Download or read book A Wisconsin Boy in Dixie written by James King Newton and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Unlike many of his fellows, [James Newton] was knowledgeable, intuitive, and literate; like many of his fellows he was cast into the role of soldier at only eighteen years of age. He was polished enough to write drumhead and firelight letters of fine literary style. It did not take long for this farm boy turned private to discover the grand design of the conflict in which he was engaged, something which many of the officers leading the armies never did discover."--Victor Hicken, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society "When I wrote to you last I was at Madison with no prospect of leaving very soon, but I got away sooner than I expected to." So wrote James Newton upon leaving Camp Randall for Vicksburg in 1863 with the Fourteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Newton, who had been a rural schoolteacher before he joined the Union army in 1861, wrote to his parents of his experiences at Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, on the Red River, in Missouri, at Nashville, at Mobile, and as a prisoner of war. His letters, selected and edited by noted historian Stephen E. Ambrose, reveal Newton as a young man who matured in the war, rising in rank from private to lieutenant. A Wisconsin Boy in Dixie reveals Newton as a young man who grew to maturity through his Civil War experience, rising in rank from private to lieutenant. Writing soberly about the less attractive aspects of army life, Newton's comments on fraternizing with the Rebs, on officers, and on discipline are touched with a sense of humor--"a soldier's best friend," he claimed. He also became sensitive to the importance of political choices. After giving Lincoln the first vote he had ever cast, Newton wrote: "In doing so I felt that I was doing my country as much service as I have ever done on the field of battle."

Download or read book The Vicksburg Campaign written by Ulysses S. Grant and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-11-20 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 19th century, one of the surest ways to rise to prominence in American society was to be a war hero, like Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison. But few would have predicted such a destiny for Hiram Ulysses Grant, who had been a career soldier with little experience in combat and a failed businessman when the Civil War broke out in 1861. However, while all eyes were fixed on the Eastern theater at places like Manassas, Richmond, the Shenandoah Valley and Antietam, Grant went about a steady rise up the ranks through a series of successes in the West. His victory at Fort Donelson, in which his terms to the doomed Confederate garrison earned him the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant, could be considered the first major Union victory of the war, and Grant's fame and rank only grew after that at battlefields like Shiloh and Vicksburg. Along the way, Grant nearly fell prey to military politics and the belief that he was at fault for the near defeat at Shiloh, but President Lincoln famously defended him, remarking, "I can't spare this man. He fights." Lincoln's steadfastness ensured that Grant's victories out West continued to pile up, and after Vicksburg and Chattanooga, Grant had effectively ensured Union control of the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as the entire Mississippi River. At the beginning of 1864, Lincoln put him in charge of all federal armies, and he led the Army of the Potomac against Robert E. Lee in the Overland campaign, the siege of Petersburg, and famously, the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. Although Grant was instrumental in winning the war and eventually parlayed his fame into two terms in the White House, his legacy and accomplishments are still the subjects of heavy debate today. His presidency is remembered mostly due to rampant fraud within his Administration, although he was never personally accused of wrongdoing, and even his victories in the Civil War have been countered by charges that he was a butcher. Like the other American Legends, much of Grant's personal life has been eclipsed by the momentous battles and events in which he participated, from Fort Donelson to the White House.

Download or read book Vicksburg written by Donald L. Miller and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Civil War Round Table of New York’s Fletcher Pratt Literary Award Winner of the Austin Civil War Round Table’s Daniel M. & Marilyn W. Laney Book Prize Winner of an Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award “A superb account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the longest and most decisive military campaign of the Civil War in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which opened the Mississippi River, split the Confederacy, freed tens of thousands of slaves, and made Ulysses S. Grant the most important general of the war. Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the last stronghold of the Confederacy on the Mississippi River. It prevented the Union from using the river for shipping between the Union-controlled Midwest and New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The Union navy tried to take Vicksburg, which sat on a high bluff overlooking the river, but couldn’t do it. It took Grant’s army and Admiral David Porter’s navy to successfully invade Mississippi and lay siege to Vicksburg, forcing the city to surrender. In this “elegant…enlightening…well-researched and well-told” (Publishers Weekly) work, Donald L. Miller tells the full story of this year-long campaign to win the city “with probing intelligence and irresistible passion” (Booklist). He brings to life all the drama, characters, and significance of Vicksburg, a historic moment that rivals any war story in history. In the course of the campaign, tens of thousands of slaves fled to the Union lines, where more than twenty thousand became soldiers, while others seized the plantations they had been forced to work on, destroying the economy of a large part of Mississippi and creating a social revolution. With Vicksburg “Miller has produced a model work that ties together military and social history” (Civil War Times). Vicksburg solidified Grant’s reputation as the Union’s most capable general. Today no general would ever be permitted to fail as often as Grant did, but ultimately he succeeded in what he himself called the most important battle of the war—the one that all but sealed the fate of the Confederacy.

