Engineering Victory brings a fresh approach to the question of why the North prevailed in the Civil War. Historian Thomas F. Army, Jr., identifies strength in engineering-not superior military strategy or industrial advantage-as the critical determining factor in the war's outcome. Army finds that Union soldiers were able to apply scientific ingenuity and innovation to complex problems in a way that Confederate soldiers simply could not match. Skilled Free State engineers who were trained during the antebellum period benefited from basic educational reforms, the spread of informal educational practices, and a culture that encouraged learning and innovation. During the war, their rapid construction and repair of roads, railways, and bridges allowed Northern troops to pass quickly through the forbidding terrain of the South as retreating and maneuvering Confederates struggled to cut supply lines and stop the Yankees from pressing any advantage. By presenting detailed case studies from both theaters of the war, Army clearly demonstrates how the soldiers' education, training, and talents spelled the difference between success and failure, victory and defeat. He also reveals massive logistical operations as critical in determining the war's outcome.

Drawing from narratives of former slaves to provide accurate and poignant insights, this book presents descriptions in the former slaves' own words about their lives before, during, and following the Civil War. Examining narratives allows us to better understand what life was truly like for slaves: "hearing" history in their own words brings the human aspects of slavery and their interpersonal relationships to life, providing insights and understanding not typically available via traditional history books. How the Slaves Saw the Civil War: Recollections of the War through the WPA Slave Narratives draws upon interviews collected largely during the 1930s-1940s as part of the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Because most slaves could not read or write, their perspective on the unfolding history of the war has been relatively unknown until these narratives were collected in the 1930s and 1940s. This book extracts the most cogent and compelling tales from the documentation of former slaves' seldom-heard voices on the events leading up to, during, and following the war. The work's two introductory chapters focus on the WPA's narratives and living conditions under slavery. The remaining chapters address key topics such as slave loyalties to either or both sides of the conflict, key battles, participation in the Union and/or Confederate armies, the day Union forces came, slave contact with key historical figures, and emancipation-and what came after. Supplies the actual words of former slaves used in the narratives, giving readers not only a better sense of the individuals' experiences but also of the oral tradition of African Americans during the Civil War period Includes carefully selected images of the time to underscore key concepts in the narratives and historical events and to engage the reader Provides an extensive bibliography of other reliable sources appropriate for further research by general readers, academics specializing in African American history, and Civil War buffs alike

The year 2011 marks the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, and so the time is right for this indispensable collection of 150 key places to see and things to do to remember and to honor the sacrifices made during America's epic struggle. Covering dozens of states and the District of Columbia, this easy-to-use guide provides a concise text description and one or more images for each entry, as well as directions to all sites.

...from the time of the memorable toast of Andrew Jackson--"The federal union; it must be preserved!" ... to the assassination of President Lincoln, and the end of the war. With famous words and deeds of woman, sanitary and hospital scenes, prison experiences, andc. By Frazar Kirkland (pseud.)

The 3rd Maryland Infantry, Potomac Home Brigade was organized at Cumberland, Hagerstown, and Baltimore, Maryland, beginning October 31, 1861, and mustered in on May 20, 1862, for three years under the command of Colonel Henry C. Rizer. Companies I and K were organized at Ellicott's Mills and Monrovia, Maryland, in April and May 1864. Although the 3rd served throughout the war in the Virginia Theater, they did not get involved in most of the major battles. Their major battles were at Harper's Ferry and Monocacy. The regiment mustered out of the service at Baltimore on May 29, 1865.

What was it like living in a small sleepy Southern town when the war suddenly arrived on the doorstep 150 years ago? Th ese are the stories of residents from various walks of life, and the struggles they face as the Union's Peninsula Campaign deploys forces to Fort Monroe, engages just east of Williamsburg, then continues, 'On to Richmond ' as their battle cry went. For example,

-William & Mary students, like Th omas Barlow, face life-changing decisions: to return home, or enlist with his classmates? Some of them would become heroes, but many more casualties.

-Slaves, like W.B. Nelson, must decide as well: should he remain with his master or runaway? While some remain, many become 'contrabands, ' and later freedmen, and 'colored troops.'

-Politicians, like Benjamin Butler of Boston, are given the rank of Major General despite the lack of any military experience, while General George B. McClellan, who despised President Lincoln and Washington politics, later runs for national offi ce. Neither transformation is particularly successful."

-Williamsburg residents, like shopkeeper William W. Vest and family must decide between fl eeing as refugees, or staying, like William Peachy, lawyer, to endure Federal occupation.

-Williamsburg's women, like Letitia Tyler Semple, lead efforts to improve soldier medical care, opening their homes to thousands of wounded. Others, like Mary Payne, persevere to be at her husband's bedside, while Miss Margaret Durfey falls in love with her patient.

