The Civil War devastated the South, and the end of slavery turned Southern society upside down. How did the South regain social, economic, and political stability in the wake of emancipation and wartime destruction, and how did the South come together with its former enemies in the North? Why did the South not slip back into chaos? This book holds the keys to the answers to these tantalizing questions. Author Joseph Ranney explodes the myth of a unified South and exposes just how complex and fragile the postwar recovery was. The end of slavery and the emergence of a radically new social order raised a host of thorny legal issues: What place should newly freed slaves have in Southern society? What was the proper balance between states' rights and a newly powerful federal government? How could postwar economic distress be eased without destroying property rights? Should new civil rights be extended to women as well as blacks? Southern states addressed these issues in surprisingly different ways. Ranney also shatters the popular myth that a new legal system was imposed upon the South by the victorious North during Reconstruction. Southern states took an active hand in shaping postwar changes, and Southern courts often defended civil rights and national reunification against hostile Southern legislators. How did that come about? Ranney provides some surprising answers. He also profiles judges and other lawmakers who shaped Southern law during and after Reconstruction, including heretofore little-known black leaders in the South. These extraordinary individuals created a legal heritage that assisted leaders of the second civil rights revolution a century after Reconstruction ended. This bookadds immeasurably to our knowledge not only of Southern history, but also of American legal and social history.

This is one volume in a library of Confederate States history, in twelve volumes, written by distinguished men of the South, and edited by Gen. Clement A. Evans of Georgia. A generation after the Civil War, the Southern protagonists wanted to tell their story, and in 1899 these twelve volumes appeared under the imprint of the Confederate Publishing Company. The first and last volumes comprise such subjects as the justification of the Southern States in seceding from the Union and the honorable conduct of the war by the Confederate States government; the history of the actions and concessions of the South in the formation of the Union and its policy in securing the territorial dominion of the United States; the civil history of the Confederate States; Confederate naval history; the morale of the armies; the South since the war, and a connected outline of events from the beginning of the struggle to its close. The other ten volumes each treat a separate State with details concerning its peculiar story, its own devotion, its heroes, and its battlefields. Volume 5 is South Carolina.

A Union Army at war against the Confederacy
The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal armies of the Union Army. It was first commanded by Rosecrans who commanded it through its first significant engagement at Stones River and then subsequently during the Tullahoma campaign and at Chickamauga where it received a savaging which was instrumental in causing it to become besieged in Chattanooga. Grant, uncertain of its morale, gave the Cumberland, now under Thomas, a minor role at Missionary Ridge but his concerns were unfounded because, after achieving its primary objective, four divisions stormed the main enemy positions helping to complete the victory. Thomas commanded to the end of the war, but not before the Army of the Cumberland fought in the Atlanta Campaign, at Peachtree Creek, Franklin and finally at the decisive Battle of Nashville where with it crushed Confederate forces under Hood. This is a well rounded unit history. Essential reading for every student of the period. Available in soft cover and cloth bound hard back with dust jacket, head and tail bands and gold foil lettering to the spine.

It was 1862, the second year of the Civil War, though Kansans and Missourians had been fighting over slavery for almost a decade. For the 250 Union soldiers facing down rebel irregulars on Enoch Toothman's farm near Butler, Missouri, this was no battle over abstract principles. These were men of the First Kansas Colored Infantry, and they were fighting for their own freedom and that of their families. They belonged to the first black regiment raised in a northern state, and the first black unit to see combat during the Civil War. "Soldiers in the Army of Freedom" is the first published account of this largely forgotten regiment and, in particular, its contribution to Union victory in the trans-Mississippi theater of the Civil War. As such, it restores the First Kansas Colored Infantry to its rightful place in American history.
Composed primarily of former slaves, the First Kansas Colored saw major combat in Missouri, Indian Territory, and Arkansas. Ian Michael Spurgeon draws upon a wealth of little-known sources--including soldiers' pension applications--to chart the intersection of race and military service, and to reveal the regiment's role in countering white prejudices by defying stereotypes. Despite naysayers' bigoted predictions--and a merciless slaughter at the Battle of Poison Spring--these black soldiers proved themselves as capable as their white counterparts, and so helped shape the evolving attitudes of leading politicians, such as Kansas senator James Henry Lane and President Abraham Lincoln. A long-overdue reconstruction of the regiment's remarkable combat record, Spurgeon's book brings to life the men of the First Kansas Colored Infantry in their doubly desperate battle against the Confederate forces and skepticism within Union ranks.

