Download or read book Letters to Vermont from Her Civil War Soldier Correspondents to the Home Press written by Donald Harvey Wickman and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A War of the People written by Jeffrey D. Marshall and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated anthology of the most revealing Civil War letters by Vermont soldiers and homefront civilians.
Download or read book Diary of a Christian Soldier written by Rufus Kinsley and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a meticulous reconstruction of the life of Rufus Kinsley - an ordinary New England soldier who during the Civil War became an officer in one of the nations's first and most famous black regiments - and an expertly edited transcription of Kinsley's hitherto unpublished wartime diary. Kinsley's diary sheds light on a long neglected theater of the war - the battle for the bayou country of southwestern Louisiana - and it illuminates the workaday routines of black and white soldiers stationed behind Union lines but thoroughly immersed in the unprecedented improvisations that accompanied the social revolution that was emancipation. Kinsley's perspective is that of a too often neglected type: the absolutely dedicated evangelical abolitionist soldier who believed that the war and its consequences were divine retribution for the sin of slavery. The introductory biography places Kinsley's civil war experience in the context of his life and his times.
Download or read book The Ninth Vermont Infantry written by Paul G. Zeller and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2022-04-08 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work follows the Ninth Vermont from the horrors of its first combat and humiliating capture at Harpers Ferry in September 1862 to its triumphal march into Richmond in April 1865. Through diaries and letters written by members of the unit, one relives the riveting day-by-day account of the men in battle, on the march, and in camp. With seldom seen photographs of many of the regiment's members, detailed maps, and a complete regimental roster, this book tells a compelling story.
Download or read book Tis Not Our War written by Paul Taylor and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2024-06-18 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James McPherson’s classic book For Cause & Comrades explained “why men fought in the Civil War”—and spurred countless other historians to ask and attempt to answer the same question. But few have explored why men did not fight. That’s the question Paul Taylor answers in this groundbreaking Civil War history that examines the reasons why at least 60 percent of service-eligible men in the North chose not to serve and why, to some extent, their communities allowed them to do so. Did these other men not feel the same patriotic impulses as their fellow citizens who rushed to the enlistment office? Did they not believe in the sanctity of the Union? Was freeing men held in chains under chattel slavery not a righteous moral crusade? And why did some soldiers come to regret their enlistment and try to leave the military? ’Tis Not Our War answers these questions by focusing on the thoughts, opinions, and beliefs of average civilians and soldiers. Taylor digs deep into primary sources—newspapers, diaries, letters, archival manuscripts, military reports, and published memoirs—to paint a vivid and richly complex portrait of men who questioned military service in the Civil War and to show that the North was never as unified in support of the war as portrayed in much of America’s collective memory. This book adds to our understanding of the Civil War and the men who fought—and did not fight—in it.
Download or read book The Vermont Brigade in the Seven Days written by Paul G. Zeller and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2018-12-20 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vermont Brigade, sometimes referred to as the "First Vermont Brigade" or the "Old Brigade," fought its first full-brigade engagement in the Seven Days' battles. The leaders, as well as the rank and file, were inexperienced in warfare, but through sheer grit and determination they made a name for themselves as one of the hardest-fighting units in the Army of the Potomac. Using soldiers' letters, diaries, and service and pension records, this book gives a soldier's-eye-view of the Virginia summer heat, days of marching with very little rest or nourishment, and the fear and exhilaration of combat. Also included are the stories of 29 men that were wounded or killed and how the tragedies affected their families.