Download or read book My Vicksburg written by Ann Rinaldi and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2009 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Claire Louise Corbett and her Confederate family flee their home as Union soldiers shell their town of Vicksburg, Mississippi. They venture out from the safety of a cave only three times a day, when the Union army takes their meals at eight in the morning, noon, and eight at night. Although many of the townspeople suffer from a lack of food, the Corbetts receive extra rations from Claire Louise's brother, Landon, a doctor with the Union army. When Claire Louise discovers her brother tendingto a Confederate soldier who is responsible for Robert E. Lee's "lost order" (causing the South to lose the Battle of Antietam), she is forced to make a difficult choice between family and friends. Award-winning historical novelist Ann Rinaldi paints a story of family, courage, and secrets during the forty-seven-day siege of Vicksburg, a battle that has sometimes been ignored in history because it ended the same day as the Battle of Gettysburg.

Download or read book Old Abe the War Eagle written by Richard Zeitlin and published by . This book was released on 1986-12-15 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intro -- Title Page -- Dedication Page -- Copyright Page -- Preface -- 1 - Old Abe and the Coming of the War -- 2 - Meet the Eighth Wisconsin -- 3 - The Making of Soldiers -- 4 - To the Front -- 5 - The Valley of the Mississippi -- 6 - The Eagle Regiment -- 7 - The Battle of Corinth -- 8 - Opening the Mississippi -- 9 - The Vicksburg Campaign -- 10 - Used Up: The Siege of Vicksburg -- 11 - Camped Among the Pines -- 12 - On the Move -- 13 - The Price of Cotton -- 14 - The Battle for Furlough -- 15 - After the Devil -- 16 - Jackass Cavalry -- 17 - Nashville -- 18 - Denouement -- 19 - In Tangel's Feature -- 20 - Bloody Shirt Politics -- 21 - Centennial -- 22- Old Abe at Peace -- Notes -- Bibliography

Download or read book Such Anxious Hours written by Jo Ann Daly Carr and published by University of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Letters from soldiers to their families often provide prominent narratives of the Civil War. But what about the messages from the women who maintained homes and farmsteads alone, all while providing significant emotional support to their loved ones at the front? The letters and diaries of these eight women echo the ever-growing horrors of the conflict and reveal the stories of the Wisconsin home front. Twenty-one-year-old Emily Quiner sought a way to join the war effort that would feed her heart and mind. Annie Cox wrote to her pro-slavery fiancé to staunchly defend her abolitionist principles. Sisters Susan Brown and Ann Waldo faced the unexpected devastation that each battle brought to families. In Such Anxious Hours, Jo Ann Daly Carr places this material in historical context, detailing what was happening simultaneously in the nation, state, and local communities. Civil War history enthusiasts will appreciate these enlightening perspectives that demonstrate the variety of experiences in the Midwest during the bloody conflict.

Download or read book Vicksburg 1863 written by Winston Groom and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-04-20 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this thrilling narrative history of the Civil War’s most strategically important campaign, Winston Groom describes the bloody two-year grind that started when Ulysses S. Grant began taking a series of Confederate strongholds in 1861, climaxing with the siege of Vicksburg two years later. For Grant and the Union it was a crucial success that captured the Mississippi River, divided the South in half, and set the stage for eventual victory. Vicksburg, 1863 brings the battles and the protagonists of this struggle to life: we see Grant in all his grim determination, Sherman with his feistiness and talent for war, and Confederate leaders from Jefferson Davis to Joe Johnston to John Pemberton. It is an epic account by a masterful writer and historian.

