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Books > Humanities > History > American history > 1800 to 1900
An innovative global history of the American Civil War, Reckoning
with Rebellion compares and contrasts the American experience with
other civil and national conflicts that happened at nearly the same
time-the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Polish Insurrection of 1863,
and China's Taiping Rebellion. Aaron Sheehan-Dean identifies
surprising new connections between these historical moments across
three continents. Sheehan-Dean shows that insurgents around the
globe often relied on irregular warfare and were labeled as
criminals, mutineers, or rebels by the dominant powers. He traces
commonalities between the United States, British, Russian, and
Chinese empires, all large and ambitious states willing to use
violence to maintain their authority. These powers were also able
to control how these conflicts were described, affecting the way
foreigners perceived them and whether they decided to
intercede.While the stories of these conflicts are now told
separately, Sheehan-Dean argues, the participants understood them
in relation to each other. When Union officials condemned
secession, they pointed to the violence unleashed by the Indian
Rebellion. When Confederates denounced Abraham Lincoln as a tyrant,
they did so by comparing him to Tsar Alexander II. Sheehan-Dean
demonstrates that the causes and issues of the Civil War were also
global problems, revealing the important paradigms at work in the
age of nineteenth-century nation-building.A volume in the series
Frontiers of the American South, edited by William A. Link
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Vicksburg Besieged
(Hardcover)
Steven E Woodworth, Charles D. Grear; Contributions by Andrew S Bledsoe, John J Gaines, Martin J. Hershock, …
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A detailed analysis of the end of the Vicksburg Campaign and the
forty-day siege Vicksburg, Mississippi, held strong through a
bitter, hard-fought, months-long Civil War campaign, but General
Ulysses S. Grant's forty-day siege ended the stalemate and, on July
4, 1863, destroyed Confederate control of the Mississippi River. In
the first anthology to examine the Vicksburg Campaign's final
phase, nine prominent historians and emerging scholars provide
in-depth analysis of previously unexamined aspects of the historic
siege. Ranging in scope from military to social history, the
contributors' invitingly written essays examine the role of Grant's
staff, the critical contributions of African American troops to the
Union Army of the Tennessee, both sides' use of sharpshooters and
soldiers' opinions about them, unusual nighttime activities between
the Union siege lines and Confederate defensive positions, the use
of West Point siege theory and the ingenuity of Midwestern soldiers
in mining tunnels under the city's defenses, the horrific
experiences of civilians trapped in Vicksburg, the failure of
Louisiana soldiers' defense at the subsequent siege of Jackson, and
the effect of the campaign on Confederate soldiers from the
Trans-Mississippi region. The contributors explore how the
Confederate Army of Mississippi and residents of Vicksburg faced
food and supply shortages as well as constant danger from Union
cannons and sharpshooters. Rebel troops under the leadership of
General John C. Pemberton sought to stave off the Union soldiers,
and though their morale plummeted, the besieged soldiers held their
ground until starvation set in. Their surrender meant that Grant's
forces succeeded in splitting in half the Confederate States of
America. Editors Steven E. Woodworth and Charles D. Grear, along
with their contributors-Andrew S. Bledsoe, John J. Gaines, Martin
J. Hershock, Richard H. Holloway, Justin S. Solonick, Scott L.
Stabler, and Jonathan M. Steplyk-give a rare glimpse into the often
overlooked operations at the end of the most important campaign of
the Civil War.
An in-depth political study of Alabama's government during the
Civil War. Alabama's military forces were fierce and dedicated
combatants for the Confederate cause. In his new study of Alabama
during the Civil War, Ben H. Severance argues that Alabama's
electoral and political attitudes were, in their own way, just as
unified in their support for the cause of southern independence. To
be sure, the civilian populace often expressed unease about the
conflict, as did a good many of its legislators, but the majority
of government officials and military personnel displayed pronounced
patriotism and a consistent willingness to accept a total war
approach in pursuit of their new nation's aims; as Severance puts
it, Alabama was a 'war state all over.' In his innovative study,
Severance examines the state's political leadership at every level
of governance - congressional, gubernatorial, and legislative - and
orients much of its analysis around the state elections of 1863.
