The Emancipation Proclamation, widely remembered as the heroic act that ended slavery, in fact freed slaves only in states in the rebellious South. True emancipation was accomplished over a longer period and by several means. Essays by eight disting…
From the acclaimed Civil War historian, a brilliant new history-the most intimate and richly readable account we have had-of the climactic three-day battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863), which draws the reader into the heat, smoke, and grime of Get…
When Union and Confederate forces squared off along Bull Run on July 21, 1861, the Federals expected this first major military campaign would bring an early end to the Civil War. But when Confederate troops launched a strong counterattack, both side…
In his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln declared that as president he would "have no lawful right" to interfere with the institution of slavery. Yet less than two years later, he issued a proclamation intended to free all slaves throughout t…
In 1862, looking for an opportunity to attack Union general John Pope, Confederate general Robert E. Lee ordered Maj. Gen. James Longstreet to conduct a reconnaissance and possible assault on the Chinn Ridge front in Northern Virginia. At the time L…
Robert E. Lee at War is a multi-volume study sure to become an indispensable account of Lee's war years. The focus of the series is to evaluate, as never done before, Lee's tenure as army commander, and to capture him as never before through ground-…
Johnston ably demonstrates the major contribution of captured Virginia railroads to the ever-increasing prowess of the northern armies in the state and also describes the new techniques of warfare introduced by the Confederates, beginning with their…
Following the suggestion of the historian Peter Parish, these essays probe "the edges" of slavery and the sectional conflict. The authors seek to recover forgotten stories, exceptional cases and contested identities to reveal the forces that shaped…
As many as 9,500 men of Hispanic heritage fought in the United States' Civil War. In Texas, the bitter conflict deeply divided the Tejanos-Texans of Mexican heritage. An estimated 2,500 fought in the ranks of the Confederacy while 950, including som…
A War of Words analyzes Jefferson Davis's public discourse, arguing that throughout his time as president of the Confederacy, Davis settled for short-term rhetorical successes at the expense of creating more substantive and meaningful messages for h…
Earthen Walls, Iron Men tells the story of Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, a major Confederate fortification that defended the lower Red River in 1863-64 during the last stages of the Civil War. Long regarded as little more than a footnote by historians, t…
The rehearsal for the March to the Sea. With the fall of Vicksburg to Union forces in mid-1863, the Federals began work to extend and consolidate their hold on the lower Mississippi Valley. As a part of this plan, Major General William Tecumseh Sher…
Unlike most books about the Civil War, which deal with individual battles or the war at the national level, States at War: A Reference Guide for Michigan in the Civil War chronicles the actions of an individual state government and its citizenry cop…
When the Civil War began, Northern soldiers and civilians alike sought a framework to help make sense of the chaos that confronted them. Many turned first to the classic European military texts from the Napoleonic era, especially Antoine Henri Jomin…
Before the heroic stand of the 20th Maine at Little Round Top, the 2nd and 20th Georgia infantries, led by Brig. Gen. Robert Toombs, held off a veritable Yankee juggernaut and triumphed at Burnside's Bridge on Antietam Creek in 1862. This detailed a…
Mary Lincoln is a lightning rod for controversy. Stories reveal widely different interpretations, and it is impossible to write a definitive version of her life that will suit everyone. The thirteen engaging essays in this collection introduce Mary…
A study of Grant's and Lee's battles in the weeks before the 1864 electionIn the fall of 1864, the Civil War's outcome rested largely on Abraham Lincoln's success in the upcoming presidential election. As the contest approached, cautious optimism bu…
This is the first full-length biography of the Civil War general who saved the Union army from catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga, and went on to play major roles in the Chattanooga and Mobile campaigns. Immediately after the war, as c…
Where to find every monument and tablet on the Gettysburg Battlefield--over 800 in all--organized by state, military unit, person, or armyPhotos and descriptions of each monument, with information on who is being honored and what they did during the…
"Clear out the Shenandoah Valley "clean and clear," Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant ordered, in the late summer of 1864.His man for the job: Major General"Little Phil" Sheridan, the bandy-legged Irishman who'd proven himself just the kind of…
"West Virginia was the child of the storm," concluded early Mountaineer historian and Civil War veteran, Maj. Theodore F. Lang. The northwestern third of the Commonwealth of Virginia finally broke away in 1863 to form the Union's 35th state. In Sece…
This is volume thirteen of the sixteen-volume series about the Army and the Navy in the Civil War.
The only Confederate ship to circumnavigate the globe. The Confederate cruiser Shenandoah was the last of a group of commerce raiders deployed to prey on Union merchant ships. Ordered to the Pacific Ocean to ""greatly damage and disperse"" the Yanke…
Previous works on Confederate brigadier general Harry T. Hays's First Louisiana Brigade -- better known as the ""Louisiana Tigers"" -- have tended to focus on just one day of the Tigers' service -- their role in attacking East Cemetery Hill at Getty…
Groce offers a gracefully written, impressively researched narrative account of the experience of East Tennessee Confederates during the Civil War era. His analysis raises provocative questions about the socioeconomic foundations of Civil War sympat…
Of the more than seventy sites associated with the Civil War era that the National Park Service manages, none hold more national appeal and recognition than Gettysburg National Military Park. Welcoming more than one million visitors annually from ac…
One of the Confederacy's most loyal adherents and articulate advocates was Lieutenant Grant James Longstreet's aide-de-camp, Thomas Jewett Goree. Present at Longstreet's headquarters and party to the counsels of Robert E. Lee and his lieutenants, Go…
Radical Reform describes a remarkable chapter in the American pro-democracy movement. It portrays the largely unknown leaders of the interracial Republican Party who struggled for political, civil, and labor rights in North Carolina after the Civil…