Download or read book God s Almost Chosen Peoples written by George C. Rable and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2010-11-29 with total page 599 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the Civil War, soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict saw the hand of God in the terrible events of the day, but the standard narratives of the period pay scant attention to religion. Now, in God's Almost Chosen Peoples, Lincoln Prize-winning historian George C. Rable offers a groundbreaking account of how Americans of all political and religious persuasions used faith to interpret the course of the war. Examining a wide range of published and unpublished documents--including sermons, official statements from various churches, denominational papers and periodicals, and letters, diaries, and newspaper articles--Rable illuminates the broad role of religion during the Civil War, giving attention to often-neglected groups such as Mormons, Catholics, blacks, and people from the Trans-Mississippi region. The book underscores religion's presence in the everyday lives of Americans north and south struggling to understand the meaning of the conflict, from the tragedy of individual death to victory and defeat in battle and even the ultimate outcome of the war. Rable shows that themes of providence, sin, and judgment pervaded both public and private writings about the conflict. Perhaps most important, this volume--the only comprehensive religious history of the war--highlights the resilience of religious faith in the face of political and military storms the likes of which Americans had never before endured.
Download or read book Bully for the Band written by Charles George and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2012-01-23 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the commanding call of the bugle at reveille to combat instructions (such as "fix bayonets") to reassuring songs around the campfire at night, music was an integral part of the Civil War soldier's experience. This volume presents the Civil War writings of Charles, Herbert, Jeremiah and Osman George, four brothers from the town of Newbury, Vermont, who played in the 10th Vermont Infantry regimental band. Their letters and a diary describe the life of an enlisted musician, including forming a band, rehearsals and repertory, performances for officers, troops, and civilians--and battlefield stretcher-bearer duties. Despite the hardships they suffered, including the loss of one brother, their writings (supported by detailed scene-setting narratives by editor Davis) reveal the Georges' fraternal bond that sustained them emotionally and ensured they would continue to serve their comrades in battle.
Download or read book Quite Ready to Be Sent Somewhere written by Aldace Freeman Walker and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Native Vermonter Aldace Freeman Walker, valedictorian of Middlebury College's Class of 1862, future lawyer and Chairman of the Board of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, gave his commencement speech in the uniform of a First Lieutenant, U.S. Volunteers, and promptly set off for war. After nearly a month of initial training in Brattleboro, Vermont, Walker's regiment, the Eleventh Vermont Infantry, arrived at the Seat of War in early September 1862. For the next twenty months Walker and his regiment occupied the forts in the northeastern quadrant of the Defenses of Washington, drilling socializing and fretting that the war might pass them by. in mid-May, 1864, as Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac began the bloody Overland Campaign against Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, the Vermont "Heavies," as they came to be known, were called up to active campaigning, joined the famous "Old Vermont Brigade," in the Sixth Corps, and participated in every battle of that unit from Spotsylvania until the end of the war. Walker's 288 letters to his parents and younger sister are regular, often long, and always lucid and opinionated, Historian Benjamin Franklin Cooling III, who has written extensively on the defenses of Washington during the Civil War, opined that " no better account of the 'life and times' of junior officers in the wartime defenses of Washington remains" than Walker's letters home.
Download or read book Vermont History written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot written by Benjamin Franklin Cooling and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot: The Fort Stevens Story recounts the story of President Abraham Lincoln’s role in the Battle of Fort Stevens in July 1864. This engagement stands apart in American history as the only time a sitting American president came under enemy fire while in office. In this new study of this overlooked moment in American history, Cooling poses a troubling question: What if Lincoln had been shot and killed during this short battle, nine months prior to his death by John Wilkes Booth’s hand in Ford's Theater? A potential pivotal moment in the Civil War, the Battle of Fort Stevens could have changed—with Lincoln's demise—the course of American history. The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot, however, is more than a meditation on an alternate history of the United States. It is also a close study of the attempt by Confederate general Jubal Early to capture Washington, DC, to remove Lincoln and the Union government from power, and to turn the tide of the Civil War in the South's favor. The dramatic events of this attempt to capture Washington—and the president with it—unfold in stunning detail as Cooling taps fresh documentary sources and offers a new interpretation of this story of the defense of the nation’s capital. Commemorating this largely forgotten and under-appreciated chapter in the study of Lincoln and the Civil War, The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot is a fascinating look at this potential turning point in American history.
