"The time has come now," Abraham Lincoln told his cabinet as he presented the preliminary draft of a "Proclamation of Emancipation." Lincoln's effort to end slavery has been controversial from its inception-when it was denounced by some as an unconstitutional usurpation and by others as an inadequate half-measure-up to the present, as historians have discounted its import and impact. At the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, Louis Masur seeks to restore the document's reputation by exploring its evolution. Lincoln's Hundred Days is the first book to tell the full story of the critical period between September 22, 1862, when Lincoln issued his preliminary Proclamation, and January 1, 1863, when he signed the final, significantly altered, decree. In those tumultuous hundred days, as battlefield deaths mounted, debate raged. Masur commands vast primary sources to portray the daily struggles and enormous consequences of the president's efforts as Lincoln led a nation through war and toward emancipation. With his deadline looming, Lincoln hesitated and calculated, frustrating friends and foes alike, as he reckoned with the anxieties and expectations of millions. We hear these concerns, from poets, cabinet members and foreign officials, from enlisted men on the front and free blacks as well as slaves. Masur presents a fresh portrait of Lincoln as a complex figure who worried about, listened to, debated, prayed for, and even joked with his country, and then followed his conviction in directing America toward a terrifying and thrilling unknown.

This highly original work explores a previously unknown financial conspiracy at the start of the American Civil War. The book explains the reasons for the puzzling intensity of Missouri's guerrilla conflict, and for the state's anomalous experience in Reconstruction. In the broader history of the war, the book reveals for the first time the nature of military mobilization in the antebellum United States.

John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers of our nation and its second president, spent nearly the last third of his life in retirement grappling with contradictory views of his place in history and fearing his reputation would not fare well in the generations after his death. In an incomplete autobiography, and in numerous publications and voluminous correspondence with Thomas Jefferson and many others, he argued and railed against those who disagreed with him or made little of his contribution to our country's political foundations. And indeed, future generations did slight him, elevating Jefferson and Madison to lofty heights with Washington while Adams remained way back in the second tier. Now, in a witty, clear, and thoughtful narrative of Adams's later life at his home in Quincy, Joseph Ellis explores the mind and personality of the man as well as the earlier events that shaped his thinking. Readers will discover Adams to be both contentious and lovable, generous and petty, and the most intellectually profound of the revolutionary generation, a man who may have contributed to the earlier underestimates of his role in history, and whose perspective on America's prospects has relevance for us today.

Alan T. Nolan is one of our most esteemed historians of the Civil War. His classic history The Iron Brigade was chosen as one of the "100 best books ever written on the Civil War" by Civil War Times Illustrated. His articles have appeared in such publications as The American Historical Review, Gettysburg Magazine, Civil War, Civil War Times Illustrated, Indiana Magazine of History, and Virginia Magazine of History and Biography and he has been awarded the Nevins-Freeman award by the Chicago Civil War Round Table. Nolan is not the typical Civil-War historian. That he is a top-notch historian, no one can deny. But his legal training at Harvard, his career in the law, and his many years as an officer of the Indiana Historical Society have given him remarkable insights not imaginable by other historians. This new collection of previously published material celebrates Nolan's life-long research and study of the Civil War. Included are essays on the Iron Brigade, Gettysburg, and leaders such as Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, John Gibbon, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Central to all of the essays is Nolan's admiration for the valor of the common soldier and his conviction that the War was neither romantic nor glorious, though its results emancipation and the maintenance of the Union were surely monumental.

This book follows the 7th Tennessee Infantry Regiment from their May 1861 mustering-in to the war's final moments at Appomattox in April 1865. It is an intensely personal account based upon the Tennesseans' letters, journals, memoirs, official reports, personnel records, and family histories. It is a powerful account of courage and sacrifice. The men (a full roster is included) changed from exhilarated volunteers to battle-hardened veterans. They had eagerly rushed to join up, ""anxious to confront the enemy on the battle front."" Later, amid the grim realities, the Tennesseans stayed with their comrades and carried out their responsibilities. Rifleman Tom Holloway wrote, ""I went into this measure with the conviction that it was my imperative duty."" Eventually, as the war destroyed the Tennesseans, Lt. Ferguson Harris wrote simply, ""I wonder who will be the last of us to go?

Virginians at War is the tale of seven Virginians who strongly supported the Confederacy from beginning to end. Their stories illustrate how devotion to the "cause" of independence, religious faith, family and community commitment to the struggle, and shared sacrifices tied these people to the flagging fortunes of the Confederacy. Included here are stories of both men and women, on the battlefield and on the homefront. John G. Selby describes in vivid prose their seven intriguing lives based on their diary entries, letters, and memoirs. Through the lives of these men and women, readers will come to understand what the war meant to those who fought and survived it. About the Author Dr. John G. Selby is the recipient of numerous awards and honors for his work in American and world history. In his twenty-two year career, he has taught on modern America, the Civil War, the Vietnam War, modern Middle East, and world history. He is currently professor of history at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia.

