Download or read book War on the Waters written by James M. McPherson and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2012-09-17 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although previously undervalued for their strategic impact because they represented only a small percentage of total forces, the Union and Confederate navies were crucial to the outcome of the Civil War. In War on the Waters, James M. McPherson has crafted an enlightening, at times harrowing, and ultimately thrilling account of the war's naval campaigns and their military leaders. McPherson recounts how the Union navy's blockade of the Confederate coast, leaky as a sieve in the war's early months, became increasingly effective as it choked off vital imports and exports. Meanwhile, the Confederate navy, dwarfed by its giant adversary, demonstrated daring and military innovation. Commerce raiders sank Union ships and drove the American merchant marine from the high seas. Southern ironclads sent several Union warships to the bottom, naval mines sank many more, and the Confederates deployed the world's first submarine to sink an enemy vessel. But in the end, it was the Union navy that won some of the war's most important strategic victories--as an essential partner to the army on the ground at Fort Donelson, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Mobile Bay, and Fort Fisher, and all by itself at Port Royal, Fort Henry, New Orleans, and Memphis.
Download or read book The Court Martial of Robert E Lee written by Douglas Savage and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-03-07 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the first day of July 1863, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia accidentally crossed swords with George Gordon Meade’s federal Army of the Potomac. They clashed at a tiny Pennsylvania crossroads called Gettysburg. Three days later, at least 22,000 Confederate men and boys were dead, wounded or captured, and the Yankees held the field when the river of bloodshed finally stopped. Gettysburg was General Lee’s worst defeat on an open field of battle. In The Court Martial of Robert E. Lee, a discouraged Confederate Congress summons General Lee to Richmond in December 1863, to face a board of inquiry on the Battle of Gettysburg. Through this speculative board of inquiry, the reader is drawn into the true history of the Army of Northern Virginia and the real political personalities and true political intrigue of Richmond in 1863. Will General Lee be relieved of command? Perhaps sent into retirement borne of catastrophic failure, leaving behind forever his beloved Army of Northern Virginia? The reader feels his pain and the anguish of a defeated general who wrote four months after Gettysburg that, “My heart and thoughts will always be with this army.”
Download or read book The New York Times Complete Civil War 1861 1865 written by Harold Holzer and published by Black Dog & Leventhal Pub. This book was released on 2010 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collects the complete New York Times coverage of the events in the Civil War, including accounts of battles, personal stories, and political actions, and provides cultural and historical perspective on the published issues.
Download or read book Civil War Times Illustrated written by and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mother May You Never See the Sights I Have Seen written by Warren Wilkinson and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2015-11-15 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 57th Massachusetts Veteran Volunteers lost more men killed and mortally wounded than any other regiment in the Union army. In this classic Civil War unit history, Wilkinson crafts an intimate, gutsy, candid story of men at war. • Covers the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg • No-holds-barred account of the fatigue, horror, boredom, gallantry, and cowardice of the Civil War soldier
Download or read book The Civil War Quiz Book written by Blake A. Magner and published by Taylor Trade Publications. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you think you know a lot about the Civil War, challenge yourself with this instructive and intriguing book of questions. Covering every battle of the war, commanders and ordinary soldiers, weapons, and armies, this book will test the knowledge of even the most dedicated history buff. Degrees of difficulty range from elementary to questions that even the author had difficulty figuring out, and everything in between. Thousands of provocative questions will sharpen the knowledge of Civil enthusiasts everywhere.
Download or read book The Bell Irvin Wiley Reader written by Hill Jordan and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2001-02-01 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For countless readers, the books of Bell Irvin Wiley (1906–1980) remain a high-water mark in historical writing on the American Civil War. The Life of Billy Yank, The Life of Johnny Reb, The Road to Appomattox, Southern Negroes, 1861–1865, all are classics in the field, and Wiley’s influence on contemporary Civil War scholarship has been immeasurable. The Bell Irvin Wiley Reader offers for the first time many lesser known and unpublished writings of this eminent historian and provides an intimate portrait of the man Life magazine once hailed as “the nation’s foremost authority of soldier life during the Civil War.” Culled from a trove of 176 boxes of Wiley’s personal papers at the Emory University archives, the selections in this collection present a broad cross section of his work, both oral and written, and focus on the professor’s favorite subjects. Among the documents are speeches and articles, such as “The Road to War,” “Lincoln, Plain Man of the People,” “Life on the Confederate Home Front,” “The Collapse of the Confederacy,” “American History and Racial Understanding,” “Historians and the National Register,” and “Why Teach the Civil War?” Also included are lecture outlines, one of Wiley’s infamous final exams, and an oral history interview with the historian. Each piece reveals Wiley’s immense talent as a historian, communicator, and educator, as well as his continuing power to enlighten and inspire readers and students alike. Buttressed with an excellent introduction by editors Hill Jordan and J. H. Segars and biographical notations and section introductions by James I. Robertson Jr.—one of Wiley’s best students—this anthology shows Wiley to be an enigma: a distinguished scholar who enjoyed the company of ordinary people; a staunch advocate for civil rights who would not agree to ease university admission standards for blacks; a master teacher who declined departmental chairmanships. He was, indeed, the uncommon “common man” of which he wrote so often, and his work continues to provide us with a clearer understanding of our great American heritage. With previously unpublished family photographs and a complete bibliography of Wiley’s books and articles, The Bell Irvin Wiley Reader will fascinate all Civil War enthusiasts, introducing new readers to and reacquainting old friends with the life and works of this unsurpassed scholar.