Coming at the war's midpoint, these elections provide an invaluable
gauge of popular support for Alabama's role in the Civil War,
particularly at a time when the military situation for Confederate
forces was looking bleak. The results do not necessarily reflect a
society that was unreservedly prowar, but they clearly establish a
polity that was committed to an unconditional Confederate victory,
in spite of the probable costs. A War State All Over: Alabama
Politics and the Confederate Cause focuses on the martial character
of Alabama's polity while simultaneously acknowledging the
widespread angst of Alabama's larger culture and society. In doing
so, it puts a human face on the election returns by providing
detailed character sketches of the principal candidates that
illuminate both their outlook on the war and their role in shaping
policy.
A hardcover copy of the draft, preliminary, and final versions of
Abraham Lincoln's January 1, 1863 Executive Order, the Emancipation
Proclamation, which declared the freedom of 3.1 million of the
nation's slaves.
Tempest Over Texas: The Fall and Winter Campaigns, 1863-1864 is the
fourth installment in Dr. Donald S. Frazier's award-winning
Louisiana Quadrille series. Picking up the story of the Civil War
in Louisiana and Texas after the fall of Port Hudson and Vicksburg,
Tempest Over Texas describes Confederate confusion on how to carry
on in the Trans-Mississippi given the new strategic realities.
Likewise, Federal forces gathered from Memphis to New Orleans were
in search of a new mission. International intrigues and disasters
on distant battlefields would all conspire to confuse and perplex
war-planners. One thing remained, however. The Stars and Stripes
needed to fly once again in Texas, and as soon as possible.
Several ethnic groups have come to Michigan from the British Isles.
Each group of immigrants from this region - the Cornish, English,
Irish, and Welsh - has played a significant role in American
history. Historic records show that some early nineteenth-century
Cornish immigrants were farmers and settled in the Lower Peninsula
of Michigan. However, the majority of early Cornish immigrants were
miners, and much of their influence was felt in the Upper Peninsula
of the state. Many of the underground miners from Cornwall got
their start in this region before they migrated to other mining
regions throughout the United States. Hard-working families came
from throughout the peninsula of Cornwall, bringing their history,
recipes, songs, religions, and other traditions to Michigan's
northern mining country. This nineteenth-century migration brought
them to new homes in Keweenaw County, Houghton County, Copper
Harbor, Eagle Harbor, and Presque Isle. In the 1830s, newly arrived
immigrants also settled in the lower parts of Michigan, in Macomb,
Washtenaw, Lenawee, and Oakland counties. The automobile boom of
the 1920s sent many of these immigrants and their children to Metro
Detroit from the Upper Peninsula, where their traditions are
perpetuated today.
"I will always be somebody." This assertion, a startling one from a
nineteenth-century woman, drove the life of Dr. Mary Edwards
Walker, the only American woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor.
President Andrew Johnson issued the award in 1865 in recognition of
the incomparable medical service Walker rendered during the Civil
War. Yet few people today know anything about the woman so
well-known--even notorious--in her own lifetime. Kaminski shares a
different way of looking at the Civil War, through the eyes of a
woman confident she could make a contribution equal to that of any
man. This part of the story takes readers into the political
cauldron of the nation's capital in wartime, where Walker was a
familiar if notorious figure. Mary Walker's relentless pursuit of
gender and racial equality is key to understanding her commitment
to a Union victory in the Civil War. Her role in the women's
suffrage movement became controversial and the US Army stripped
Walker of her medal, only to have the medal reinstated in 1977.
What happens when partisanship is pushed to its extreme? In With
Ballots and Bullets, Nathan P. Kalmoe combines historical and
political science approaches to provide new insight into the
American Civil War and deepen contemporary understandings of mass
partisanship. The book reveals the fundamental role of partisanship
in shaping the dynamics and legacies of the Civil War, drawing on
an original analysis of newspapers and geo-coded data on voting
returns and soldier enlistments, as well as retrospective surveys.
