Download or read book The Exodus of Federal Forces from Texas 1861 written by J. J. Bowden and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Knights of the Golden Circle written by David C. Keehn and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1860, during their first attempt to create the Golden Circle, several thousand Knights assembled in southern Texas to "colonize" the northern Mexico. Due to insufficient resources and organizational shortfalls, however, that filibuster failed. Later, the Knights shifted their focus and began pushing for disunion, spearheading prosecession rallies, and intimidating Unionists in the South. They appointed regional military commanders from the ranks of the South's major political and military figures, including men such as Elkanah Greer of Texas, Paul J. Semmes of Georgia, Robert C. Tyler of Maryland, and Virginius D. Groner of Virginia. Followers also established allies with the South's rabidly prosecession "fire-eaters," which included individuals such as Barnwell Rhett, Louis Wigfall, Henry Wise, and William Yancy.

Download or read book The Knights of the Golden Circle in Texas written by Randolph W Farmer and published by Histria Books. This book was released on 2022-09-13 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States today is a divided nation and some say the country may be heading toward breakup, or possibly civil war. That has happened before and the result was disastrous. As many as 750,000 Americans perished during the Civil War. A study of the causes of our last Civil War may help to prevent another.The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) played a major role in starting the Civil War in the United States. Although intended to remain a secret organization of conspirators, it is perhaps the most well-documented conspiracy in United States history. The goal of the KGC was the creation of a new society separate from the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of slavery into Latin America.The KGC existed in almost every state in the Union, but nowhere was it as powerful and successful as it was in Texas. Several governors, many senators and military leaders were members, having taken an oath to support the organization and their fellow members. Most of the documents generated by the KGC were destroyed after the war ended as its members feared execution for treason. Not everything was destroyed, though. This book relies on documents created by the organization and its members that have not previously been used by researchers. Many members of this organization remained in positions of authority in state affairs after the abolition of slavery. This book goes far beyond previous published work in establishing the identities of the members of this organization who promoted and encouraged the most disastrous war in American history.Randolph W. Farmer is a native Texan from a family whose ancestors first came to Texas as early as 1817 when it was still a Spanish possession. He is the author of two previously published books on Texas history.

Download or read book The US Army and the Texas Frontier Economy written by Thomas T. Smith and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventy million dollars in fifty-five years. From Texas' annexation in 1845 until the turn of the twentieth century, the U.S. Army pumped at least that much or more into the economy of the fledgling state, a fact that directly challenges the popular heritage of Texas as the state with roots of pioneer capitalism and fervent independence. In The U.S. Army and the Texas Frontier Economy, 1845-1900, Thomas T. Smith sheds light on just who bankrolled the evolution of Texas into viable statehood. Smith draws on extensive research gathered from both government archives and Texas army posts in order to evaluate the symbiotic relationship between army quartermasters and the economy of the young state. Texas was the army's largest--and most costly--engagement, absorbing up to thirty percent of the total operating budget and channeling that currency into the commercial development of its frontier. Smith expands on historian Robert Wooster's theory that the military was engaged in an alliance with the political authority in Texas, and using documents such as army contracts for freighting, foraging, and fort leasing, he illustrates how federal fiscal activity spurred commercial growth for the citizens of Texas. Besides the obvious development of towns on the skirts of military bases and of roads between them, the establishment of military spending as a bedrock of the Texas economy and the protector of middle class interests shaped the future of the state's commercial prosperity. Writing with exceptional detail and clarity, Smith traces the emergence of the army's influence and includes analyses of information on army spending and development such as the introduction of army weather and telegraph services to the state, as well as accounts of real estate transactions involving the fort building program. Smith also accounts for army failures, maintaining that no one was truly prepared for the reality of western expansion. As an examination of the complex yet mutually beneficial economic relationship between the nation and the state, The U.S. Army and the Texas Frontier Economy, 1845-1900 is ideal for anyone interested in the early days of the state as well as in U.S. military and frontier history.

