Download or read book Pretense Of Glory written by James G. Hollandsworth, Jr. and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 1998-11 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this first modern biography of Nathaniel P. Banks, James G. Hollandsworth, Jr., reveals the complicated and contradictory nature of the man who called himself the "fighting politician." Despite a lack of formal education, family connections, and personal fortune, Banks (1816--1884) advanced from the Massachusetts legislature to the governorship to the U.S. Congress and Speaker of the House. He learned early in his political career that the pretext of conviction can be more important than the conviction itself, and he practiced a politics of expedience, espousing popular beliefs but never defining beliefs of his own. A leader in the new Republican party, he developed a reputation as a compelling orator and a politician with a bright future. At the onset of the Civil War, Lincoln appointed Banks a major general, and, as Hollandsworth shows, the same pretext of conviction that served Banks so well in politics proved disastrous on the battlefield. He suffered resounding defeats in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, the Battle of Cedar Mountain, and the Red River Campaign. Illuminating the personal characteristics that stalled the promise of Banks's early political career and contributed to his dismal record as a commanding officer, Hollandsworth demonstrates how Banks's obsessive pretense of glory prevented him from achieving its reality.

Download or read book The Red River Campaign of 1864 and the Loss by the Confederacy of the Civil War written by Michael J. Forsyth and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-07-11 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Union Army's Red River Campaign began on March 12, 1864, with a two-pronged attack aimed at gaining control of Shreveport, Louisiana. It lasted until May 22, 1864, when, after suffering significant casualties, the Union army retreated to Simmesport, Louisiana. The campaign was an attempt to prevent Confederate alliance with the French in Mexico, deny supplies to Confederate forces, and secure vast quantities of Louisiana and Texas cotton for Northern mills. With this examination of Confederate leadership and how it affected the Red River Campaign, the author argues against the standard assumption that the campaign had no major effect on the outcome of the war. In fact, the South had--and lost--an excellent opportunity to inflict a decisive defeat that might have changed the course of history. With this campaign as an ideal example, the politics of military decision-making in general are also analyzed.

Download or read book Lincoln s Political Generals written by David Work and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2024-03-18 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the beginning of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln sought to bind important political leaders to the Union by appointing them as generals. The task was formidable: he had to find enough qualified officers to command a military that would fight along a front that stretched halfway across the continent. West Point hadn't graduated enough officers, and many of its best chose to fight for the Confederacy. Lincoln needed loyal men accustomed to organization, administration, and command. He also needed soldiers, and political generals brought with them their constituents and patronage power. As the war proceeded, the value of the political generals became a matter of serious dispute. Could politicians make the shift from a political campaign to a military one? Could they be trusted to fight? Could they avoid destructive jealousies and the temptations of corruption? And with several of the generals being Irish or German immigrants, what effect would ethnic prejudices have on their success or failure? In this book, David Work examines Lincoln's policy of appointing political generals to build a national coalition to fight and win the Civil War. Work follows the careers of sixteen generals through the war to assess their contributions and to ascertain how Lincoln assessed them as commander-in-chief. Eight of the generals began the war as Republicans and eight as Democrats. Some commanded armies, some regiments. Among them were some of the most famous generals of the Union--such as Francis P. Blair Jr., John A. Dix, John A. Logan, James S. Wadsworth--and others whose importance has been obscured by more dramatic personalities. Work finds that Lincoln's policy was ultimately successful, as these generals provided effective political support and made important contributions in military administration and on the battlefield. Although several of them proved to be poor commanders, others were effective in exercising influence on military administration and recruitment, slavery policy, and national politics.

Download or read book Under the Starry Flag written by Lucy E. Salyer and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-15 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1867 forty Irish-Americans sailed for Ireland to fight against British rule. Claiming that emigrants to America remained British citizens, authorities arrested the men for treason, sparking a crisis and trial that dragged the U.S. and Britain to the brink of war. Lucy Salyer recounts this gripping tale, a prelude to today’s immigration battles.

Download or read book Red River Valley written by Stephen A. Dupree and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Appointed by President Lincoln to command the Gulf Department in November 1862, Nathaniel Prentice Banks was given three assignments, one of which was to occupy some point in Texas. He was told that when he united his army with Grant's, he would assume command of both. Banks, then, had the opportunity to become the leading general in the West--perhaps the most important general in the war. But he squandered what successes he had, never rendezvoused with Grant's army, and ultimately orchestrated some of the greatest military blunders of the war. "Banks's faults as a general," writes author Stephen A. Dupree, "were legion." The originality of Planting the Union Flag in Texas lies not just in the author's description of the battles and campaigns Banks led, nor in his recognition of the character traits that underlay Banks's decisions. Rather, it lies in how Dupree synthesizes his studies of Banks's various actions during his tour of duty in and near Texas to help the reader understand them as a unified campaign. He skillfully weaves together Banks's various attempts to gain Union control of Texas with his other activities and shines the light of Banks's character on the resulting events to help explain both their potential and their shortcomings. In the end, readers will have a holistic understanding of Banks's "appalling" failure to win Texas and may even be led to ask how the post-Civil War era might have been different had he been successful. This fine study will appeal to Civil War buffs and fans of military and Texas history.