This is a documentary work offering a first-person account of a Union soldier's daily adversity while a prisoner of war from 20 September 1863 to 4 June 1865. In 1891, while a patient at the Leavenworth National Home, Irish immigrant Edward Glennan began to write down his experiences in vivid detail, describing the months of malnutrition, exposure, disease and self-doubt. The first six months Glennan was incarcerated at Libby and Danville prisons in Virginia. On 20 March 1864, Glennan entered Camp Sumter, located near Andersonville, Georgia. He reminisced about the events of his eight-month captivity at Andersonville, such as the hanging of the Raider Six, escape tunnels, gambling, trading, ration wagons, and disease. Afflicted with scurvy, Glennan nearly lost his ability to walk. To increase his chances for survival, he skillfully befriended other prisoners, sharing resources acquired through trade, theft and trickery. His friends left him either by parole or death. On 14 November 1864, Glennan was transported from Andersonville to Camp Parole in Maryland; there he remained until his discharge on 4 June 1865.

Richmond became the capital of the Confederacy when Virginia joined the Southern cause, marking the city as a prime target for the Union army. General McClellan was the first Union leader to lay siege to Richmond, and that was just the beginning. The attractive and genteel city of Richmond would be transformed into a refugee camp, a scene of riots, and a city-sized hospital before the war was over. Making use of diaries, letters, and newspaper accounts from the era, Wright brings readers face to face with the men and women who fought for the city, endured starvation, observed Lee's defeats and Grant's progress, and witnessed the Confederacy's last days.

Courage, perseverance, and dedication were hallmarks of the Civil War soldier. These qualities, along with their disarming humanness, have lent an enduring attraction to their story. In The Loyal, True, and Brave: America's Civil War Soldiers, readers will learn how the soldier's story has changed over the years, being told in different ways as passing generations introduced their own questions and interests. Steven Woodworth weaves together a variety of writings by historians and by Civil War soldiers themselves so that readers are presented with a lively, balanced picture of all the major aspects of the Civil War soldier's life. Woodworth presents the experiences of both Union and Confederate soldiers so readers gain equal perspective on the men who enlisted for North and South. The Loyal, True, and Brave contains detailed descriptions of every facet of the soldier's life, including enlistment, combat, hospitals, prison, and camp life. Included are writings by Civil War soldiers Abner R. Small, an officer in a Maine regiment; John C. Reed, a lawyer-planter from Georgia and member of the 8th Georgia; and German immigrant Johann Stuber of the 58th Ohio. Renowned historians Reid Mitchell, Bell I. Wiley, James M. McPherson, Earl J. Hess, and Gerald F. Linderman are also featured. Each chapter begins with an introduction by Woodworth, discussing the general topic of that chapter and the historiographical issues involved. These selections offer the best brief introduction available on Civil War soldiers and the historians who have written about them. The Loyal, True, and Brave is ideal for courses on the Civil War and Reconstruction, American nineteenth-century history, and American social and cultural history.

The 115th New York began its military career as part of the largest surrender of U.S. troops to take place before World War II and ended its career as part of the largest successful amphibious landings of U.S. troops before World War II. In between, it travelled a fighting odyssey through the American Civil War that is unique among Union regiments. Not only did it fight mainly in theatres and battles unknown to all but the most serious Civil War student, but it endured mass arrest and banishment by its own army and a cabal of its own officers against its commander. In earning distinction as one of ""Fox's Fighting 300"" Union regiments, the 115th fought in obscure campaigns along the Southern coast, joined briefly in the famous combat between Grant and Lee in Virginia, fought alongside African American units, witnessed the liberation of thousands of slaves and captured Union soldiers, and ended up campaigning with William T. Sherman's western army. The soldiers of the 115th New York were common men from Saratoga County, the Mohawk Valley, and Adirondack Mountain areas of New York State. In telling their story, author Mark Silo utilizes the words and recollections left by sixty-seven of these men, as well as vast amounts of source material regarding the events and battles they experienced. The result, states National Park Service historian John J. Hennessy, is ""Truly exceptional... a woven story that is both excellent history and engaging narrative - an important chronicle of common men on an uncommon quest for survival and triumph.