Download or read book While in the Hands of the Enemy written by Charles W. Sanders, Jr. and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2005-10-01 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the four years of the American Civil War, over 400,000 soldiers -- one in every seven who served in the Union and Confederate armies -- became prisoners of war. In northern and southern prisons alike, inmates suffered horrific treatment. Even healthy young soldiers often sickened and died within weeks of entering the stockades. In all, nearly 56,000 prisoners succumbed to overcrowding, exposure, poor sanitation, inadequate medical care, and starvation. Historians have generally blamed prison conditions and mortality rates on factors beyond the control of Union and Confederate command, but Charles W. Sanders, Jr., boldly challenges the conventional view and demonstrates that leaders on both sides deliberately and systematically ordered the mistreatment of captives.Sanders shows how policies developed during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War shaped the management of Civil War prisons. He examines the establishment of the major camps as well as the political motivations and rationale behind the operation of the prisons, focusing especially on Camp Douglas, Elmira, Camp Chase, and Rock Island in the North and Andersonville, Cahaba, Florence, and Danville in the South. Beyond a doubt, he proves that the administrations of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis purposely formulated and carried out retaliatory practices designed to harm prisoners of war, with each assuming harsher attitudes as the conflict wore on.Sanders cites official and personal correspondence from high-level civilian and military leaders who knew about the intolerable conditions but often refused to respond or even issued orders that made matters far worse. From such documents emerges a chilling chronicle of how prisoners came to be regarded not as men but as pawns to be used and then callously discarded in pursuit of national objectives. Yet even before the guns fell silent, Sanders reveals, both North and South were hard at work constructing elaborate justifications for their actions.While in the Hands of the Enemy offers a groundbreaking revisionist interpretation of the Civil War military prison system, challenging historians to rethink their understanding of nineteenth-century warfare.

Download or read book The Civil War Begins written by and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although over one hundred fifty years have passed since the start of the American Civil War, that titanic conflict continues to matter. The forces unleashed by that war were immensely destructive because of the significant issues involved: the existence of the Union, the end of slavery, and the very future of the nation. The war remains our most contentious, and our bloodiest, with over six hundred thousand killed in the course of the four-year struggle. Most civil wars do not spring up overnight, and the American Civil War was no exception. The seeds of the conflict were sown in the earliest days of the republic’s founding, primarily over the existence of slavery and the slave trade. Although no conflict can begin without the conscious decisions of those engaged in the debates at that moment, in the end, there was simply no way to paper over the division of the country into two camps: one that was dominated by slavery and the other that sought first to limit its spread and then to abolish it. Our nation was indeed “half slave and half free,” and that could not stand. Regardless of the factors tearing the nation asunder, the soldiers on each side of the struggle went to war for personal reasons: looking for adventure, being caught up in the passions and emotions of their peers, believing in the Union, favoring states’ rights, or even justifying the simple schoolyard dynamic of being convinced that they were “worth” three of the soldiers on the other side. Nor can we overlook the factor that some went to war to prove their manhood. This has been, and continues to be, a key dynamic in understanding combat and the profession of arms. Soldiers join for many reasons but often stay in the fight because of their comrades and because they do not want to seem like cowards. Whatever the reasons, the struggle was long and costly and only culminated with the conquest of the rebellious Confederacy, the preservation of the Union, and the end of slavery. These campaign pamphlets on the American Civil War, prepared in commemoration of our national sacrifices, seek to remember that war and honor those in the United States Army who died to preserve the Union and free the slaves as well as to tell the story of those American soldiers who fought for the Confederacy despite the inherently flawed nature of their cause. The Civil War was our greatest struggle and continues to deserve our deep study and contemplation.

