Based on extensive research into newly discovered documents, this new edition of the popular volume offers an updated look at the daily lives of ordinary citizens caught up in the Civil War. When first published, Daily Life in Civil War America shifted the spotlight from the conflict's military operations and famous leaders to its affect on day-to-day living. Now this popular, groundbreaking work returns in a thoroughly updated new edition, drawing on an expanded range of journals, journalism, diaries, and correspondence to capture the realities of wartime life for soldiers and citizens, slaves and free persons, women and children, on both sides of the conflict. In addition to chapter-by-chapter updating, the edition features new chapters on two important topics: the affects of the war on families, focusing on the absence of men on the home front and the plight of nearly 26,000 children orphaned by the war; and the activities of the Copperheads, anti-Confederate border residents, and other Southern pacifist groups. Includes excerpts from a wide range of first-person original writings, including diaries, letters, journals, and newspaper articles Presents over 50 images, including photographs, posters, and contemporary illustrations, much of it from the author's own collection

As mid-19th century America erupted in violence with the invasion of Mexico and the outbreak of the Civil War, Irish immigrants enthusiastically joined the fray in large numbers, on both sides, mainly seeking stable employment. In Southern cities Irish volunteers vigorously backed the Confederacy; in the North they were vastly over-represented in the US Army and Navy. They were often seen as disruptive in national affairs - Confederate General Patrick Cleburne called for the enlistment of slaves in exchange for their freedom, while in New York City Irish-led draft riots ensued when the Emancipation Proclamation made the war a liberating mission. History has honored the valor of many, such as the Irish Brigade at Gettysburg. This collection of essays examines the involvement of Irish men and women in American military life from 1840 to 1865.

A study of the development of English opinion on the American Civil War, paying special attention to the issues of slavery, neutral rights, democracy, republicanism, trade and propaganda - a new interpretation. At the end of the American Civil War, both North and South condemned Britain for allegedly sympathising with the other side. Yet after the conflict, a traditional interpretation of the subject arose which divided English sentimentbetween progressivism siding with the Union and conservatism supporting the Confederacy. Despite historians subsequently questioning whether English opinion can be so easily divided, challenging certain aspects and arguments of this version of events, the traditional interpretation has persevered and remains the dominant view of the subject. This work posits that English public and political opinion was not, in fact, split between two such opposing camps- rather, that most in England were suspicious of both sides in the conflict, and even those who did take sides did not consist largely of any one particular social or political group. Covering the period from 1861 to 1865,Campbell traces the development of English opinion on the American Civil War, looking particularly at reaction to issues of slavery, neutral rights, democracy, republicanism, American expansionism,trade and propaganda. In so doing he offers a new interpretation of English attitudes towards the American Civil War. DUNCAN ANDREW CAMPBELL lectures at the Department of American Studies, University of Maryland Baltimore County.

These letters chronicle the wartime courtship of a Confederate soldier and the woman he loved-a sister-in-law of Abraham Lincoln. It is a relative rarity for the correspondence of both writers in Civil War letter collections to survive, as they have here. Rarer still is how frequently and faithfully the two wrote, given how little they truly knew each other at the start of their exchange. As a romantic pair, Nathaniel Dawson and Elodie Todd had no earlier history; they had barely met when separated by the war. Letters were their sole lifeline to each other and their sole means of sharing their hopes and fears for a relationship (and a Confederacy) they had rashly embraced in the heady, early days of secession. The letters date from April 1861, when Nathaniel left for war as a captain in the Fourth Alabama Infantry, through April 1862, when the couple married. During their courtship through correspondence, Nathaniel narrowly escaped death in battle, faced suspicions of cowardice, and eventually grew war weary. Elodie had two brothers die while in Confederate service and felt the full emotional weight of belonging to the war's most famous divided family. Her sister Mary not only sided with the Union (as did five other Todd siblings) but was also married to its commander in chief. Here is an engrossing story of the Civil War, of Abraham Lincoln's shattered family, of two people falling in love, of soldiers and brothers dying nobly on the wrong side of history. The full Dawson-Todd correspondence comprises more than three hundred letters. It has been edited for this volume to focus tightly on their courtship. The complete, annotated text of all of the letters, with additional supporting material, will be made available online.

I would like to take thee in my arms once more and have the little children around me. . . . But I know it is my duty to stay here and try and be one of the many that God has raised to put down this rebellion and blot out the institution of slavery.--Taylor Peirce

We hear so much good news of victories and all things are working well. Yet there is a sadness over it at last for there is so many wives and mothers left to mourn the loss of some brave son or husband in our late battles and I do not know but I am one of the number that may have to mourn for thee at this very time.--Catharine Peirce

Taylor Peirce was 40 years old when he left his wife and family to enlist in the 22nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He served for three long years and saw action in both theaters of the Civil War-ranging thousands of miles from the siege of Vicksburg through engagements in Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, both Carolinas, and the Shenandoah Valley. During that time he saw his wife only twice on furlough, but still stayed in close contact with her through their intimate and dedicated exchange of letters.
Both ardent Unionists who hated slavery and revered Lincoln, the Peirces wrote nearly every week over their long separation--letters that reveal a deep and abiding love for each other, as well as their strong--willed allegiance to the Union cause. Taylor's letters tell of battles and camp life, drilling and training, brave and cowardly commanders, troop morale, raucous amusements like music and gambling, delinquent paymasters, and his own moral code and motivation for fighting . They include graphic descriptions of the battles around Vicksburg, including vivid details about burning plantation houses, digging canals and trenches, and enduring constant rifle and artillery fire.