This book is a study of an important regiment in the Civil War overlooked by most historians. Unlike most regiments, which came from rural areas of the country, the 14th Brooklyn was taken from the city of Brooklyn in the State of New York. Having been a militia unit until the outbreak of the war, they were quickly mobilized and they served in most of the major battles in the East. Their bravery in battle was noted by both friends and enemies and certainly by the military leadership on both sides. The book tells of both the military and personal side of fighting; the soldiers' letters home show their homesickness as well as their willingness to endure whatever was necessary to preserve what they believed was right. It shows the relationship between the men of the regiment and the people of Brooklyn, who because they were a militia unit, provided some of their supplies rather than the Federal government. This was particularly true of their distinctive uniforms modeled after the French Chasseur uniforms with bright red pants. The 14th kept these uniforms even after the Federal government standardized the Union uniform to the blue with which we are all familiar.

First appearing in 1845 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, with its painfully vivid depiction of life in bondage, was both a bestseller in its day and one of the most powerful, authoritative texts lending support to the abolitionist movement. The author traces his life from an infant born into slavery and taken from his mother at birth, to a displaced child hungry for knowledge, to an abused and beaten laborer seeking freedom and a chance to marry the woman he loved. Offering bright, cameo glimpses into a world that should not be forgotten, Douglass chronicles both the cruel violence of a system that saw him as little more than livestock, and the brighter moments of success, of courageous support from friends and allies. Initially greeted by some with doubt that it could have been written by a black man and former slave, the book had a profound effect on American society, making the author something of a celebrity and his cause less an abstract ideal and more of an urgent human concern. Solemn, powerful and passionate The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is more than an important historical document-it is a personal account of striving for human freedom in a world where the author was regarded as neither free nor human. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is both modern and readable.

Elizabeth Keckley reveals the hardships of slavery and the changing political climate in Washington amongst the country's most powerful couple, Abraham and Mary Lincoln. Keckley had unprecedented access, giving insight into their state during and after the Civil War. Elizabeth Keckley was born into slavery and experienced a traumatic upbringing riddled with physical and sexual violence. One attack resulted in the birth of her son, whom she named George. Elizabeth was a gifted seamstress who used her skills to save money to buy her and her son's freedom. She ventured North and started a career as a dressmaker to influential women in political circles. One of her most notable clients was Mary Todd Lincoln, with whom she developed a close friendship. Behind the Scenes is a harrowing story of one woman's unshakable drive. Despite her limiting circumstances, Elizabeth Keckley earned her freedom and became a successful entrepreneur. It's an inspiring tale that provides a personal account of one of the most volatile times in American history. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Behind the Scenes is both modern and readable.

First appearing in 1845 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, with its painfully vivid depiction of life in bondage, was both a bestseller in its day and one of the most powerful, authoritative texts lending support to the abolitionist movement. The author traces his life from an infant born into slavery and taken from his mother at birth, to a displaced child hungry for knowledge, to an abused and beaten laborer seeking freedom and a chance to marry the woman he loved. Offering bright, cameo glimpses into a world that should not be forgotten, Douglass chronicles both the cruel violence of a system that saw him as little more than livestock, and the brighter moments of success, of courageous support from friends and allies. Initially greeted by some with doubt that it could have been written by a black man and former slave, the book had a profound effect on American society, making the author something of a celebrity and his cause less an abstract ideal and more of an urgent human concern. Solemn, powerful and passionate The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is more than an important historical document-it is a personal account of striving for human freedom in a world where the author was regarded as neither free nor human. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is both modern and readable.

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? (1852) is a novella by Frederick Douglass. Having escaped from slavery in the South at a young age, Frederick Douglass became a prominent orator and autobiographer who spearheaded the American abolitionist movement in the mid-nineteenth century. In this famous speech, published widely in pamphlet form after it was given to a meeting of the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society on July 5th, 1852, Douglass exposes the hypocrisy of America's claim to Christian and democratic ideals in spite of its legacy of enslavement. Personal and political, Douglass' speech helped inspire the burgeoning abolitionist movement, which fought tirelessly for emancipation in the decades leading up to the American Civil War. "What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?...What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim." Drawing upon his own experiences as an escaped slave, Douglass offers a critique of American independence from the perspective of those who had never been free within its borders. Hopeful and courageous, Douglass' voice remains an essential part of our history, reminding us time and again who we are, who we have been, and what we can be as a nation. While much of his radical message has been smoothed over through the passage of time, its revolutionary truth continues to resonate today. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Frederick Douglass' What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