Download or read book The Old Army in Texas written by Thomas Ty Smith and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-27 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Old Army in Texas, U.S. Army officer and historian Thomas "Ty" Smith presents a comprehensive and authoritative single-source reference for the activities of the regular army in the Lone Star State during the nineteenth century. Beginning with a series of maps that sketch the evolution of fort locations on the frontier, Smith furnishes an overview with his introductory essay, "U.S. Army Combat Operations in the Indian Wars of Texas, 1849–1881." Reprinted from the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Smith's essay breaks new ground in an innovative analysis of the characteristics of army tactical methods and the nature of combat on the Texas frontier, introducing a unique historical model and methodology to examine the army-Indians conflicts. The second part of this guide, "Commanders and Organization, Department of Texas, 1848–1900," lists the departmental commanders, the location of the military headquarters, and the changes in the administrative organization and military titles for Texas. Part III, "U.S. Army Sites in Texas 1836–1900," provides a dictionary of 223 posts, forts, and camps in the state. It is the most extensive inventory published to date, including essential information on all of the major forts, as well as dozens of obscure sites such as Camp Las Laxas, Camp Ricketts, and Camp Lugubrious. The fourth part, "Post Garrisons, 1836–1900," gives a year by year snapshot of total army strength in the state, the regiments assigned, and the garrisons and commanders of each major fort and camp. Supplying the only such synopsis of its kind, the "Summary of U.S. Army Combat Actions in the Texas Indian Wars, 1849–1881," the guide's Part V, offers a chronological description of 224 U.S. Army combat actions in the Indian Wars with vivid details of each engagement. The 900 entries in the selected bibliography of Part VI are divided topically into sections on biographical sources and regimental histories, histories of forts, garrison life, civil-military relations, the Mexican War, and frontier operations. In addition to being a helpful catalog of standard histories, there are two important and unusual aspects to the bibliography. It contains a complete range of primary source microfilm material from the National Archives, including the roll numbers of specific periods of forts and units; and secondly, the bibliography integrates nearly all of the published archeological reports into the section on fort histories. The Old Army in Texas is an indispensable reference and research tool for students, scholars, and military history aficionados. It will be of great value to those interested in Texas history, especially military history and local and regional studies. This superb reference work is illustrated with a number of maps and rare photographs of the U.S. Army in nineteenth century Texas.

Download or read book The Post at San Antonio 1845 1879 written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This pamphlet outlines the history of the Post at San Antonio from 1845 to 1879 when the post and its facilities were located in downtown San Antonio. Included are the activities of the garrison in San Antonio, the Quartermaster Depot and the Army operations controlled by the regional headquarters in the city"--Page 2 of cover.

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 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 1861 written by Adam Goodheart and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-02-21 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gripping and original account of how the Civil War began and a second American revolution unfolded, setting Abraham Lincoln on the path to greatness and millions of slaves on the road to freedom. An epic of courage and heroism beyond the battlefields, 1861 introduces us to a heretofore little-known cast of Civil War heroes—among them an acrobatic militia colonel, an explorer’s wife, an idealistic band of German immigrants, a regiment of New York City firemen, a community of Virginia slaves, and a young college professor who would one day become president. Their stories take us from the corridors of the White House to the slums of Manhattan, from the waters of the Chesapeake to the deserts of Nevada, from Boston Common to Alcatraz Island, vividly evoking the Union at its moment of ultimate crisis and decision. Hailed as “exhilarating….Inspiring…Irresistible…” by The New York Times Book Review, Adam Goodheart’s bestseller 1861 is an important addition to the Civil War canon. Includes black-and-white photos and illustrations.

Download or read book Six Constitutions Over Texas written by William J. Chriss and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2024-06-18 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his foreword to Six Constitutions Over Texas: Texas’ Political Identity, 1830–1900, historian H. W. Brands describes the saga surrounding the development of the Texas state constitution as having “the sweep of a Russian novel . . . populated by characters as colorful as any of Tolstoy’s.” Indeed, even a glance at the table of contents reveals hints of international and regional conflict, intrigue, and shifting political alliances that characterized the rise and—in the case of the first five iterations—fall of the constitutions serving as the guiding document for what was variously a state of Mexico, an independent nation, a member of the Union, a Confederate state, and a newly subdued region under Reconstruction. This meticulous study by legal historian William J. Chriss examines how Anglo Texans went about creating their political identity over three quarters of a century and the impact of those decisions. By delineating the social, political, military, and other considerations at play during the various stages of Texas’ development and how those factors manifested in the various constitutions, Chriss illuminates the process by which various groups constructed Texas “as an imagined community, an identity produced by ideological consensus among economic, cultural, and legal elites.” Replete with insights on the ways in which systems of law impact social control and political identity, Six Constitutions Over Texas offers a fresh view of how shifting political ideologies were canonized with varying degrees of permanency in the state constitution.