Kalmoe shows that partisan identities motivated mass violence by
ordinary citizens, not extremists, when activated by leaders and
legitimated by the state. Similar processes also enabled partisans
to rationalize staggering war casualties into predetermined vote
choices, shaping durable political habits and memory after the
war's end. Findings explain much about nineteenth century American
politics, but the book also yields lessons for today, revealing the
latent capacity of political leaders to mobilize violence.
An aggressive and colorful personality, William Barksdale was no
stranger to controversy. Orphaned at 13, he succeeded as lawyer,
newspaper editor, Mexican War veteran, politician and Confederate
commander. During eight years in the U.S. Congress, he was among
the South's most ardent defenders of slavery and advocates for
states' rights. His emotional speeches and altercations-including a
brawl on the House floor-made headlines in the years preceding
secession. His fiery temper prompted three near-duels, gaining him
a reputation as a brawler and knife-fighter. Arrested for
intoxication, Colonel Barksdale survived a military Court of
Inquiry to become one of the most beloved commanders in the Army of
Northern Virginia. His reputation soared with his defense against
the Union river crossing and street-fighting at Fredericksburg, and
his legendary charge at Gettysburg. This first full-length
biography places his life and career in historical context.
On June 14, 1863, US Major General John Adams Dix received the
following directive from General-in-Chief Henry Halleck: "All your
available force should be concentrated to threaten Richmond, by
seizing and destroying their railroad bridges over the South and
North Anna Rivers, and do them all the damage possible." With
General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia marching
toward Gettysburg and only a limited Confederate force guarding
Richmond, Halleck sensed a rare opportunity for the Union cause.In
response, Dix, who had lived a life of considerable public service
but possessed limited military experience, gathered his men and
began a slow advance. During the ensuing operation, 20,000 US
troops would threaten the Confederate capital and seek to cut the
railroads supplying Lee's army in Pennsylvania. To some, Dix's
campaign presented a tremendous chance for US forces to strike hard
at Richmond while Lee was off in Pennsylvania. To others, it was an
unnecessary lark that tied up units deployed more effectively in
protecting Washington and confronting Lee's men on Northern soil.
In this study, Newsome offers an in-depth look into this
little-known Federal advance against Richmond during the Gettysburg
Campaign. The first full-length examination of Dix's venture, this
volume not only delves into the military operations at the time,
but also addresses concurrent issues related to diplomacy, US war
policy, and the involvement of enslaved people in the Federal
offensive. Gettysburg's Southern Front also points to the
often-unrecognized value in examining events of the US Civil War
beyond the larger famous battles and campaigns. At the time,
political and military leaders on both sides carefully weighed
Dix's efforts at Richmond and understood that the offensive had the
potential to generate dramatic results. In fact, this piece of the
Gettysburg Campaign may rank as one of the Union war effort's more
compelling lost opportunities in the East, one that could have
changed the course of the conflict.
When Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 prompted several Southern
states to secede, the North was sharply divided over how to
respond. In this groundbreaking and highly praised book, McClintock
follows the decision-making process from bitter partisan rancor to
consensus. From small towns to big cities and from state capitals
to Washington, D.C., McClintock highlights individuals both
powerful and obscure to demonstrate the ways ordinary citizens,
party activists, state officials, and national leaders interacted
to influence the Northern response to what was essentially a
political crisis. He argues that although Northerners' reactions to
Southern secession were understood and expressed through partisan
newspapers and officials, the decision fell into the hands of an
ever-smaller group of people until finally it was Lincoln alone who
would choose whether the future of the American republic was to be
determined through peace or by sword. |When Abraham Lincoln's
election in 1860 prompted several Southern states to secede, the
North was sharply divided over how to respond. From small towns to
big cities and from state capitals to Washington, D.C., McClintock
highlights individuals both powerful and obscure to demonstrate the
ways ordinary citizens, party activists, state officials, and
national leaders interacted to influence the Northern response to
what was essentially a political crisis. He argues that the
decision fell into the hands of an ever-smaller group of people
until finally it was Lincoln alone who would make the decision for
war.
