Download or read book The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy written by Robert K. Krick and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2004-01-13 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No military unit in all the annals of American history exceeds in reputation Robert E. Lee’s illustrious Army of Northern Virginia. In ten chapters based on exhaustive research, esteemed Civil War scholar Robert K. Krick gives eloquent examination to aspects of this army ranging from biographical sketches and the best and worst books on the subject to Confederate troop strengths and locating soldier records. The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy gleams with Krick’s usual superior research, skilled writing, and sound analysis and sheds new light on one of the most popular Civil War subjects.
Download or read book Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain written by Robert K. Krick and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2002-02-01 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At Cedar Mountain on August 9,1862, Stonewall Jackson exercised independent command of a campaign for the last time. Robert Krick untangles the myriad original accounts by participants on both sides of the battle to offer an illuminating portrait of the C
Download or read book The Mortal Wounding of Stonewall Jackson written by Robert K. Krick and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The stunning Confederate victory at Chancellorsville came at an enormous cost: an estimated 13,000 Confederate casualties. The most prominent, of course, was Stonewall Jackson, who was wounded by friendly fire and died several days later, on 10 May 1863. This Civil War Short presents Robert K. Krick's authoritative investigation into the incident that resulted in Jackson's death. This work was originally published as "The Smoothbore Volley That Doomed the Confederacy" in Chancellorsville: The Battle and Its Aftermath, edited by Gary Gallagher, which places the Chancellorsville campaign in a broad context and demonstrates how its significance reverberated beyond the battlefield. UNC Press Civil War Shorts excerpt rousing narratives from distinguished books published by the University of North Carolina Press on the military, political, social, and cultural history of the Civil War era. Produced exclusively in ebook format, they focus on pivotal moments and figures and are intended to provide a concise introduction, stir the imagination, and encourage further exploration of the topic. For in-depth analysis, contextualization, and perspective, we invite readers to consider the original publications from which these works are drawn.
Download or read book Chancellorsville written by Gary W. Gallagher and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A variety of important but lesser-known dimensions of the Chancellorsville campaign of spring 1863 are explored in this collection of eight original essays. Departing from the traditional focus on generalship and tactics, the contributors address the campaign's broad context and implications and revisit specific battlefield episodes that have in the past been poorly understood. Chancellorsville was a remarkable victory for Robert E. Lee's troops, a fact that had enormous psychological importance for both sides, which had met recently at Fredericksburg and would meet again at Gettysburg in just two months. But the achievement, while stunning, came at an enormous cost: more than 13,000 Confederates became casualties, including Stonewall Jackson, who was wounded by friendly fire and died several days later. The topics covered in this volume include the influence of politics on the Union army, the importance of courage among officers, the impact of the war on children, and the state of battlefield medical care. Other essays illuminate the important but overlooked role of Confederate commander Jubal Early, reassess the professionalism of the Union cavalry, investigate the incident of friendly fire that took Stonewall Jackson's life, and analyze the military and political background of Confederate colonel Emory Best's court-martial on charges of abandoning his men. Contributors Keith S. Bohannon, Pennsylvania State University and Greenville, South Carolina Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia A. Wilson Greene, Petersburg, Virginia John J. Hennessy, Fredericksburg, Virginia Robert K. Krick, Fredericksburg, Virginia James Marten, Marquette University Carol Reardon, Pennsylvania State University James I. Robertson Jr., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Download or read book A Soldier s General written by John C. Oeffinger and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003-04-03 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During his service in the Confederate army, Major General Lafayette McLaws (1821-1897) served under and alongside such famous officers as Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, James Longstreet, and John B. Hood. He played a significant role in some of the most crucial battles of the Civil War, including Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Despite this, no biography of McLaws or history of his division has ever been published. A Soldier's General gathers ninety-five letters written by McLaws to his family between 1858 and 1865, making these valuable resources available to a wide audience for the first time. The letters, painstakingly transcribed from McLaws's notoriously poor handwriting, contain a wealth of opinion and information about life and morale in the Confederate army, Civil War-era politics, the Southern press, and the impact of war on the Confederate home front. Among the fascinating threads the letters trace is the story of McLaws's fractured relationship with childhood friend Longstreet, who had McLaws relieved of command in 1863. John Oeffinger's extensive introduction sketches McLaws's life from his beginnings in Augusta, Georgia, through his early experiences in the U.S. Army, his marriage, his Civil War exploits, and his postwar years.