Download or read book The Longest Siege written by Russell W. Blount, Jr. and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-08-26 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Civil War, control of the Mississippi River was hotly contested by both the Union and Confederate armies. By late 1862, the South held only a 110-mile stretch of this vital waterway. Determined to defend this critical span, the Confederacy built two fortresses to defend it--Vicksburg on the north end, Port Hudson on the south. Drawing on the letters and memoirs of soldiers and officers on both sides, this book chronicles the brutal struggle for Port Hudson, Louisiana, beginning with Admiral Farragut's costly naval attack by the Union fleet, through the furious infantry assaults ordered by General Nathaniel Banks--including the first charge made by black troops in the Civil War--and finally to the 48-day siege itself. Among the most tragic campaigns of the war, it is recognized by historians as the longest siege in American military history.

Download or read book A Crisis in Confederate Command written by and published by LSU Press. This book was released on with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book For Duty and Destiny written by Lloyd A. Hunter and published by Indiana Historical Society. This book was released on 2013-10-15 with total page 555 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Taylor Stott was a native Hoosier and an 1861 graduate of Franklin College, who later became the president who took the college from virtual bankruptcy in 1872 to its place as a leading liberal arts institution in Indiana. The story of Franklin College is the story of W. T. Stott, yet his influence was not confined to the school’s parameters. Stott was an inspirational and intellectual force in the Indiana Baptist community, and a foremost champion of small denominational colleges and of higher education in general. He also fought in the Eighteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, rising from private to captain by 1863. Stott’s diary reveals a soldier who was also a scholar.

Download or read book Practical Liberators written by Kristopher A. Teters and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the first fifteen months of the Civil War, the policies and attitudes of Union officers toward emancipation in the western theater were, at best, inconsistent and fraught with internal strains. But after Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act in 1862, army policy became mostly consistent in its support of liberating the slaves in general, in spite of Union army officers' differences of opinion. By 1863 and the final Emancipation Proclamation, the army had transformed into the key force for instituting emancipation in the West. However, Kristopher Teters argues that the guiding principles behind this development in attitudes and policy were a result of military necessity and pragmatic strategies, rather than an effort to enact racial equality. Through extensive research in the letters and diaries of western Union officers, Teters demonstrates how practical considerations drove both the attitudes and policies of Union officers regarding emancipation. Officers primarily embraced emancipation and the use of black soldiers because they believed both policies would help them win the war and save the Union, but their views on race actually changed very little. In the end, however, despite its practical bent, Teters argues, the Union army was instrumental in bringing freedom to the slaves.

Download or read book Lincoln s Jewish Spy written by E. Lawrence Abel and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-08-24 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born into a Sephardic Jewish immigrant family, Dr. Issachar Zacharie was the preeminent foot doctor for the American political elite before and during the Civil War. An expert in pain management, Zacharie treated the likes of Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, General George McClelland and most notably, President Abraham Lincoln. As Zacharie's professional and personal relationship with Lincoln deepened, the President began to entrust the doctor with political missions. Throughout Lincoln's presidency, Zacharie traveled to southern cities like New Orleans and Richmond in efforts to ally with some of the Confederacy's most influential Jewish citizens. This biography explores Dr. Zacharie's life, from his birth in Chatham, England, through his medical practice, espionage career and eventual political campaigning for President Lincoln.

Download or read book Freedom s Crescent written by John C. Rodrigue and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-31 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping history of the Lower Mississippi Valley and its central role in abolishing slavery in the American South.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of the American Civil War written by Lorien Foote and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 697 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every time Union armies invaded Southern territory there were unintended consequences. Military campaigns always affected the local population -- devastating farms and towns, making refugees of the inhabitants, undermining slavery. Local conditions in turn altered the course of military events. The social effects of military campaigns resonated throughout geographic regions and across time. Campaigns and battles often had a serious impact on national politics and international affairs. Not all campaigns in the Civil War had a dramatic impact on the country, but every campaign, no matter how small, had dramatic and traumatic effects on local communities. Civil War military operations did not occur in a vacuum; there was a price to be paid on many levels of society in both North and South. The Oxford Handbook of the American Civil War assembles the contributions of thirty-nine leading scholars of the Civil War, each chapter advancing the central thesis that operational military history is decisively linked to the social and political history of Civil War America. The chapters cover all three major theaters of the war and include discussions of Bleeding Kansas, the Union naval blockade, the South West, American Indians, and Reconstruction. Each essay offers a particular interpretation of how one of the war's campaigns resonated in the larger world of the North and South. Taken together, these chapters illuminate how key transformations operated across national, regional, and local spheres, covering key topics such as politics, race, slavery, emancipation, gender, loyalty, and guerrilla warfare.