Download or read book Wisconsin Soldiers and Sailors Reunion Roster written by Wisconsin Soldiers Reunion Association and published by . This book was released on 1880 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Chain of Thunder written by Jeff Shaara and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Continuing the series that began with A Blaze of Glory, Jeff Shaara returns to chronicle another decisive chapter in America’s long and bloody Civil War. In A Chain of Thunder, the action shifts to the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. There, in the vaunted “Gibraltar of the Confederacy,” a siege for the ages will cement the reputation of one Union general—and all but seal the fate of the rebel cause. In May 1863, after months of hard and bitter combat, Union troops under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant at long last successfully cross the Mississippi River. They force the remnants of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton’s army to retreat to Vicksburg, burning the bridges over the Big Black River in its path. But after sustaining heavy casualties in two failed assaults against the rebels, Union soldiers are losing confidence and morale is low. Grant reluctantly decides to lay siege to the city, trapping soldiers and civilians alike inside an iron ring of Federal entrenchments. Six weeks later, the starving and destitute Southerners finally surrender, yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces on July 4—Independence Day—and marking a crucial turning point in the Civil War. Drawing on comprehensive research and his own intimate knowledge of the Vicksburg Campaign, Jeff Shaara once again weaves brilliant fiction out of the ragged cloth of historical fact. From the command tents where generals plot strategy to the ruined mansions where beleaguered citizens huddle for safety, this is a panoramic portrait of men and women whose lives are forever altered by the siege. On one side stand the emerging legend Grant, his irascible second William T. Sherman, and the youthful “grunt” Private Fritz Bauer; on the other, the Confederate commanders Pemberton and Joseph Johnston, as well as nineteen-year-old Lucy Spence, a civilian doing her best to survive in the besieged city. By giving voice to their experiences at Vicksburg, A Chain of Thunder vividly evokes a battle whose outcome still reverberates more than 150 years after the cannons fell silent. Praise for A Chain of Thunder “[Jeff] Shaara continues to draw powerful novels from the bloody history of the Civil War. . . . The dialogue intrigues. Shaara aptly reveals the main actors: Grant, stoic, driven, not given to micromanagement; Sherman, anxious, high-strung, engaged even when doubting Grant’s strategy. . . . Worth a Civil War buff’s attention.”—Kirkus Reviews “Searing . . . Shaara seamlessly interweaves multiple points of view, as the plot is driven by a stellar cast of real-life and fictional characters coping with the pivotal crisis. . . . [A] riveting fictional narrative.”—Booklist “Shaara’s historical accuracy is faultless, and he tells a good story. . . . The voices of these people come across to the reader as poignantly as they did 150 years ago.”—Historical Novels Review “The writing is picturesque and vibrant. . . . [an] engrossing tale.”—Bookreporter

Download or read book Old Abe the War Eagle written by Richard Zeitlin and published by Wisconsin Historical Society. This book was released on 2013-01-10 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Old Abe, the bald eagle that became the mascot of the Eighth Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. It is also the story of the men among whom Old Abe lived: the farmers, loggers, clerks, and immigrants who flocked to the colors in 1861. Reissued in 2012 with a new cover.

Download or read book Loess Deposits of Mississippi written by E. L. Krinitzsky and published by Geological Society of America. This book was released on 1967 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Era of the Civil War 1820 1876 written by US Army Military History Research Collection and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 604 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Original Vicksburg National Military Park and Vicinity written by David B. Dumas and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2016-12-14 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vicksburg National Military Park as it exists today is about two-thirds the size of the original park. The book describes the park as it was when the park was created. The book contains the name and location of markers and monuments that are currently located in the park. The book contains a brief history of the park, early photographs, descriptions, and styles of state markers and monuments. There are early maps of the park showing all the trenches and approaches. This book will give the park visitor far more insight as to the locations of all the markers that were associated with the park.

Download or read book A Narrative of Service with the Third Wisconsin Infantry written by Julian Wisner Hinkley and published by . This book was released on 1912 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is believed that the author was a member of the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment which served during the U.S. Civil War.

Download or read book The Era of the Civil War 1820 1876 written by Louise A. Arnold-Friend and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 724 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

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.”

Download or read book Make Way for Liberty written by Jeff Kannel and published by Wisconsin Historical Society. This book was released on 2020-10-09 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hundreds of African American soldiers and regimental employees represented Wisconsin in the Civil War, and many of them lived in the state either before or after the conflict. And yet, if these individuals are mentioned at all in histories of the state, it is with a sentence or two about their small numbers, or the belief that they all were from slaveholding states and served as substitutes for Wisconsin draftees. Relative to the total number of Badgers who served in the Civil War, African Americans soldiers were few, but they constituted a significant number in at least five regiments of the United States Colored Infantry and several other companies. Their lives before and after the war in rural communities, small towns, and cities form an enlightening story of acceptance and respect for their service but rejection and discrimination based on their race. Make Way for Liberty will bring clarity to the questions of how many African Americans represented Wisconsin during the conflict, who among them lived in the state before and after the war, and their impact on their communities