"This fine volume leaps straight onto the roster of essential reading for anyone even vaguely interested in Grant and the Civil War. The book is deeply researched, but it introduces its scholarship with a light touch that never interferes with the reader's enjoyment of Grant's fluent narrative."-Ron Chernow, author of Grant Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs, sold door-to-door by former Union soldiers, were once as ubiquitous in American households as the Bible. Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, Henry James, and Edmund Wilson hailed them as great literature, and countless presidents, including Clinton and George W. Bush, credit Grant with influencing their own writing. Yet a judiciously annotated edition of these memoirs has never been produced until now. The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is the first comprehensively annotated edition of Grant's memoirs, clarifying the great military leader's thoughts on his life and times through the end of the Civil War and offering his invaluable perspective on battlefield decision making. An introduction contextualizes Grant's life and significance, and lucid editorial commentary allows his voice and narrative to shine through. With annotations compiled by the editors of the Ulysses S. Grant Association's Presidential Library, this definitive edition enriches our understanding of the pre-war years, the war with Mexico, and the Civil War. Grant provides essential insight into how rigorously these events tested America's democratic institutions and the cohesion of its social order. The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is a work of profound political, historical, and literary significance. This celebrated annotated edition will introduce a new generation of readers of all backgrounds to an American classic.

The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot: The Fort Stevens Story recounts the story of President Abraham Lincoln s role in the Battle of Fort Stevens in July 1864. This engagement stands apart in American history as the only time a sitting American president came under enemy fire while in office. In this new study of this overlooked moment in American history, Cooling poses a troubling question: What if Lincoln had been shot and killed during this short battle, nine months prior to his death by John Wilkes Booth s hand in Ford's Theater? A potential pivotal moment in the Civil War, the Battle of Fort Stevens could have changed with Lincoln's demise the course of American history. The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot, however, is more than a meditation on an alternate history of the United States. It is also a close study of the attempt by Confederate general Jubal Early to capture Washington, D.C., to remove Lincoln and the Union government from power, and to turn the tide of the Civil War in the South's favor. The dramatic events of this attempt to capture Washington and the president with it unfold in stunning detail as Cooling taps fresh documentary sources and offers a new interpretation of this story of the defense of the nation s capital. Commemorating this largely forgotten and under-appreciated chapter in the study of Lincoln and the Civil War, The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot is a fascinating look at this potential turning point in American history."

As the American Civil War recedes into the past, popular fascination continues to rise. Once a matter that chiefly concerned veterans, separately organized North and South, who gathered to refight old battles and to memorialize the heroes and victims of war, the Civil War has gradually become part of a collective heritage. Issues raised by the war, including its causes and consequences, reverberate through contemporary society. Family and community connections with the war exist everywhere, as do battlefields, memorials, and other physical reminders of the conflict. We, as Americans, are fascinated by the sheer magnitude of the war fought over thousands of miles of American soil and resulting in awesome casualties. It was a gigantic national drama enacted by people who seem both contemporary and remote. Here for the first time, leading Civil War scholars gather to sort out the fact and fiction of our collective memories. Contributors include Pulitzer Prize-winner Mark E. Neely, Jr., Alan T. Nolan, John Y. Simon, James I. 'Bud' Robertson, Jr., Gary W. Gallagher, Joseph T. Glatthaar, and Ervin L. Jordan, Jr.

This book is about previously unidentified people who became Abolitionists involved in the antislavery movement from about 1840 to 1860. Although arrests were made in surrounding counties, not one person was prosecuted for aiding a fugitive slave in DeKalb County. First, the area Congregational, Universalist, Presbyterian and Wesleyan Methodist churches all had compelling antislavery beliefs. Church members, county elected officials, and the Underground Railroad conductors and stationmasters were all one and the same. Additionally, DeKalb County had the highest concentration of subscriptions to the Chicago-based Western Citizen antislavery newspaper. It was an accepted local activity to help escaped slaves. An addendum to the book includes evidence and personal information for over 600 men and women, plus their families, who defied the prevailing Fugitive Slave Law, and helped the antislavery movement in this one Northern Illinois county. This book documents their strong religious motivations and chronicles their moves to seek political redress. Unique photos and illustrations add interest to the compelling story.

