Showing titles in American Civil War

"Service With the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers: Four Years with the Iron Brigade" is a compelling memoir penned by Rufus R. Dawes, offering a vivid portrayal of his experiences as a soldier during the American Civil War.

Winfield Scott Hancock was an intimidating figure who impressed friends, foes, and fellow generals alike. Known as Hancock the Superb after McClellan described his performance as such during the Battle of Williamsburg in the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, Hancock eventually rose to become the Army of the Potomac's greatest corps commander. Though his reputation and legacy gradually faded over time, Hancock was one of the North's foremost war heroes by the end of the war, and he nearly became president in 1880.

Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War, marveling at the size of the battles, the leadership of the generals, and the courage of the soldiers. The North managed to have spectacular success jointly coordinating operations between the Army and Navy, thanks in large measure to the leadership of officers like David Farragut. While generals like Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman received the lion’s share of the credit for Union victories, naval forces were instrumental, and Farragut was immediately recognized for his service.

Beginning as a green new recruit with no fanfare, no uniform, and only the bare necessities, Joseph became a seasoned soldier, at times living by his wits and off the land. Joseph recounts, in harrowing detail, his confrontations with the enemy and numerous narrow escapes. There was more than one occasion when Joseph felt that divine providence had not only saved him personally, but had guided the war, as well.

The Heroes History Forgot: Southern Officers Who Kept Their Oath to the Constitution When Virginia seceded in April 1861, Colonel Robert E. Lee faced an agonizing choice: accept command of the Union army or follow his state into rebellion. He chose Virginia and broke his oath to the Constitution. On the same day, another Virginian made a different choice. Winfield Scott, the 74-year-old commanding general of the Army, remained loyal to the oath he had taken 50 years earlier. "I have served my country under the flag of the Union for more than fifty years," Scott said, "and so long as God ...

As the Confederacy felt itself slipping beneath the Union juggernaut in late 1864, the South launched a desperate counteroffensive to shatter the U.S. economy and force a standoff. Its secret weapon? A state-of-the-art raiding ship whose mission was to prowl the world’s oceans and sink the U.S...

New York Times bestselling author Sally Jenkins and distinguished Harvard professor John Stauffer mine a nearly forgotten piece of Civil War history and strike gold in this surprising account of the only Southern county to secede from the Confederacy. The State of Jones is a true story about the...

Despite the fact that the Civil War was fought nearly 150 years ago, it remains a polarizing topic for the country to this day, and Americans continue to debate who the greatest generals of the war were, arguing the pros and cons and battle records of the men who fought. Although Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and JEB Stuart have long been the most celebrated men of the South, in April 1861, the man of the hour was P.G.T. Beauregard, the South’s hero of Fort Sumter.

During the Civil War his movements from battlefield to battlefield were followed in the North and in the South nearly as closely as those of generals, though he was not in the military. After the war, his swift response to Ku Klux Klan violence sparked passage of a landmark civil rights law, though he was not a politician. When he died newspapers reported his death from coast to coast, yet he's unknown today. He was the man who delivered the most valuable ingredient in United States soldiers' fighting spirit during those terrible war years—letters between the front lines and the home front. 

A stirring collection of first-hand accounts from Privates on up to the commanding Generals at the Battle of Gettysburg woven into a dramatic and compelling narrative. The reader is transported back to the chaos and uncertainty of the sweltering first three days of July 1863 when Lee's Army of Northern Virginia invaded the North threatening Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington itself.

Born to wealth that the Civil War ravaged, held captive by renegade Comanche, and rejected by family and friends, Mary Elizabeth (“Libby”) Haley ran away from home at the age of 14. Libby learned to navigate the dangerous and volatile Old West and made a name for herself as Squirrel Tooth Alice. Given her moniker because of a gap in her front teeth and her passion for raising ground squirrels as pets, Libby made the best of a difficult situation.

Personalities. Characters. History. John C. Waugh, the author of the popular and award-winning The Class of 1846, presents forty of the most memorable and impactful individuals he has come across during his three decades of researching and writing about the American Civil War—or as he calls them, his “Unforgettables” in the aptly titled, Unforgettables: Winners, Losers, Strong Women, and Eccentric Men of the Civil War Era.

Much of it is outright lies and balderdash. For example, Napoleon looked at history as “a set of lies agreed upon.” Does it matter that he stole most of that line from Voltaire, who suggested, “History is a lie commonly agreed upon?” George Santayana harbored significant doubts about the entire field, telling friends, “History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.”

It’s 1861 and Searcy County, Arkansas, is divided by the Civil War. One man, David Crockett Ruff, has some hard choices. The godson of David Crockett and cousin to the famous cattle driver Charles Goodnight, he wants to fight. But how can he? His state sides with slavery, yet joining the Union means fighting against neighbors, friends, and family. So he chooses peace. When state officials discover he won’t fight, they send out the militia to arrest him and his fellow Peace Society members.

Boomer: In the Theater of Fearful Tragedies is a nonfiction account of the life of Colonel George B. Boomer, a little-known bridge builder and combat veteran who served in the Civil War of the United States. He was the son of a Baptist minister from Sutton, Massachusetts, who struggled with his Christian faith while searching for God's plan for his life. While his formal education was limited by a youthful disability of the eyes, he became a self-taught master bridge builder who learned to speak multiple languages while living in the state of Missouri.

From Soldier to Statesman: The Relentless Rise of Ulysses S. Grant by Jasmine Dyggan is a sweeping, deeply human portrait of one of America’s most misunderstood heroes — a man whose quiet strength, humility, and perseverance reshaped a nation. From humble beginnings in rural Ohio to the highest office in the land, Grant’s journey was marked not by privilege or ambition, but by endurance and integrity.

A young Canadian woman escapes her abusive father by disguising herself as a man and seeking refuge in the United States, a country about to be torn apart by civil war. Though able to claim neutrality as a foreigner, she finds it impossible to turn her back on an enslaved people and risks everything to continue her masquerade and join the fight to free them. As a Union soldier, she learns that neither the constant fear of being unmasked nor the danger she faces under fire can compare to the unrelenting peril she must endure as a spy behind Confederate lines. But when her lover is captured ...

Blood, gunfire, and whiskey: they are the three things that defined Civil War battlefields. In this fascinating, booze-drenched history of the war that almost tore America apart, historian Mark Will-Weber (author of Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt) weaves together lighthearted stories of drunken generals and out-of-control soldiers with the gritty reality of battlefields where whiskey was the only medicine - and sometimes the only food.

Every day, for the last four years of Whitman’s life, Traubel visited his friend and mentor in his small home in Camden, New Jersey. There, in his seventies, the great poet sat in his rocking chair, partially paralyzed, surrounded by a sea of papers, looking back over his life and accepting his quickly approaching death.

Nelson Appleton Miles (1839 - 1925) was an American military general. From 1895 to 1903, he served as the last commanding general of the United States Army before the office was abolished. The 1911 autobiography of General Miles is titled Serving the Republic, and chronicles his career as a soldier. He participated in many of the battles of the Civil War as a volunteer and afterwards took part as a commander in most of the Indian campaigns on the Western plains. His final service was in the Spanish-American War.