Even among iconic frontiersmen like John C. FrEmont, Kit Carson,
and Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger stands out. A mountain man of the
American West, straddling the fur trade era and the age of
exploration, he lived the life legends are made of. His adventures
are fit for remaking into the tall tales Bridger himself liked to
tell. Here, in a biography that finally gives this outsize
character his due, Jerry Enzler takes this frontiersman's full
measure for the first time - and tells a story that would do Jim
Bridger proud. Born in 1804 and orphaned at thirteen, Bridger made
his first western foray in 1822, traveling up the Missouri River
with Mike Fink and a hundred enterprising young men to trap beaver.
At twenty he 'discovered' the Great Salt Lake. At twenty-one he was
the first to paddle the Bighorn River's Bad Pass. At twenty-two he
explored the wonders of Yellowstone. In the following years, he led
trapping brigades into Blackfeet territory; guided expeditions of
Smithsonian scientists, topographical engineers, and army leaders;
and, though he could neither read nor write, mapped the tribal
boundaries for the Great Indian Treaty of 1851. Enzler charts
Bridger's path from the fort he built on the Oregon Trail to the
route he blazed for Montana gold miners to avert war with Red Cloud
and his Lakota coalition. Along the way he married into the
Flathead, Ute, and Shoshone tribes and produced seven children.
Tapping sources uncovered in the six decades since the last
documented Bridger biography, Enzler's book fully conveys the drama
and details of the larger-than-life history of the 'King of the
Mountain Men.' This is the definitive story of an extraordinary
life.
Between the end of May and the beginning of August 1864, Lt. Gen.
Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee oversaw the transition
between the Overland campaign - a remarkable saga of maneuvering
and brutal combat - and what became a grueling siege of Petersburg
that many months later compelled Confederates to abandon Richmond.
Although many historians have marked Grant's crossing of the James
River on June 12-15 as the close of the Overland campaign, this
volume interprets the fighting from Cold Harbor on June 1-3 through
the battle of the Crater on July 30 as the last phase of an
operation that could have ended without a prolonged siege. The
contributors assess the campaign from a variety of perspectives,
examining strategy and tactics, the performances of key commanders
on each side, the centrality of field fortifications, political
repercussions in the United States and the Confederacy, the
experiences of civilians caught in the path of the armies, and how
the famous battle of the Crater has resonated in historical memory.
As a group, the essays highlight the important connections between
the home front and the battlefield, showing some of the ways in
which military and nonmilitary affairs played off and influenced
one another. Contributors include Keith S. Bohannon, Stephen
Cushman, M. Keith Harris, Robert E. L. Krick, Kevin M. Levin,
Kathryn Shively Meier, Gordon C. Rhea, and Joan Waugh.
During the 1850s and 1860s more than 100,000 people escaped slavery
in the American South by following the Underground Railroad, a
complex network of secret routes and safe houses. This inexpensive
compilation of firsthand accounts offers authentic insights into
the Civil War era and African-American history with compelling
narratives by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth,
and lesser-known refugees.
Thirty selections include the story of Eliza Harris, "The Slave
Woman Who Crossed the Ohio River on the Drifting Ice with Her Child
in Her Arms," whose experience inspired a memorable scene in "Uncle
Tom's Cabin." Other accounts include that of Henry "Box" Brown, who
hid in a crate mailed to Philadelphia abolitionists; Theophilus
Collins's escape after "A Desperate, Bloody Struggle--Gun, Knife
and Fire Shovel, Used by Infuriated Master"; excerpts from Harriet
Jacobs's 1861 narrative, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl";
and the remarkable flight of William and Ellen Craft, "Female Slave
in Male Attire, Fleeing as a Planter, with Her Husband as Her Body
Servant."
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