Download or read book West Virginia and the Civil War written by Mark A. Snell and published by Civil War. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only state born as a result of the Civil War, West Virginia was the most divided state in the nation. About forty thousand of its residents served in the combatant forces about twenty thousand on each side. The Mountain State also saw its fair share of battles, skirmishes, raids and guerrilla warfare, with places like Harpers Ferry, Philippi and Rich Mountain becoming household names in 1861. When the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17, 1861, leaders primarily from the northwestern region of the state began the political process that eventually led to the creation of West Virginia on June 20, 1863. Renowned Civil War historian Mark A. Snell has written the first thorough history of these West Virginians and their civil war in more than fifty years.

Download or read book Seceding from Secession written by Eric J. Wittenberg and published by Savas Beatie. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “thoroughly researched [and] historically enlightening” account of how the Commonwealth of Virginia split in two in the midst of war (Civil War News). “West Virginia was the child of the storm.” —Mountaineer historian and Civil War veteran Maj. Theodore F. Lang As the Civil War raged, the northwestern third of the Commonwealth of Virginia finally broke away in 1863 to form the Union’s 35th state. Seceding from Secession chronicles those events in an unprecedented study of the social, legal, military, and political factors that converged to bring about the birth of West Virginia. President Abraham Lincoln, an astute lawyer in his own right, played a critical role in birthing the new state. The constitutionality of the mechanism by which the new state would be created concerned the president, and he polled every member of his cabinet before signing the bill. Seceding from Secession includes a detailed discussion of the 1871 U.S. Supreme Court decision Virginia v. West Virginia, in which former Lincoln cabinet member Salmon Chase presided as chief justice over the court that decided the constitutionality of the momentous event. Grounded in a wide variety of sources and including a foreword by Frank J. Williams, former Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and Chairman Emeritus of the Lincoln Forum, this book is indispensable for anyone interested in American history.

Download or read book The Seventh West Virginia Infantry written by David W. Mellott and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2019-03-15 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though calling itself “The Bloody Seventh” after only a few minor skirmishes, the Seventh West Virginia Infantry earned its nickname many times over during the course of the Civil War. Fighting in more battles and suffering more losses than any other West Virginia regiment, the unit was the most embattled Union regiment in the most divided state in the war. Its story, as it unfolds in this book, is a key chapter in the history of West Virginia, the only state created as a direct result of the Civil War. It is also the story of the citizen soldiers, most of them from Appalachia, caught up in the bloodiest conflict in American history. The Seventh West Virginia fought in the major campaigns in the eastern theater, from Winchester, Antietam, and Fredericksburg to Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Petersburg. Weaving military, social, and political history, The Seventh West Virginia Infantry details strategy, tactics, battles, campaigns, leaders, and the travails of the rank and file. It also examines the circumstances surrounding events, mundane and momentous alike such as the soldiers’ views on the Emancipation Proclamation, West Virginia Statehood, and Lincoln’s re-election. The product of decades of research, the book uses statistical analysis to profile the Seventh’s soldiers from a socio-economic, military, medical, and personal point of view; even as its authors consult dozens of primary sources, including soldiers’ living descendants, to put a human face on these “sons of the mountains.” The result is a multilayered view, unique in its scope and depth, of a singular Union regiment on and off the Civil War battlefield—its beginnings, its role in the war, and its place in history and memory.

Download or read book Civil War in Fayette County West Virginia written by Tim McKinney and published by Quarrier Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive book on the Civil War theatre in Fayette County. Lifelong resident of Fayette County, Tim McKinney is well known all over the region for his meticulous research and well written books on the Civil War. Generous amounts of photographs, maps, sketches, and letters, along with the nature of the fighting over extremely rough terrain, make this history enjoyable for war buffs as well as the casual reader. From the Richmond Dispatch, 1861: In Mountain Warfare the learning of strategist is of little importance. In a country where it is impossible to find enough level land to muster a company of militia, there is little scope for ingeniously studied military plans. It is impossible for the books to embrace the thousand topographical features of a wild region, where all nature seems drunk and the hills and mountains in high frolic. The only rule of warfare in such a region is to throw away all rule. The policy there is to fight and march, to march and fight. Ingenious ink and paper plans of campaign are about as useless in the region about the Big Sewell Mountain as a McCormick's reaper in a mountain "wheat" field. The great requisites of an army fit for mountain warfare are good legs and plenty of ammunition. The best general for such an army is he who will keep them most actively on the march and most constantly loading and firing. Physical exertion is the great thing in mountain warfare; the refined strategy of science can have no play.