Download or read book The Northern Home Front during the Civil War written by Paul A. Cimbala and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2023-02-21 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a new preface and updated historiographical essay. Based on recent scholarship and deep research in primary sources, especially the letters and diaries of “ordinary people,” The Northern Home Front during the Civil War is the first full narrative history and analysis of the northern home front in almost a quarter-century. It examines the mobilization, recruitment, management, politics, costs, and experience of war from the perspective of the home front, with special attention to the ways the war affected the ideas, identities, interests, and issues shaping people’s lives, and vice versa. The book looks closely at people’s responses to war’s demands, whether in supporting the Union cause or opposing it, and it measures the ways the war transformed society and economy or simply reconfirmed ideas and reinforced practices already underway. As The Northern Home Front during the Civil War reveals, issues and concerns of emancipation, conscription, civil liberties, economic policies and practices, religion, party politics, war management, popular culture, and work were all part of what Lincoln rightly termed “a People’s Contest” and as much as the armies in the field determined the outcome of the nation’s ordeal by fire. As The Northern Home Front during the Civil War shows, understanding the experience of the women and men on the home front is essential to realizing Walt Whitman’s oft-quoted call to get “the real war” into the books.
Download or read book Kill Jeff Davis written by Bruce M. Venter and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2016-01-22 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ostensible goal of the controversial Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid on Richmond (February 28–March 3, 1864) was to free some 13,000 Union prisoners of war held in the Confederate capital. But orders found on the dead body of the raid’s subordinate commander, Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, point instead to a plot to capture or kill Confederate president Jefferson Davis and set Richmond ablaze. What really happened, and how and why, are debated to this day. Kill Jeff Davis offers a fresh look at the failed raid and mines newly discovered documents and little-known sources to provide definitive answers. In this detailed and deeply researched account of the most famous cavalry raid of the Civil War, author Bruce M. Venter describes an expedition that was carefully planned but poorly executed. A host of factors foiled the raid: bad weather, poor logistics, inadequate command and control, ignorance of the terrain, the failures of supporting forces, and the leaders’ personal and professional shortcomings. Venter delves into the background and consequences of the debacle, beginning with the political maneuvering orchestrated by commanding brigadier general Judson Kilpatrick to persuade President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to approve the raid. Venter’s examination of the relationship between Kilpatrick and Brigadier General George A. Custer illuminates the reasons why the flamboyant Custer was excluded from the Richmond raid. In a lively narrative describing the multiple problems that beset the raiders, Kill Jeff Davis uncovers new details about the African American guide whom Dahlgren ordered hanged; the defenders of the Confederate capital, who were not just the “old men and young boys” of popular lore; and General Benjamin F. Butler’s expedition to capture Davis, as well as Custer’s diversionary raid on Charlottesville. Venter’s thoughtful reinterpretations and well-reasoned observations put to rest many myths and misperceptions. He tells, at last, the full story of this hotly contested moment in Civil War history.
Download or read book Fort Harrison and the Battle of Chaffin s Farm written by Douglas Crenshaw and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early in the morning of September 29, 1864, two Union corps under the command of General Benjamin Butler crossed the James with the goal of overwhelming Robert E. Lee's army and capturing Richmond. The Confederate defenders were vastly outnumbered; many were inexperienced and initially without trusted leadership. Fort Harrison and the other works at Chaffin's Farm held the key to the Confederate defenses. The drama that ensued was a battle between the Confederates' resiliency and the Union's ability to capitalize on one of its greatest opportunities. Join historian Doug Crenshaw as he chronicles the events of an often-forgotten episode of Civil War history. Through gripping firsthand accounts, Crenshaw follows the action through the eyes of the men who fought at Fort Harrison and the Battle of Chaffin's Farm. Experience the terror and heroism displayed on both sides of the battle line in this harrowing tale of war.