Download or read book Rashness of That Hour written by Robert Wynstra and published by Savas Beatie. This book was released on 2010-12-08 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER, 2010, DR. JAMES I. ROBERTSON LITERARY PRIZE FOR CONFEDERATE HISTORY AWARD WINNER, 2011, THE BACHELDER-CODDINGTON LITERARY AWARD, GIVEN BY THE ROBERT E. LEE CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE OF CENTRAL NEW JERSEY No commander in the Army of Northern Virginia suffered more damage to his reputation at Gettysburg than did Brig. Gen. Alfred Holt Iverson. In little more than an hour during the early afternoon of July 1, 1863, much of his brigade (the 5th, 12th, 20th, and 23rd North Carolina regiments) was slaughtered in front of a stone wall on Oak Ridge. Amid rumors that he was a drunk, a coward, and had slandered his own troops, Iverson was stripped of his command less than a week after the battle and before the campaign had even ended. After months of internal feuding and behind-the-scenes political maneuvering, the survivors of Iverson's ill-fated brigade had no doubt about who to blame for their devastating losses. What remained unanswered was the lingering uncertainty of how such a disaster could have happened. This and many other questions are explored for the first time in Robert J. Wynstra's The Rashness of That Hour: Politics, Gettysburg, and the Downfall of Confederate Brigadier General Alfred Iverson. Wynstra's decade-long investigation draws upon a wealth of newly discovered and previously unpublished sources to provide readers with fresh perspectives and satisfying insights. The result is an engrossing chronicle of how the brigade's politics, misadventures, and colorful personalities combined to bring about one of the Civil War's most notorious blunders. As Wynstra's research makes clear, Iverson's was a brigade in fatal turmoil long before its rendezvous with destiny in Forney field on July 1. This richly detailed and thoughtfully written account is biographical, tactical, and brigade history at its finest. For the first time we have a complete picture of the flawed general and his brigade's bitter internecine feuds that made Iverson's downfall nearly inevitable and help us better understand "the rashness of that hour." About the Author: Robert J. Wynstra recently retired as a senior writer for the News and Public Affairs Office in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. He holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in history and a Master's degree in journalism, all from the University of Illinois. Rob has been researching Alfred Iverson's role in the Civil War for more than ten years. He is finishing work on a study of Robert Rodes' Division in the Gettysburg Campaign.
Download or read book Lee s Tar Heels written by Earl J. Hess and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hess tells the full story of "Pettigrew's Brigade," perhaps the best-known and most successful of North Carolina's units during the Civil War. The brigade played a central role in Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg and also fought with distinction during the Petersburg campaign and in later battles including the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor.
Download or read book Field Armies Fortifications in the Civil War written by Earl J. Hess and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Hess studies the use of fortifications by tracing the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia from April 1861 to April 1864. He considers the role of field fortifications in the defense of cities, river crossings, and railroads and in numerous battles. Blending technical aspects of construction with operational history, Hess demonstrates the crucial role these earthworks played in the success or failure of field armies." "Based on fieldwork at 300 battle sites and extensive research in official reports, letters, diaries, and archaeological studies, this book stands to become an indispensable reference for Civil War historians."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book A Soldier s Story of His Regiment 61st Georgia written by G. W. Nichols and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2012-05-22 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1898, this is the account and history of the 61st Georgia Infantry by one of it's privates.
Download or read book Wandering to Glory written by Dewitt Boyd Stone and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Wandering to Glory DeWitt Boyd Stone, Jr., pieces together the words of officers and soldiers in an imaginative, nontraditional brigade history of one of the Confederacy's most active combat troops. Stone blends firsthand accounts from a variety of sources to tell the colorful story of Brigadier General Nathan George Shanks Evans and his Tramp Brigade. An independent South Carolina unit never permanently attached to a particular army, Evans's Brigade traveled widely, making its way from one frontline to another and earning its nickname. Stone profiles the unit's accomplished but egotistical commander, who gained fame as a hero at the First Battle of Manassas, and traces its impressive war record, which began at Second Manassas and included its moment of glory at ground zero during the Battle of the Crater, at Petersburg, Virginia. Nearly ten percent of all South Carolinians who fought in the Confederate army were members of Evan's Brigade, which included South Carolina's 17th, 18th, 22nd, and 23rd Regiments, the Macbeth Light Artillery, and the infantry companies of the Holcombe Legion. Later the 26th Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers joined the unit. The troops numbered
Download or read book A Gunner in Lee s Army written by Thomas Henry Carter and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2014 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gunner in Lee's Army: The Civil War Letters of Thomas Henry Carter
Download or read book Shock Troops of the Confederacy The Sharpshooter Battalions of the Army of Northern Virginia written by Fred L. Ray and published by . This book was released on 2006-03 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term sharpshooter had a more general meaning in the mid-19th Century than it does today. Then it could mean either a roving precision shooter like the modern sniper (a term that did not come into use until late in the century) or a light infantryman who specialized in the petite guerre: scouting, picketing, and skirmishing. The modern sharpshooter (the term comes from the German scharfschutzen, not the use of Sharps rifles) appeared in Central Europe around 1700. At the beginning of the Civil War, thanks to Hiram Berdan, the Army of the Potomac had a definite advantage in sharpshooting and light infantry, and this came as a rude shock to the Confederates during the 1862 Peninsular campaign. In response the Confederates organized their own sharpshooters, beginning with those of an obscure Alabama colonel, Bristor Gayle. Confederate general Robert Rodes organized the first battalion of sharpshooters in his brigade in early 1863, and later in each brigade of his division. In early 1864 General Lee adopted the concept for the entire Army of Northern Virginia, mandating that each infantry brigade field a sharpshooter battalion. These units found ready employment in the Overland campaign, and later in the trenches of Petersburg and in the fast-moving Shenandoah campaign of 1864. Although little has been written about them (the last book, written by a former sharpshooter, appeared in 1899), they played an important and sometimes pivotal role in many battles and campaigns in 1864 and 1865. By the end of the war the sharpshooters were experimenting with tactics that would become standard practice fifty years later. Although most people think of Berdan's Sharpshooters when the subject comes up, the Confederate sharpshooter battalions had a far greater effect on the outcome of the conflict. Later in the war, in response to the Confederate dominance of the skirmish line, the Federals began to organize their own sharpshooter units at division level, though they never adopted an army-wide system. Making extensive use of unpublished source material, author Fred Ray has written Shock Troops of the Confederacy, which tells the complete story of the development of the Army of Northern Virginia's sharpshooter battalions, the weapons they used, how they trained with them, and their tactical use on the battlefield. It also tells the human story of the sharpshooters themselves, who describe in their own words what it was like to be in the thick of battle, on the skirmish line, and at their lonely picket posts.