Download or read book Patriotic Envelopes of the Civil War written by Steven R. Boyd and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Civil War, private printers in both the North and South produced a vast array of envelopes featuring iconography designed to promote each side's war effort. Many of these "covers" featured depictions of soldiers, prominent political leaders, Union or Confederate flags, Miss Liberty, Martha Washington, or even runaway slaves -- at least fifteen thousand pro-Union and two hundred fifty pro-Confederate designs appeared between 1861 and 1865. In Patriotic Envelopes of the Civil War, the first book-length analysis of these covers, Steven R. Boyd explores their imagery to understand what motivated soldiers and civilians to support a war far more protracted and destructive than anyone anticipated in 1861. Northern envelopes, Boyd shows, typically document the centrality of the preservation of the Union as the key issue that, if unsuccessful, would lead to the destruction of United States, its Constitution, and its way of life. Confederate covers, by contrast, usually illustrate a competing vision of an independent republic free of the "tyranny" of the United States. Each side's flags and presidents symbolize these two rival viewpoints. Images of presidents Davis and Lincoln, often portrayed as contestants in a boxing match, personalized the contest and served to rally citizens to the cause of southern independence or national preservation. In the course of depicting the events of the period, printers also revealed the impact of the war on females and African Americans. Some envelopes, for example, featured women on the home front engaging in a variety of patriotic tasks that would have been almost unthinkable before the war. African Americans, on the other hand, became far more visible in American popular culture, especially in the North, where Union printers showed them pursuing their own liberation from southern slavery. With more than 180 full-color illustrations, Patriotic Envelopes of the Civil War is a nuanced and fascinating examination of Civil War iconography that moves a previously overlooked source from the periphery of scholarly awareness into the ongoing analysis of America's greatest tragedy.
Download or read book The Dogs of War written by Emory M. Thomas and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-05-06 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1861, Americans thought that the war looming on their horizon would be brief. None foresaw that they were embarking on our nation's worst calamity, a four-year bloodbath that cost the lives of more than half a million people. But as eminent Civil War historian Emory Thomas points out in this stimulating and provocative book, once the dogs of war are unleashed, it is almost impossible to rein them in. In The Dogs of War, Thomas highlights the delusions that dominated each side's thinking. Lincoln believed that most Southerners loved the Union, and would be dragged unwillingly into secession by the planter class. Jefferson Davis could not quite believe that Northern resolve would survive the first battle. Once the Yankees witnessed Southern determination, he hoped, they would acknowledge Confederate independence. These two leaders, in turn, reflected widely held myths. Thomas weaves his exploration of these misconceptions into a tense narrative of the months leading up to the war, from the "Great Secession Winter" to a fast-paced account of the Fort Sumter crisis in 1861. Emory M. Thomas's books demonstrate a breathtaking range of major Civil War scholarship, from The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience and the landmark The Confederate Nation, to definitive biographies of Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart. In The Dogs of War, he draws upon his lifetime of study to offer a new perspective on the outbreak of our national Iliad.
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 Virginia at War 1865 written by William Davis and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kent Hollingsworth captures the flavor and atmosphere of the Sport of Kings in the dramatic account of the development of the Thoroughbred in Kentucky. Ranging from frontier days, when racing was conducted in open fields as horse-to-horse challenges between proud owners, to the present, when a potential Triple Crown champion may sell for millions of dollars, The Kentucky Thoroughbred considers ten outstanding stallions that dominated the shape of racing in their time as representing the many eras of Kentucky Thoroughbred breeding. No less colorful are his accounts of the owners, breeders, trainers, and jockeys associated with these Thoroughbreds, a group devoted to a sport filled with high adventure and great hazards. First published in 1976, this popular Kentucky classic has been expanded and brought up to date in this new edition.