Download or read book They Could Not Have Done Better written by Robert G. Poirier and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vermont Civil War Enterprises announces the release of its latest book "They Could Not Have Done Better: Thomas O. Seaver and the 3rd Vermont Infantry in the War for the Union." Authored by Robert G. Poirier the text traces the history of the 3rd Vermont Infantry and its most famous commander from its organization through the conflict's most difficult battles. The author researched a myriad of previously unpublished primary sources, official state records, National Archives files and records, and contemporary nespaper accounts to interface the unit's role in the history of the war with that of the Old Vermont Brigade and the Union's Army of the Potomac. Thomas O. Seaver, one of the regiment's six Medal of Honor recipients was a Norwich University alumnus (Class of 1859). The book not only describes the regiment and its parent brigade's actions, but also documents the critical role of the Union's "other West Point" in the formation, training, and combat successes of this often overlooked elite briagde. The accounts of the Green Mountain Boys achivements in the battles of Second Fredericksburg (Chancelorsville), the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor will be of interest to historians and Civil War fans alike. The final chapter of the book, which compares and contrasts the achievements, casualty rates, and combat performance of the 3rd Vermont and the Old Vermont Brigade to that of more famous units such as the "Iron" and "Irish Briagdes," breaks new ground. It not only demonstrates the superior accompliments of the Vermonters in a number of areas, but also provides a number of contemporary and modern citations regarding the Vermonters' battlefield prowess. The analysis as well as the quotations from several well-known historians will be of particular interest to readers. Mr. Poirier is a 1966 graduate of Norwich, a former Major and Vietnam veteran, and a retired Central Intelligence Agency manager and analyst with over 25 years of intelligence exprience. This is Mr. Poirier's third book. He has also written a large number of aintelligence and historical articles for various intelligence, military, and historical journals.
Download or read book Yankee Correspondence written by Nina Silber and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They are grouped by six major themes: the military experience, the meaning of the war, views of the South, politics on the home front, the personal sacrifices of war, and the correspondence of one New England family.
Download or read book The Army of the Potomac in the Overland and Petersburg Campaigns written by Steven E. Sodergren and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2017-06-05 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The final year of the Civil War witnessed a profound transformation in the practice of modern warfare, a shift that produced unprecedented consequences for the soldiers fighting on the front lines. In The Army of the Potomac in the Overland and Petersburg Campaigns, Steven E. Sodergren examines the transition to trench warfare, the lengthy campaigns of attrition that resulted, and how these seemingly grim new realities affected the mindset and morale of Union soldiers. The 1864 Overland Campaign created tremendous physical and emotional suffering for the men of the Army of the Potomac as they faced a remarkable increase in the level and frequency of combat. By the end of this critical series of battles, surviving Union soldiers began to express considerable doubt in their cause and their leaders, as evidenced by widespread demoralization and the rising number of men deserting and disobeying orders. Yet, while the Petersburg campaign that followed further exposed the Army of the Potomac to the horrors of trench warfare, it proved both physically and psychologically regenerative. Comprehending that the extensive fortification network surrounding them benefitted their survival, soldiers quickly adjusted to life in the trenches despite the harsh conditions. The army’s static position allowed the Union logistical structure to supply the front lines with much-needed resources like food and mail—even a few luxuries. The elevated morale that resulted, combined with the reelection of Abraham Lincoln in November 1864 and the increasing number of deserters from the Confederate lines, only confirmed the growing belief among the soldiers in the trenches that Union victory was inevitable. Taken together, these aspects of the Petersburg experience mitigated the negative effects of trench warfare and allowed men to adapt more easily to their new world of combat. Sodergren explores the many factors that enabled the Army of the Potomac to endure the brutal physical conditions of trench warfare and emerge with a renewed sense of purpose as fighting resumed on the open battlefield in 1865. Drawing from soldiers’ letters and diaries, official military correspondence, and court-martial records, he paints a vivid picture of the daily lives of Union soldiers as they witnessed the beginnings of a profound shift in the way the world imagined and waged large-scale warfare.