While fighting on land continues to hold center stage, recently much more attention has been focused on the Civil War at sea. And for good reason. Naval operations decided the outcome of the war as the North exploited its significant naval and maritime advantage to turn the war on land in its favor. In A Short History of the Civil War at Sea, Spencer C. Tucker, eminent naval and military historian and endowed chair at the Virginia Military Institute, provides a concise and lively overview of the "blue water" Civil War, or fighting on the seas and attacks directed from the sea. This volume covers the drama of significant naval battles, like the first clash of ironclads at Hampton Roads, the Union capture of New Orleans, fierce action in the Charleston Harbor, and the Battle of Mobile Bay. A Short History of the Civil War at Sea also discusses important themes, like the technological revolution in naval warfare; the impact of naval operations on U.S. and Confederate foreign relations; the Confederate use of torpedoes, submarines, and commerce raiders; and the Union's successful strategy of blockade. The struggle at sea might not have been as bloody as the fighting on land, but it was every bit as interesting and included a colorful cast of characters, like David G. Farragut, the North's highest ranking and most accomplished naval officer, and Confederate naval officer, commerce raider, and "Rebel Seadog" Raphael Semmes. And the advances of naval technology during the Civil War are fascinating-from the use of new Dahlgren guns to the design and redesign of the ironclads to the extensive use of mines and the development of submarines. Prof. Tucker covers it all in this new book, and his knowledge and skills as a storyteller shine. A Short History of the Civil War at Sea will entertain and inform students, scholars, and Civil War enthusiasts.

This book contains never before published information, including artillery firing tables, for an Indiana infantry regiment converted to heavy artillery. It concentrates upon these Hoosiers' three-and-a-half years of duty in the Trans-Mississippi Theater and Gulf states during the Civil War, often as a separate command. They acted as infantry, cavalry and light artillery (with captured cannons) before being converted to heavy artillery in 1863. Their cannons and artillery equipment were hauled by hundreds of mules. The regiment participated in the taking of New Orleans, securing an important rail link to Morgan City, Louisiana, the Teche Campaign, the siege and reduction of Port Hudson, the Red River Campaign, and sieges and reductions of Fort Gaines, Fort Morgan, Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, Alabama.

The South played a prominent role in early American history, and its position was certainly strong and proud except for the "peculiar institution" of slavery. Thus, it drew away from the rest of an expanding nation, and in 1861 declared secession and developed a Confederacy... that ultimately lost the war. Indeed, for some time it was occupied. Thus, the South has a very mixed legacy, with good and bad aspects, and sometimes the two of them mixed. Which only enhances the need for a careful and balanced approach. This can be found in the Historical Dictionary of the Old South, which first traces its history from colonial times to the end of the Civil War in a substantial chronology. Particularly interesting is the introduction, which analyzes the rise and the fall, the good and the bad, as well as the middling and indifferent, over nigh on two centuries. The details are filled in very amply in over 600 dictionary entries on the politics, economy, society and culture of the Old South. An ample bibliography directs students and researchers toward other sources of information.

While fighting on land continues to hold center stage, recently much more attention has been focused on the Civil War at sea. And for good reason. Naval operations decided the outcome of the war as the North exploited its significant naval and maritime advantage to turn the war on land in its favor. In A Short History of the Civil War at Sea, Spencer C. Tucker, eminent naval and military historian and endowed chair at the Virginia Military Institute, provides a concise and lively overview of the 'blue water' Civil War, or fighting on the seas and attacks directed from the sea. This volume covers the drama of significant naval battles, like the first clash of ironclads at Hampton Roads, the Union capture of New Orleans, fierce action in the Charleston Harbor, and the Battle of Mobile Bay. A Short History of the Civil War at Sea also discusses important themes, like the technological revolution in naval warfare; the impact of naval operations on U.S. and Confederate foreign relations; the Confederate use of torpedoes, submarines, and commerce raiders; and the Union's successful strategy of blockade. The struggle at sea might not have been as bloody as the fighting on land, but it was every bit as interesting and included a colorful cast of characters, like David G. Farragut, the North's highest ranking and most accomplished naval officer, and Confederate naval officer, commerce raider, and 'Rebel Seadog' Raphael Semmes. And the advances of naval technology during the Civil War are fascinating-from the use of new Dahlgren guns to the design and redesign of the ironclads to the extensive use of mines and the development of submarines. Prof. Tucker covers it all in this new book, and his knowledge and skills as a storyteller shine. A Short History of the Civil War at Sea will entertain and inform students, scholars, and Civil War enthusiasts.

Previous histories of the press in the American Civil War have focused on how journalists covered military operations. Taking a cultural approach, this book is unique in its focus on the press as a social, political, and economic institution that both shaped and was shaped by the Confederacy's experience in the Civil War. It expertly documents how the press changed, how it stayed the same, and how it evolved by examining the role of the press in Confederate society, social and demographic characteristics of journalists and their audiences, legal regulation of the industry, and how the war influenced the business side of journalism as well as the editorial. The story of the Confederate press provides a prime opportunity to study how a domestic war affects the American press. By examining the actors as well as the roles, it is possible to draw a more complete picture of the place of the press in the Confederacy and how the war influenced Southern newspapers.