Catharine, for her part, reported on family and relatives, the demands of being a single mother with three young children, business affairs, household concerns, weather and crops, events in Des Moines, and national politics, filling gaps in our knowledge of Northern life during the war. Most of all, her letters convey her frustration and aching loneliness in Taylor's absence, as well as her fears for his life, even as other women were becoming widowed by the war.

While there are many collections of letters from Civil War soldiers to their wives, very few include such a rich trove of letters from the homefront. Together they paint an engrossing portrait of a soldier and husband who was trying to do his patriotic and familial duty, and of a wife trying to cope with loneliness and responsibility while longing for her husband's safe return. Beautifully edited and annotated by prize-winning Civil War historian Richard Kiper, they bring to life a nation under siege and provide a rare look at the war's impact on both the common soldier and his family.

The U.S. government's Indian Policy evolved during the 19th century, culminating in the expulsion of the American Indians from their ancestral homelands. Much has been written about Andrew Jackson and the removal of the Five Nations from the American Southeast to present-day Oklahoma. Yet little attention had been paid to the policies of the Lincoln administration and their consequences. The Civil War was catastrophic for the natives of the Indian Territory. More battles were waged in the Indian Territory than in any other theater of the war, and the Five Nations' betrayal by the U.S. government ultimately lead to the destruction of their homes, their sovereignty and their identity.

At 3 a.m. on February 21, 1865, a band of 65 Confederate horsemen slowly made its way down Greene Street in Cumberland, Maryland. Thinking the riders were disguised Union scouts, the few Union soldiers out that bitterly cold morning paid little attention to them. In the meantime, over 3,500 Yankee soldiers peacefully slept. Within thirty minutes McNeill's Rangers had kidnapped Union generals George Crook and Benjamin Kelley from their hotels and spirited them out of town. Despite a determined effort by Union pursuers to intercept the kidnappers, the Rangers reached safety deep in the South Fork River Valley, over fifty miles away. Not long afterward, the generals were shipped to Richmond's Libby Prison. Southern general John B. Gordon later called the mission "one of the most thrilling incidents of the war." In September 1862, John Hanson McNeill recruited a company of troopers for Col. John D. Imboden's 1st Virginia Partisan Rangers. In early 1863, Imboden took most of his men into the regular army, but McNeill and his son Jesse offered their men an opportunity to continue in independent service; seventeen soldiers joined them. In the coming months, other young hotspurs enlisted in McNeill's Rangers. Operating mostly in the Potomac Highlands of what is now eastern West Virginia, the Rangers bedeviled the Union troops guarding the B&O Railroad line. Favoring American Indian battle tactics, they ambushed patrols, attacked wagon trains, and heavily damaged railroad property and rolling stock. Phantoms of the South Fork is the thrilling result of Steve French's carefully researched study of primary source material, including diaries, memoirs, letters, and period newspaper articles. Additionally, he traveled throughout West Virginia, western Maryland, southern Pennsylvania, and the Shenandoah Valley following the trail of Captain McNeill and his "Phantoms of the South Fork.

During its two year history, the cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland fought the Confederates in some of the most important actions of the Civil War, including Stones River, Chickamauga, the Tullahoma Campaign, the pursuit of Joseph Wheeler in October 1863 and the East Tennessee Campaign. They battled with legendary Confederate cavalry units commanded by Nathan Bedford Forrest, John Hunt Morgan, Wheeler and others. By October 1864, the cavalry grew from eight regiments to four divisions-composed of units from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Tennessee-before participating in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, where the Union cavalry suffered 30 percent casualties. This history of the Army of the Cumberland's cavalry units analyzes their success and failures and reevaluates their alleged poor service during the Atlanta Campaign.