This is one volume in a library of Confederate States history, in twelve volumes, written by distinguished men of the South, and edited by Gen. Clement A. Evans of Georgia. A generation after the Civil War, the Southern protagonists wanted to tell their story, and in 1899 these twelve volumes appeared under the imprint of the Confederate Publishing Company. The first and last volumes comprise such subjects as the justification of the Southern States in seceding from the Union and the honorable conduct of the war by the Confederate States government; the history of the actions and concessions of the South in the formation of the Union and its policy in securing the territorial dominion of the United States; the civil history of the Confederate States; Confederate naval history; the morale of the armies; the South since the war, and a connected outline of events from the beginning of the struggle to its close. The other ten volumes each treat a separate State with details concerning its peculiar story, its own devotion, its heroes, and its battlefields. Volume 3 is Virginia.

Were Lincoln alive today what would his response be to the immense and complex issues confronting the United States of America? In Lincoln's day the issues facing the country dating from Lincoln's first political speech (1838) until his death in the opening of his second term (1865) were momentous to his generation, just as the issues facing the country in the early 21st Century are immense to its generation. The people of Lincoln's day needed leadership. The people of the United States today also need leadership-not just any kind of leadership-but leadership that is anchored solidly on the fundamental principles and practices of the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. Within the understanding that people of Lincoln's generation were as people are today in their essential characteristics, good and bad, join in an investigation that utilizes Lincoln's own words from his early career and adapts them in principle to the practices of today. Lincoln was a great leader who rescued the Union and restored the country. We can learn from his leadership-if we simply take the time to read and then apply what we learn into the contemporary circumstances that define our issues.

Often Civil War histories embody stories about politicians and generals. Ordinary soldiers, wives, mothers, children, slaves, farmers, merchants, Unionists, and deserters are only occasionally mentioned. To convey a comprehensive history is to include a wide array of sources. Newly discovered material expand our understanding.. The 1863 Gaston County tax list defines people's lives economically and socially, and diaries, soldier letters, and other previously unpublished documents tell the story of the war from each perspective. Wives and mothers, children, soldiers, politicians, deserters, and slaves communicate their feelings, reflect their fears and aspirations. The 1863 Tax List transcription delineates what taxpayers owned, describe slaves by name, age and monetary value, and defines the ownership of luxury items. The tax document communicates a first of its kind portrait of a county. Soldiers' and family letters, letters to the governor, cotton mill operations, political disagreements, and the lives of slaves are described in this microscopic study of a typical Piedmont county. The rationale for soldier enlistments, reasons for desertion, and economic struggles on the home front are examined. Many engaging and newly discovered historical revelations await the reader. Your perception of the times and its people will be expanded through their words and actions.

A border county in a border state, Barbour County, West Virginia felt the full terror and tragedy of the Civil War. The wounds of the Civil War cut most bitterly in the border states, that strip of America from Maryland to Kansas, where conflicting loyalties and traditions ripped apart communities, institutions, and families. Barbour County, in the mountainous Northwest of (West) Virginia, is a telling microcosm of the deep divisions which both caused the war and were caused by it. By examining and interpreting long-ignored documents of the times and the personal accounts of the people who were there, Clash of Loyalties offers a startling new view of America's most bitter hour. Nearly half of the military-age men in the county served in the armed forces, almost perfectly divided between the Union and the Confederacy. After West Virginia split with Virginia to rejoin the Union, Confederate soldiers from the regions could not safely visit their homes on furlough, or even send letters to their families. The county's two leading political figures, Samuel Woods and Spencer Dayton, became leaders of the fight for and against secession, dissolved their close personal friendship, and never spoke to one another again. The two factions launched campaigns of terror and intimidation, leading to the burning of several homes, the kidnapping of a sheriff, the murder of a pacifist minister, and the self-imposed exile of many of the county's influential families. The conflicting loyalties crossed nearly all social and economic lines; even the county's slave owners were evenly divided between Union and Confederate sympathies. With a meticulous examination of census and military records, geneologies, period newspapers, tax rolls, eyewitness accounts, and other relevant documents, Clash of Loyalties presents a compelling account of the passion and violence which tore apart Barbour County and the nation.

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, called "Rooney" by his family, was born the second son of the famous commander and general of the Confederacy, Robert E. Lee. After graduating from Harvard, Rooney planned to take up farming on his family's plantation. When the Civil War broke out, however, he immediately volunteered and was commissioned a captain in the Confederate cavalry. During the war years, he was quickly promoted on his talents -his famous father was careful not to interfere in his son's promotion track. Rooney Lee earned a reputation for bravery and effective command at Gettysburg and Chancellorsville. He was wounded at Brandy Station and shortly after was captured by Federal raiders and placed in prison. After his release in a prisoner exchange, he was promoted to the rank of major general-the youngest man in the Confederacy to hold this rank. By the war's end, he was one of the highest-ranking cavalry commanders in the Confederate army.There has been no study of the military career and accomplishments of this important Confederate commander-until now. Using previously unavailable material from the Lee family archives, this new biography presents a balanced appraisal of one of the South's most important commanders.