There is no greater symbol of the American presidency than Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln himself, his personality, the sources of his dedication and his idealism, remain very much a mystery. The sudden rise to world stature of a hard-traveling lawyer from the frontier, with no prominent family or social connections to back him, was a wonder of the age.

Well over a thousand books about Lincoln have been written and still the enigma remains, perhaps because it is the enigma of a young country finding its footing and its destiny. Yet, no part is deeper, more perplexing, than Lincoln's own beliefs about god and destiny.

Featuring a foreword by Pulitzer prize-winning author Eric Foner, "Lincoln For Beginners" sets to demystify the man behind the legend.

The Civil War of a noted U. S. GeneralAlthough Cox is well known as a chronicler of the Civil War-through books on campaigns, battles and principal characters-this book is entirely different. This is the story of the Civil War as it touched his own life. It is, as he says, 'a narrative by one who was an active participant from its beginning to its end and in which he has deliberately avoided repetition of the contents of his other works'. This first volume begins with Cox's appointment as Brigadier-General of Volunteers commanding Ohioan and Kentuckian troops, and then describes his subsequent experiences in West Virginia, the Kanawha Valley and the battles leading to Antietam and beyond. Cox manages to successfully combine a historian's overview of the whole war with historic events that unfolded in his presence, to create an essential Civil War memoir.

"Good fences make good neighbors" comes from Robert Frost's poem Mending Walls which relates to traditions and rituals antedating the Romans. The god of boundaries, which they named Terminus, was not invented by the Romans, but he became one of their important household gods. Annually Terminus was honored in a ritual which not only reaffirmed boundaries but which also provided the occasion for predetermined traditional festivities among neighbors.

This book analyzes the pivotal battle of Shiloh in 1862, the bloodiest fought by Americans up to that time, in which Albert Sidney Johnston's desperate effort to reverse Confederate fortunes in the heartland fell just short of decisive victory. The Battle of Shiloh was one of the most important battles of the Civil War, and it offers a particularly rich opportunity to study the ways in which different leaders reacted to unexpected challenges. Shiloh: Confederate High Tide in the Heartland provides a fascinating and fast-paced narrative history of the key campaign and battle in the Civil War's decisive western theater-the heartland of the Confederacy west of the Appalachians. The book emphasizes the significance of contingency in evaluating the decisions of the Union and Confederate commanders, as well as the tenacity displayed by both sides, which contributed to the tremendous bloodshed of the conflict and revealed the depth of Union determination that would ultimately doom the Confederacy. Intended for Civil War enthusiasts as well as scholars of American military history, this work reveals the complex challenges and decisions of leadership and documents how the Confederacy was never as close to scoring a truly decisive victory as its forces were on the first day of the Battle of Shiloh. Includes photographs and maps that clarify the historical events of Shiloh Reveals how key decisions by several generals, sometimes based on erroneous information, had the potential to change the outcome of the battle

James Tanner may be the most famous person in nineteenth-century America that no one has heard of. During his service in the Union army, he lost the lower third of both his legs and afterward had to reinvent himself. After a brush with fame as the stenographer taking down testimony a few feet away from the dying President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, Tanner eventually became one of the best-known men in Gilded Age America. He was a highly placed Republican operative, a popular Grand Army of the Republic speaker, an entrepreneur, and a celebrity. He earned fame and at least temporary fortune as "Corporal Tanner," but most Americans would simply have known him as "The Corporal." Yet virtually no one--not even historians of the Civil War and Gilded Age-- knows him today.

"America's Corporal" rectifies this startling gap in our understanding of the decades that followed the Civil War. Drawing on a variety of primary sources including memoirs, lectures, newspapers, pension files, veterans' organization records, poetry, and political cartoons, James Marten brings Tanner's life and character into focus and shows what it meant to be a veteran-- especially a disabled veteran--in an era that at first worshipped the saviors of the Union but then found ambiguity in their political power and insistence on collecting ever-larger pensions. This biography serves as an examination of the dynamics of disability, the culture and politics of the Gilded Age, and the aftereffects of the Civil War, including the philosophical and psychological changes that it prompted.

The book explores the sometimes corrupt, often gridlocked, but always entertaining politics of the era, from Tanner's days as tax collector in Brooklyn through his short-lived appointment as commissioner of pensions (one of the biggest jobs in the federal government of the 1880s). Marten provides a vivid case study of a classic Gilded Age entrepreneur who could never make enough money. "America's Corporal" is a reflection on the creation of celebrity--and of its ultimate failure to preserve the memory of a man who represented so many of the experiences and assumptions of the Gilded Age.