Download or read book West Virginia National Guard 1898 1919 written by Brian Stuart Kesterson and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The formation of what would eventually become the West Virginia National Guard has its roots intertwined in the Old Virginia Militia system of the early and mid-1700s. This militia system spanned the Indian hostilities of the French and Indian War, American Revolutionary War, 1780s and 1790s Indian Wars, and Civil War. Images of America: West Virginia National Guard covers the time span between 1898 and 1919. This period of guard history was chaotic, to say the least, and was typified by turbulent social, economic, and political unrest.

Download or read book The Geography and Map Division written by Library of Congress. Geography and Map Division and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Battle of Charleston written by Terry Lowry and published by . This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of Charleston (West Virginia), fought September 13, 1862, between the Confederate forces of Gen. William Wing Loring and the Federal command of Col. Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn, pales in comparison to many of the more well-known and documented engagements of the American Civil War. Yet the battle and the activities comprising the 1862 Kanawha Valley Campaign, particularly Lightburn's subsequent retreat, beginning at Fayetteville and ending at Point Pleasant, were of much more strategic importance than readily meets the eye and held special meaning for many of its participants.One such individual was Sgt. Joseph Pearson, Company F, 44th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, who wrote about the battle of Charleston in his journal, "We had several killed and wounded in this affair, but it was only a skirmish to what we afterwards learned of war. Yet I was more impressed with the dread[ful] feeling of that little action than all the others I was in to the finish."The 1862 Kanawha Valley Campaign has long been neglected by scholars, probably due to the great national attention placed on the Battle of Antietam and the Maryland Campaign, which took place during this same time period. Owing to the meticulous work of author/historian Terry Lowry, it has finally been given its due.

Download or read book Images of the Civil War in West Virginia written by Terry Lowry and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This amazing book has over 475 photographs, images, and drawings - all made during the Civil War or very soon thereafter, and all related to West Virginia. This is the largest collection of images ever put together on West Virginia during the war. In addition to photos, it includes broadsides, veteran reunions, and miscellaneous paper items. Many of these pictures are from private collections and have never before been published. Also includes a short chronology of battles and events, giving a reference for the images. The book is printed on high quality glossy paper. A must for all Civil War buffs. Review by Marina Hendricks of the Charleston Gazette: TERRY Lowry was but a junior high school student when West Virginia and the Civil War marked their respective centennials back in the 1960s. Around the same time, the magazine Civil War Times Illustrated debuted. "I saw a copy of that floating around the school, and I was intrigued," Lowry recalled. The more he learned about the colorful uniforms, larger-than-life personalities and the Mountain State's role in the Civil War, the more he wanted to know. "Almost every American has an [ancestor] who fought in the Civil War. So there's that personal connection. And then the fact that the Civil War took place all over, in some places we haven't even thought of," he said. To feed that thirst for knowledge, Lowry earned a bachelor's degree in history from West Virginia State College, pursued graduate studies in Civil War history at Marshall University, toured battlefields and built a collection of Civil War memorabilia. He also authored several books, including the 1996 release "Last Sleep: The Battle of Droop Mountain November 6, 1863." Lowry teamed with Charleston native Stan Cohen on his most recent project, the newly released "Images of the Civil War in West Virginia." The book will make its debut as part of the second annual Col. George S. Patton Memorial Civil War Weekend, held Friday and Saturday at Craik-Patton House in Daniel Boone Park on U.S. 60. Cohen, who operates Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., has authored or co-authored 68 books and published more than 250. Together, Lowry and Cohen set out to showcase photographs, sketches, illustrations and paintings that depicted the role West Virginia and its citizens played in the war. "That was the idea, to track down everything we could," Lowry said. The co-authors faced a number of challenges in the five years that Lowry estimated it took to put together the book, which sells for $19.95 at all West Virginia bookstores. During the Civil War, for example, the state's rugged, mountainous terrain made it hard for photographers to lug around the heavy equipment they then needed to practice their craft. So other than portraits, Lowry and Cohen were able to find few photographic records of that time period in West Virginia. And time itself hindered the duo's efforts, as more than a few of their discoveries were in poor physical condition. Despite the difficulties, Lowry and Cohen unearthed some real gems, including a soldier's rough sketch of the Battle of Charleston and a photograph of several members of the 34th Ohio Regiment in their distinctive (and flamboyant by soldier standards) Zouave garb. "It's the only known photograph we've seen of them in the particular uniform they wore," Lowry said. "Later on, they switched to regular uniforms." The co-authors also were able to correct a mistake on a series of photographs from the state archives. The photographs, which depict the Gauley Bridge area, originally were thought to have been taken after the war. Lowry and Cohen determined by their subject matter, however, that they did indeed date back to the war itself. By the time they completed the book, they believed they had assembled as complete a visual history of the Civil War era in West Virginia as possible.