Download or read book Take Sides with the Truth written by John Mosby and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2010-09-12 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Civil War, John Singleton Mosby led the Forty-third Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, better known as Mosby’s Rangers, in bold and daring operations behind Union lines. Throughout the course of the war, more than 2000 men were members of Mosby’s command, some for only a short time. Mosby had few confidants (he was described by one acquaintance as “a disturbing companion”) but became close friends with one of his finest officers, Samuel Forrer Chapman. Chapman served with Mosby for more than two years, and their friendship continued in the decades after the war. Take Sides with the Truth is a collection of more than eighty letters, published for the first time in their entirety, written by Mosby to Chapman from 1880, when Mosby was made U.S. consul to Hong Kong, until his death in a Washington, D.C., hospital in 1916. These letters reveal much about Mosby’s character and present his innermost thoughts on many subjects. At times, Mosby’s letters show a man with a sensitive nature; however, he could also be sarcastic and freely derided individuals he did not like. His letters are critical of General Robert E. Lee’s staff officers (“there was a lying concert between them”) and trace his decades-long crusade to clear the name of his friend and mentor J. E. B. Stuart in the Gettysburg campaign. Mosby also continuously asserts his belief that slavery was the cause of the Civil War—a view completely contrary to a major portion of the Lost Cause ideology. For him, it was more important to “take sides with the Truth” than to hold popular opinions. Peter A. Brown has brought together a valuable collection of correspondence that adds a new dimension to our understanding of a significant Civil War figure.
Download or read book They Fought Like Demons written by DeAnne Blanton and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2002-09-01 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Popular images of women during the American Civil War include self-sacrificing nurses, romantic spies, and brave ladies maintaining hearth and home in the absence of their men. However, as DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook show in their remarkable new study, that conventional picture does not tell the entire story. Hundreds of women assumed male aliases, disguised themselves in men’s uniforms, and charged into battle as Union and Confederate soldiers—facing down not only the guns of the adversary but also the gender prejudices of society. They Fought Like Demons is the first book to fully explore and explain these women, their experiences as combatants, and the controversial issues surrounding their military service. Relying on more than a decade of research in primary sources, Blanton and Cook document over 240 women in uniform and find that their reasons for fighting mirrored those of men—-patriotism, honor, heritage, and a desire for excitement. Some enlisted to remain with husbands or brothers, while others had dressed as men before the war. Some so enjoyed being freed from traditional women’s roles that they continued their masquerade well after 1865. The authors describe how Yankee and Rebel women soldiers eluded detection, some for many years, and even merited promotion. Their comrades often did not discover the deception until the “young boy” in their company was wounded, killed, or gave birth. In addition to examining the details of everyday military life and the harsh challenges of -warfare for these women—which included injury, capture, and imprisonment—Blanton and Cook discuss the female warrior as an icon in nineteenth-century popular culture and why twentieth-century historians and society ignored women soldiers’ contributions. Shattering the negative assumptions long held about Civil War distaff soldiers, this sophisticated and dynamic work sheds much-needed light on an unusual and overlooked facet of the Civil War experience.
Download or read book Staff Ride Handbook for the Overland Campaign Virginia 4 May to 15 June 1864 A Study in Operational Level Command written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Civil War Weather in Virginia written by Robert K. Krick and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Civil War Weather in Virginia fills a tremendous gap in our available knowledge in a fundamental area of Civil War studies, that of basic quotidian information on the weather in the theater of operations in the vicinity of Washington, DC, and Richmond, Virginia.
Download or read book Gone with the Glory written by Brian Steel Wills and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2011 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Birth of a Nation to Cold Mountain, Hollywood has used the Civil War to create compelling cinema with each generation resolving the tug of war between entertainment value and historical accuracy differently. Wills looks at the portrayal of the war in film, explores their accuracy, how the films influenced each other, and how they reflect America's changing understandings of the conflict and of the nation.