Download or read book Portals to Hell written by Lonnie R. Speer and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The holding of prisoners of war has always been both a political and a military enterprise, yet the military prisons of the Civil War, which held more than four hundred thousand soldiers and caused the deaths of fifty-six thousand men, have been nearly forgotten. Now Lonnie R. Speer has brought to life the least-known men in the great struggle between the Union and the Confederacy, using their own words and observations as they endured a true ?hell on earth.? Drawing on scores of previously unpublished firsthand accounts, Portals to Hell presents the prisoners? experiences in great detail and from an impartial perspective. The first comprehensive study of all major prisons of both the North and the South, this chronicle analyzes the many complexities of the relationships among prisoners, guards, commandants, and government leaders.

Download or read book Sabine Pass written by Edward T. Cotham and published by Univ of TX + ORM. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “beautifully written . . . and meticulously researched” Civil War history vividly recounts one of the most decisive battles fought in Texas (Civil War News). Jefferson Davis once said the Battle of Sabine Pass was “more remarkable than the battle at Thermopylae.” But unlike the Spartans, who succumbed to overwhelming Persian forces at Thermopylae more than two thousand years before, the Confederate underdogs triumphed in a battle that over time has become steeped in hyperbole. Providing a meticulously researched, scholarly account of this remarkable victory, Sabine Pass at last separates the legends from the evidence. In arresting prose, Edward T. Cotham, Jr., recounts the momentous hours of September 8, 1863, during which a handful of Texans—almost all of Irish descent—under the leadership of Houston saloonkeeper Richard W. Dowling, prevented a Union military force of more than 5,000 men, twenty-two transport vessels, and four gunboats from occupying Sabine Pass, the starting place for a large invasion that would soon have given the Union control of Texas. Sabine Pass sheds new light on previously overlooked details, such as the design and construction of the fort that Dowling and his men defended, and includes the battle report prepared by Dowling himself. The result is a portrait of a mythic event that is even more provocative when stripped of embellishment.

Download or read book The Third Texas Cavalry in the Civil War written by Douglas Hale and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2000-09-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Third Texas Cavalry Regiment, recruited from twenty-six counties of northeastern Texas, was one of the most famous Confederate units from the Lone Star State. Douglas Hale narrates troop movements and battle actions, sensitively portraying the sufferings and private thoughts of individual cavalrymen and their commanders as they marched back and forth across the Southern landscape.

Download or read book Waters of Discord written by Rodman L. Underwood and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the beginning of the American Civil War the Federal government imposed a blockade of the southern coast of the Confederate States of America, including the dark corner of the Confederacy--Texas. Much of the fighting in Texas during the Civil War took place in the state's coastal counties and the adjoining Gulf of Mexico waters, and nearly all of these engagements were involved in one way or another with the Union blockade of the Texas coast. This book examines all major blockade-related land and sea engagements in and near Texas, and also includes many minor ones. It begins with a discussion of the blockade's creation and then concentrates on the successful Confederate efforts to evade the blockade by shipping cotton out of Mexico and, in return, receiving materiel and civilian goods through that neutral nation. The author also covers political intrigue and the spy activity with the French who had invaded Mexico. The book concludes with an analysis of the effectiveness of the Union blockade of Texas.

Download or read book When Democracy Breaks written by Archon Fung and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Democracy is often described in two opposite ways, as either wonderfully resilient or dangerously fragile. Both characterizations can be correct, depending on the context. When Democracy Breaks aims to deepen our understanding of what separates democratic resilience from democratic fragility by focusing on the latter. The volume's collaborators--experts in the history and politics of the societies covered in their chapters--explore eleven episodes of democratic breakdown, from ancient Athens to Weimar Germany to present-day Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela. Strikingly, in every case, various forms of democratic erosion long preceded the final democratic breakdown. Although no single causal factor emerges as decisive, linking together all of the episodes, some important commonalities--including extreme political polarization, explicitly anti-democratic political actors, and significant political violence--stand out across the cases. Moreover, the notion of democratic culture, while admittedly difficult to define and even more difficult to measure, may play a role in all of them. Throughout the volume, the contributors show again and again that the written rules of democracy are insufficient to protect against tyranny. While each case of democratic decay is unique, the patterns that emerge shed much light on the continuing struggle to sustain modern democracies and to assess and respond to the threats they face.