Download or read book Ends of War written by Caroline E. Janney and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2021-09-13 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Army of Northern Virginia's chaotic dispersal began even before Lee and Grant met at Appomattox Court House. As the Confederates had pushed west at a relentless pace for nearly a week, thousands of wounded and exhausted men fell out of the ranks. When word spread that Lee planned to surrender, most remaining troops stacked their arms and accepted paroles allowing them to return home, even as they lamented the loss of their country and cause. But others broke south and west, hoping to continue the fight. Fearing a guerrilla war, Grant extended the generous Appomattox terms to every rebel who would surrender himself. Provost marshals fanned out across Virginia and beyond, seeking nearly 18,000 of Lee's men who had yet to surrender. But the shock of Lincoln's assassination led Northern authorities to see threats of new rebellion in every rail depot and harbor where Confederates gathered for transport, even among those already paroled. While Federal troops struggled to keep order and sustain a fragile peace, their newly surrendered adversaries seethed with anger and confusion at the sight of Union troops occupying their towns and former slaves celebrating freedom. In this dramatic new history of the weeks and months after Appomattox, Caroline E. Janney reveals that Lee's surrender was less an ending than the start of an interregnum marked by military and political uncertainty, legal and logistical confusion, and continued outbursts of violence. Janney takes readers from the deliberations of government and military authorities to the ground-level experiences of common soldiers. Ultimately, what unfolds is the messy birth narrative of the Lost Cause, laying the groundwork for the defiant resilience of rebellion in the years that followed.

Download or read book Thunder In the Mountains written by Lon Savage and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 1985-06-15 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The West Virginia mine war of 1920-21, a major civil insurrection of unusual brutality on both sides, even by the standards of the coal fields, involved thousands of union and nonunion miners, state and private police, militia, and federal troops. Before it was over, three West Virginia counties were in open rebellion, much of the state was under military rule, and bombers of the U.S. Army Air Corps had been dispatched against striking miners.The origins of this civil war were in the Draconian rule of the coal companies over the fiercely proud miners of Appalachia. It began in the small railroad town of Matewan when Mayor C. C. Testerman and Police Chief Sid Hatfield sided with striking miners against agents of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, who attempted to evict the miners from company-owned housing. During a street battle, Mayor Testerman, seven Baldwin-Felts agents, and two miners were shot to death.Hatfield became a folk hero to Appalachia. But he, like Testerman, was to be a martyr. The next summer, Baldwin-Felts agents assassinated him and his best friend, Ed Chambers, as their wives watched, on the steps of the courthouse in Welch, accelerating the miners' rebellion into open warfare.Much neglected in historical accounts, Thunder in the Mountains is the only available book-length account of the crisis in American industrial relations and governance that occured during the West Virginia mine war of 1920-21.

Download or read book The Battle of Lewisburg May 23 1862 written by Richard L. Armstrong and published by 35th Star Publishing. This book was released on 2017 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The early morning hours of May 23, 1862 brought the horror of war to the residents of the small, mountain town of Lewisburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). A brigade of Union troops, commanded by Colonel George Crook, had occupied the heavily Confederate leaning town less than two weeks earlier. Now, Lewisburg felt the fury of a battle waged in her streets. Bullets flew in every direction. Cannon balls whistled overhead and occasionally struck the homes and other buildings of the town. Confederate soldiers, some of whom grew up in Lewisburg, fought and died in their hometown. A few hours later, 240 Confederates were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. The victorious Union troops suffered the loss of 93 men killed, wounded, and captured. Confederate Brigadier General Henry Heth, with a superior force, now found himself forced to retreat in complete disarray. Colonel George Crook would soon be promoted to brigadier general, largely because of his conduct at Lewisburg. This carefully researched book by historian and author Richard L. Armstrong contains 248 pages, 34 images, and 13 maps (including a detailed map of the town the day after the battle by Captain Hiram F. Devol of the 36th Ohio Infantry). The cover features the beautiful painting of Lewisburg in the 1850s by renowned landscape artist Edward Beyer. Lewisburg, now a part of the state of West Virginia, is the county seat of Greenbrier County, and is named for Revolutionary War period General Andrew Lewis. A previous winner of the “Coolest Small Towns in America” award, the town offers many quaint shops, restaurants, galleries, and other attractions. Walking tour brochures, including one focused on the Battle of Lewisburg, are available at the Greenbrier Valley Visitors Center, located downtown on the corner of Washington and Court Streets.