Download or read book Damn the Torpedoes written by Tamara Moser Melia and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Richmond Redeemed written by Richard Sommers and published by Savas Beatie. This book was released on 2014-10-19 with total page 697 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richmond Redeemed pioneered study of Civil War Petersburg. The original (and long out of print) award-winning 1981 edition conveyed an epic narrative of crucial military operations in early autumn 1864 that had gone unrecognized for more than 100 years. Readers will rejoice that Richard J. SommersÕs masterpiece, in a revised Sesquicentennial edition, is once again available. This monumental study focuses on GrantÕs Fifth Offensive (September 29 Ð October 2, 1864), primarily the Battles of ChaffinÕs Bluff (Fort Harrison) and Poplar Spring Church (PeeblesÕ Farm). The Union attack north of the James River at ChaffinÕs Bluff broke through RichmondÕs defenses and gave Federals their greatest opportunity to capture the Confederate capital. The corresponding fighting outside Petersburg at Poplar Spring Church so threatened Southern supply lines that General Lee considered abandoning his Petersburg rail center six months before actually doing so. Yet hard fighting and skillful generalship saved both cities. This book provides thrilling narrative of opportunities gained and lost, of courageous attack and desperate defense, of incredible bravery by Union and Confederate soldiers from 28 states, Maine to Texas. Fierce fighting by four Black brigades earned their soldiers thirteen Medals of Honor and marked ChaffinÕs Bluff as the biggest, bloodiest battle for Blacks in the whole Civil War. In addition to his focused tactical lens, Dr. Sommers offers rich analysis of the generalship of Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and their senior subordinates, Benjamin Butler, George G. Meade, Richard S. Ewell, and A. P. Hill. The richly layered prose of Richmond Redeemed, undergirded by thousands of manuscript and printed primary accounts from more than 100 archives, has been enhanced for this Sesquicentennial Edition with new research, new writing, and most of all new thinking. Teaching future strategic leaders of American and allied armed forces in the Army War College, conversing with fellow Civil War scholars, addressing Civil War audiences across the nation, and reflecting on prior assessments over the last 33 years have stimulated in the author new perspectives and new insights. He has interwoven them throughout the book. His new analysis brings new dimensions to this new edition. Dr. Sommers was widely praised for his achievement. In addition to being a selection of the History Book Club, the National Historical Society awarded him the Bell Wiley Prize as the best Civil War book for 1981-82. Reviewers hailed it as Òa book that still towers among Civil War campaign studiesÓ and Òa model tactical study [that] takes on deeper meaning . . . without sacrificing the human drama and horror of combat.Ó Complete with maps, photos, a full bibliography, and index, Richmond Redeemed is modeled for a new generation of readers, enthusiasts, and Civil War buffs and scholars, all of whom will welcome and benefit from exploring how, 150 years ago, Richmond was redeemed.
Download or read book Inside the Confederate Nation written by Lesley J. Gordon and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2007-02 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience (1970) and The Confederate Nation (1979), Emory Thomas redefined the field of Civil War history and reconceptualized the Confederacy as a unique entity fighting a war for survival. Inside the Confederate Nation honors his enormous contributions to the field with fresh interpretations of all aspects of Confederate life -- nationalism and identity, family and gender, battlefront and home front, race, and postwar legacies and memories. Many of the volume's twenty essays focus on individuals, households, communities, and particular regions of the South, highlighting the sheer variety of circumstances southerners faced over the course of the war. Other chapters explore the public and private dilemmas faced by diplomats, policy makers, journalists, and soldiers within the new nation. All of the essays attempt to explain the place of southerners within the Confederacy, how they came to see themselves and others differently because of secession, and the disparities between their expectations and reality.
Download or read book Nothing but Victory written by Steven E. Woodworth and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2006-10-17 with total page 796 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Composed almost entirely of Midwesterners and molded into a lean, skilled fighting machine by Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, the Army of the Tennessee marched directly into the heart of the Confederacy and won major victories at Shiloh and at the rebel strongholds of Vicksburg and Atlanta.Acclaimed historian Steven Woodworth has produced the first full consideration of this remarkable unit that has received less prestige than the famed Army of the Potomac but was responsible for the decisive victories that turned the tide of war toward the Union. The Army of the Tennessee also shaped the fortunes and futures of both Grant and Sherman, liberating them from civilian life and catapulting them onto the national stage as their triumphs grew. A thrilling account of how a cohesive fighting force is forged by the heat of battle and how a confidence born of repeated success could lead soldiers to expect “nothing but victory.”