Download or read book A Politician Turned General written by Jeffrey Norman Lash and published by Kent State University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Politician Turned General offers a critical examination of the turbulent early political career and the controversial military service of Stephen Augustus Hurlbut, an Illinois Whig. Republican politician, and Northern political general who rose to distinction as a prominent member of the Union high command in the West during the Civil War. Though traditionally there are two different characterizations of those who exercised command during the Civil War - soldier-politician and the political generals - Hurlbut was viewed as a military politician. This book provides an important study of another friend and/or political supporter of Lincoln who rose to general during the war and gained important appointments after the war. This first biography of Hurlbut chronicles the early life and the Civil War career of one of Abraham Lincoln's foremost military appointments. Through exhaustive research of primary and secondary sources, author Jeffrey N. Lash identifies and evaluates the successes and failures of Hurlbut's generalship and combat leadership, both as a field commander in Missouri in 1861 and as a division commander at the Battles of Shiloh and Hatchie Bridge in 1862. Featuri

Download or read book The Notorious Isaac Earl and His Scouts written by Gordon L. Olson and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While large armies engaged in epic battles in the eastern theater of the Civil War, a largely unchronicled story was unfolding along the Mississippi River. Thirty "Special Scouts" under the command of Lieutenant Isaac Newton Earl patrolled the river, gathering information about Confederate troop activity, arresting Rebel smugglers and guerillas, and opposing anti-Union insurrection. Gordon Olson gives this special unit full book-length treatment for the first time in The Notorious Isaac Earl and His Scouts. Olson uses new research in assembling his detailed yet very readable account of Earl, a dynamic leader who rose quickly through Union Army ranks to command this elite group. He himself was captured by the Confederates three times and escaped three times, and he developed a strategic -- and later romantic -- relationship with a Southern woman, Jane O'Neal, who became one of his spies. In keeping the river open for Union Army movement of men and supplies to New Orleans, Earl's Scouts played an important, heretofore unheralded, role in the Union's war effort.

Download or read book Walker s Texas Division C S A written by Richard G. Lowe and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Walker's Texas Division, the only one on either side to consist during its entire existence of regiments from a single state, was the largest single body of Texans to fight in the Civil War. The regiments of the division were raised in the winter and spring of 1862, but the Texans' first engagement with Federal forces came more than a year later, during the Vicksburg compaign. The division's most important contribution to the Confederate war effort was its leading role in the struggle to turn back the Federal Red River campaign in the spring of 1864. The Greyhounds measured up to their reputation that spring, marching nine hundred miles in two months, fighting hard in three important battles, and losing nearly 40 percent of their number in killed, wounded, and missing in only three weeks. The Confederate victory in the Red River valley not only ended further Federal attempts to penetrate Texas, it also prevented Union divisions from joining Gen. William T. Sherman's critical Atlanta campaign and freed up Confederate troops to join the fight against Sherman in north Georgia, prolonging the war perhaps another six months." -- Pref.

Download or read book Dancing in the Glory of Monsters written by Jason Stearns and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A "tremendous," "intrepid" history of the devastating war in the heart of Africa's Congo, with first-hand accounts of the continent's worst conflict in modern times. At the heart of Africa is the Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal war in which millions have died. In Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, renowned political activist and researcher Jason K. Stearns has written a compelling and deeply-reported narrative of how Congo became a failed state that collapsed into a war of retaliatory massacres. Stearns brilliantly describes the key perpetrators, many of whom he met personally, and highlights the nature of the political system that brought these people to power, as well as the moral decisions with which the war confronted them. Now updated with a new introduction, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters tells the full story of Africa's Great War.

Download or read book When All Else Fails written by Wayne L. Menking and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2013-09-05 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The condition of stuck is a condition well known by pastoral caregivers and leaders. In When All Else Fails, Wayne Menking argues that the way out of stuckness is not through the acquisition of faddish techniques, but through a deep rethinking of our pastoral vocation and what our pastoral work is to be about. Pastoral care and leadership are not indistinguishable, just as priestly work can never be separated from prophetic work. They are always one and the same. Pastoral care and leadership, then, are not about helping people relieve their anxiety through the offering of palliative comfort, but rather helping people to engage the powers that have hold of their life so as to leave what is old for what is new. In this engagement, the caregiver will always encounter powers against which niceness and unconditional love will not work. Using biblical images and narratives that depict God as a deeply empathic and compassionate God, yet one who is never adaptively sympathetic, Menking asserts that pastoral caregivers and leaders must shed their niceness and adaptivity so as to employ their God-given power if they are to help people effectively leave what is old for what is new.