Download or read book Civilian War in West Virginia written by George A. Hall and published by . This book was released on 2010-12 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In civilian mode guerillas wanted no accountability to military authority. But in the commission of crimes they would plead exemption due to a military role and the protections of a combatant. The Moccasin Rangers were the most notorious of such bands of men early in the war. The policies crafted then are the foundation for conducting war against insurgents today in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Download or read book The Coal River Valley in the Civil War written by Michael B Graham and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2020-08-17 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “compelling” account of the little-known bloody skirmishes that took place in this picturesque part of West Virginia (Civil War Monitor). The three rivers that make up the Coal River Valley—Big, Little and Coal—were named by explorer John Peter Salling (or Salley) for the coal deposits found along their banks. More than one hundred years later, the picturesque valley that would separate from Virginia a short time later was witness to a multitude of bloody skirmishes between Confederate and Union forces in the Civil War. Often-overlooked battles at Boone Court House, Coal River, Pond Fork, and Kanawha Gap introduced the beginning of “total war” tactics years before General Sherman used them in his March to the Sea. Join historian Michael Graham as he expertly details the compelling human drama of the bitterly contested Coal River Valley region during the War Between the States. Includes illustrations

Download or read book Russell s Civil War Photographs written by Andrew J. Russell and published by Courier Dover Publications. This book was released on 1982 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gathers photos of arsenals, barracks, stables, railroad depots, prisons, forts, pontoon bridges, blockhouses, and Alexandria, Richmond, and Washington.

Download or read book Maryland s Civil War Photographs written by Ross J. Kelbaugh and published by Maryland Historical Society. This book was released on 2012-11-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rare images from a border state caught between the Union and the Confederacy, secession and loyalty, slavery and freedom. Maryland’s role in the Civil War continues to attract wide interest, study, and collection at the war's 150th anniversary. One reason is a vast photographic record of the people, places, and events surrounding the war, a legacy that breathes life into the sepia-toned past. Maryland's Civil War Photographs presents the largest collection of original Maryland-related Civil War photographs ever published. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of institutions and a small group of collectors, the compelling stories of Marylanders’ patriotism, bravery, sacrifice, tragedy, and triumph have been preserved for future generations. What we present here is a collection of the most significant outdoor views, interiors (which had to be made with only natural light), and studio portraits combined to place them in the historical context of their creation.

Download or read book Final Approach written by Jerome Lill and published by Quarrier Press. This book was released on 2021-07-27 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1979 pot plane crash-as it's come to be known in Charleston, West Virginia-was one of those "you had to be there" moments. Walter Cronkite opened the nightly news with, "You may not call this pot luck." Locals still refer to the crash to this day. Author Jerome Lill organized the botched smuggling attempt, bought the DC6 cargo plane, flew it to Colombia, and filled it with 26,000 pounds of pot. Everything went fine until the plane went over the edge of the runway at the Charleston airport. The crash and subsequent trial make up only a very small part of this riveting book. Jerome's life in those days was continually awash in international drug smuggling, wild partying, and a lot of profanity (also included in this book). The essence of the story, though, is Jerome's long journey from the darkest corners of alcoholism to recovery, lifted by his faith in God and seemingly unlimited second chances. His accounts of surviving the plane crash and countless other exploits are mind-blowing. As Jerome likes to say about his recovery, "If I can do it, anybody can." There's always a chance for redemption-a timeless message for us all. This is a story you will not be able to forget. Jerome Lill's story is authentic and unforgettable. He is simply an inspiration for us all.

Download or read book On This Day in West Virginia Civil War History written by Michael B. Graham and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2015-07-27 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: West Virginia is the only state formed by seceding from a Confederate state. And its connections to the Civil War run deep. One day at a time, award-winning historian Michael Graham presents intriguing, event-driven anecdotes and history related to the state. On July 11, 1861, a Union force attacked 1,300 Confederate troops camped at Rich Mountain in a renowned battle. Confederate guerrillas raided Hacker's Creek on June 12, 1864. Find little-known facts about the Battles of Droop Mountain, Carnifex Ferry, Harpers Ferry, Shepherdstown and a whole host of others. Read a story one day or month at a time. Celebrate an entire year of Civil War history in the Mountain State.