Published with the generous support of the Amanda and Greg Gregory Family Fund

While soldiers were off fighting on the fields of war, civilians on the home front fought their own daily struggles, sometimes removed from the violence but often enough from deep within the maelstrom of conflict. Chapters provide readers with an excellent, detailed description of how women, children, slaves, and Native Americans coped with privation and looming threat, and how they often used, or tried to use, periods of turmoil to their own advantage. While it is the soldiers who are often remembered for their strength, honor, and courage, it is the civilians who keep life going during wartime. This volume presents the lives of these brave citizens during the early colonial era, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. This volume begins with Armstrong Starkey's detailed description of wartime life during the American Colonial era, beginning with the Jamestown, VA settlement of 1607. Among his discussions of civilian lives during the Pequot War, King Philip's War, and the Seven Years' War, Starkey also examines Native American attitudes regarding war, Puritan lives, and Salem witchcraft and its connection to war. Wayne E. Lee continues with his chapter on the American Revolution, investigating how difficult it was for civilians to choose sides, including a telling look at soldier recruitment strategies. He also surveys how inflation and shortages adversely affected civilians, in addition to disease, women's roles, slaves, and Native Americans as civilians. Richard V. Barbuto discusses the War of 1812, taking a close look at life on the ever-expanding frontier, rural homes and families, and jobs and education in city life. Gregory S. Hospodorobserves American life during the Mexican War, examining how that conflict amplified domestic tensions caused by sharply divided but closely-held beliefs about national expansion and slavery. Continuing, James Marten looks at southern life in the South during the Civil War, examining the constant burden of supporting Confederate armies or coping with invading northern ones. Paul A. Cimbala concludes this volume with a look at northerner's lives during the Civil War, offering an outstanding essay on a home front mobilized for a titanic struggle, and how the war, no matter how remote, became omnipresent in daily life.

This unique addition to Civil War literature examines the extensive influence Quaker belief and practice had on Lincoln's decisions relative to slavery, including his choice to emancipate the slaves. An important contribution to Lincoln scholarship, this thought-provoking work argues that Abraham Lincoln and the Religious Society of Friends faced a similar dilemma: how to achieve emancipation without extending the bloodshed and hardship of war. Organized chronologically so readers can see changes in Lincoln's thinking over time, the book explores the congruence of the 16th president's relationship with Quaker belief and his political and religious thought on three specific issues: emancipation, conscientious objection, and the relief and education of freedmen. Distinguishing between the reality of Lincoln's relationship with the Quakers and the mythology that has emerged over time, the book differs significantly from previous works in at least two ways. It shows how Lincoln skillfully navigated a relationship with one of the most vocal and politically active religious groups of the 19th century, and it documents the practical ways in which a shared belief in the "Doctrine of Necessity" affected the president's decisions. In addition to gaining new insights about Lincoln, readers will also come away from this book with a better understanding of Quaker positions on abolition and pacifism and a new appreciation for the Quaker contributions to the Union cause. Explains the critical role Quakers exercised in Lincoln's prosecution of the Civil War Reveals how Quakers employed their historic commitments to abolitionism and pacifism to convince Lincoln of the necessity of emancipation, freedmen's relief and education, and conscientious objection Highlights Lincoln's interactions and correspondence with individual British and American Quakers and Quaker groups Provides readers with important context necessary to understand one of the nation's most respected humanitarian groups Includes nearly two dozen period photographs that provide a fascinating glimpse into long-ago history Examines the Quakers' 150-year crusade against slavery, their efforts to improve the conditions of free blacks, and the religious beliefs that informed those activities

The Civil War obliterated America's past, along with many of the founders' visions of what America should be. Replacing those visions was the America that we have today. Any true understanding of America, both past and present, must include a specific understanding of this conflict.

This work, with a thought-provoking introduction exploring the true causes of the war, traces the entire story of the conflict in a concise monthly summary. In addition to all the major events that shaped the war, key facts that have disappeared from most mainstream texts are also included, such as:

Both Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis lost young sons during the war

The legendary Robert E. Lee faced intense southern criticism for military failures in the war's first year

U.S. forces battled the Sioux Indians during the war, leading to the largest mass execution in American history

A former Ohio congressman was banished to the South by Lincoln for opposing the war

Facts are explored and myths are exposed as the conflict is put in its proper chronological perspective. For anyone seeking a general resource guide to the seminal event in American history, this is required reading.

The Civil Rights Act of 1875, enacted March 1, 1875, banned racial discrimination in public accommodations - hotels, public conveyances and places of public amusement. In 1883 the U.S. Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional, ushering in generations of segregation until 1964. This first full-length study of the Act covers the years of debates in Congress and some forty state studies of the midterm elections of 1874 in which many supporting Republicans lost their seats. They returned to pass the Act in the short session of Congress. This book utilizes an army of primary sources from unpublished manuscripts, rare newspaper accounts, memoir materials and official documents to demonstrate that Republicans were motivated primarily by an ideology that civil equality would produce social order in the defeated southern states.