written by William L. Barney and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-02 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rev. and updated ed. of: The Civil War and Reconstruction, 2001
Download or read book The Civil War and Reconstruction written by William L. Barney and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-10 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Civil War was the most devastating event in U.S. history, in which over half a million Americans paid for their beliefs with their lives. The heroic battles, harrowing marches, and military genius of generals on both sides still inspire books, movies, and the imaginations of Civil War buffs. Less obvious are the economic, political, social, and cultural repercussions of the war, which continue to influence American life. Reconstruction and the end of slavery brought deep-seated problems to the reunited nation. This single-volume encyclopedia includes 245 entries on all facets of the conflicted era. It features articles on: * Battles and campaigns (Gettysburg, Shiloh, Sherman's March to the Sea) * Culture (music, photography, religion) * Economic affairs (cost of the war, gold, Richmond Bread Riot) * Foreign affairs (France, Great Britain, Laird rams) * Health and welfare (disease, medicine, prisons) * Ideologies (federalism, free-labor ideology) * Legislative landmarks (14th Amendment, Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Wade-Davis bill) * Military terms, strategy, and weaponry (cavalry, rifles, tactics) * Minorities (black suffrage, emancipation, Native Americans) * Political events and organizations (Constitutional Union party, election of 1860, fire-eaters) * Prominent individuals (Clara Barton, Frederick Douglass, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman) * Social reform (abolitionism, women's rights movement) * Women (nurses, women in the war, individual women) More than 200 black-and-white illustrations, including over a dozen maps, complement the entries. A list of selected Civil War museums and historic sites, suggestions for further reading, recommended websites, and a chronology of the war round out this essential resource. Oxford's Student Companions to American History are state-of-the-art references for school and home, specifically designed and written for ages 12 through adult. Each book is a concise but comprehensive A-to-Z guide to a major historical period or theme in U.S. history, with articles on key issues and prominent individuals. The authors--distinguished scholars well-known in their areas of expertise--ensure that the entries are accurate, up-to-date, and accessible. Special features include an introductory section on how to use the book, further reading lists, cross-references, chronology, and full index.
Download or read book Confederate Generals in the Western Theater Essays on America s Civil War written by Lawrence L. Hewitt and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For this book, which follows an earlier volume of previously published essays, Hewitt and Bergeron have enlisted ten gifted historians---among them James M. Prichard, Terrence J. Winschel, Craig Symonds, and Stephen Davis---to produce original essays, based on the latest scholarship, that examine the careers and missteps of several of the Western Theater's key Rebel commanders. Among the important topics covered are George B. Crittenden's declining fortunes in the Confederate ranks, Earl Van Dom's limited prewar military experience and its effect on his performance in the Baton Rouge Campaign of 1862, Joseph Johnston's role in the fall of Vicksburg, and how James Longstreet and Braxton Bragg's failure to secure Chattanooga paved the way for the Federals'push into Georgia. --
Download or read book The A to Z of the Civil War and Reconstruction written by William L. Richter and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2009-07-24 with total page 970 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The importance of the Civil War and Reconstruction in the history of the United States cannot be overstated. There was a very real possibility that the union could have been sundered, resulting in a very different American history, and probably world history. But the union was held together by tough and determined leaders and by the economic muscle of the North. Following the end of the war, the period of American history known as Reconstruction followed. This was a period construed in many different ways. While the states were once again 'united,' many of the postwar efforts divided different segments of the population and failed to achieve their goals in an era too often remembered for carpetbaggers and scalawags, and Congressional imbroglios and incompetent government. This one-volume dictionary, with more than 800 entries covering the significant events, persons, politics, and economic and social themes in the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction, is a research tool for all levels of readers from high school and up. The extensive chronology, introductory essay, dictionary entries, and comprehensive bibliography introduce and lead the reader through the military and non-military actions of one of the most pivotal events in American history.