Frequently surprising, sometimes bloody, and always absorbing, Behind Enemy Lines offers up tales of espionage, hit-and-run raids, and guerrilla warfare. The book provides a new perspective on familiar aspects of Civil War history, including shadowy agents, women using their feminine wiles, unashamed looting, and vengeful crusades. Popular historian Wilmer L. Jones reveals that, by subverting the methods of traditional warfare, small and sometimes unorganized groups as well as intrepid spies, daring raiders, and mutinous guerrillas turned the tide of the Civil War far from the fronts of the now-legendary battlefields. Each of the three sections-spies, raiders, and Guerrillas-introduces riveting accounts of the often-overlooked heroes and heroines of unconventional warfare. Behind Enemy Lines spotlights such fabled infiltrators as Belle Boyd, Allen Pinkerton, and Timothy Webster. It also examines how the South, with its daring cavalry and constant struggle for supplies, resorted to sometimes brutal offensives led by men like Turner Ashby, John Mosby, and John Hunt Morgan. Finally, the gripping and detailed narrative peers into the bloody guerrilla warfare, spotlighting John Brown, William Clark Quantrill, and Bloody Bill Anderson, as well as the genesis of the James-Younger Gang. Civil war buffs, history lovers, and espionage enthusiasts will find this fascinating volume a welcome addition to their libraries.

If Americans were asked to select the best known and most celebrated outlaws, from among the many bad men produced by the Wild West, chances are Frank and Jesse James would be the choice of most people. The infamous brothers from Missouri, sided with the Confederacy and rode with with maurading guerrillas during the Civil War. Having learned to shoot and kill without moral compunction, they quickly and easily transitioned from Rebel fighters to daring outlaws, making their living by stealing from others. The brothers and their gang, that often included Cole Younger, robbed stage coaches, banks and trains in Missouri and surrounding states. But was the bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota, the bank robbery gone wrong, followed by an amazing and improbable escape through Minnesota, Dakota and Iowa, that changed the James brothers from ordinary outlaws to legendary characters. The long, hard ride home, was a journey that took them into both history and folklore. And from time to time, like galloping ghosts, they emerge with guns ablazing.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

aTogether, the essays collected by Logue and Barton provide a vivid portrait of the social, political, economic, and cultural struggles of Civil War veterans.a
--"The North Carolina Historical Review"

"A marvelous collection of essays, The Civil War Veteran provides an indispensable introduction to the problems the veterans faced and the contributions that they made. The bibliography alone is an invaluable resource."
--Gaines M. Foster, author of "Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New South"

"Never before has such a wide-ranging and excellent collection of readings on Civil War veterans been assembled in one place. A must have book for anyone interested in this topic."
--Donald R. Shaffer, author of "After The Glory: The Struggles of Black Civil War Veterans"

"An excellent collection of essays on a largely neglected topic. . . . The editors have done a thorough job of considering the pivotal issues, selecting broad yet focused themes, and gathering the writings that best illustrate those issues and themes."
--Daniel Sutherland, University of Arkansas

The Civil War Veteran presents a profound but often troubling story of the postwar experiences of Union and Confederate Civil War veterans. Most ex-soldiers and their neighbors readjusted smoothly. However, many arrived home with or developed serious problems; poverty, drug and alcohol addiction, and other manifestations of post traumatic stress syndrome, such as flashbacks and paranoia, plagued these veterans. Black veterans in particular suffered a particularly cruel fate: they fought with distinction and for theirfreedom, but postwar racism obliterated recognition of their wartime contributions.

Despite these hardships, veterans found some help from federal and state governments, through the establishment of a national pension system and soldiers' homes. Yet veterans did not passively accept this assistance--some influenced and created policy in public office, while others joined together in veterans' organizations such as the Grand Army of the Republic to fight for their rights and to shape the collective memory of the Civil War. As the number of veterans from wars in the Middle East rapidly increases, the stories in the pages of The Civil War Veteran give us valuable perspective on the challenges of readjustment for ex-soldiers and American society.

The Fifth New York Cavalry was a volunteer regiment organised in response to the Union defeat at the Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. The citizen-cavalrymen who made up the regiment came from across New York State and from every walk of life. In the following four years the unit became, according to contemporary sources, one of the finest cavalry formations in the field. The regiment's history is told chronologically in the overall context of the Civil War and based upon primary sources, including official reports, diaries, letters and newspaper accounts. Wherever possible Fifth New York troopers speak to us directly, describing their experiences in the Shenandoah campaign of 1862, the epic encounter at Gettysburg, life in camp and on picket duty, the Wilderness in the spring of 1864 and again the Shenandoah in the fall of 1864.

Slavery was at the heart of the South's agrarian economy before and during the Civil War. Agriculture provided products essential to the war effort, from dietary rations to antimalarial drugs to raw materials for military uniforms and engineering. Drawing on a range of primary sources, this history examines the botany and ethnobotany of America's defining conflict. The author describes the diverse roles of cash crops, herbal medicine, subsistence agriculture and the diet and cookery of enslaved people.

This Civil War enthusiast's sourcebook organizes the crucial details of the war in an inventive format designed to enhance the reader's knowledge base and big-picture understanding of key events and outcomes. The war's causes, political and economic issues, important personalities, campaigns and battles are examined. Nearly 200 reader challenges stimulate review of critical moments, with suggested reading for further exploration. Photographs and maps have been carefully selected to supplement the topic being explored.

Born in Germany in 1828, future Union general August Valentine Kautz came to America as an infant. He was privileged to obtain schooling and, after service in the war with Mexico, attended West Point. Relying heavily on detailed journals kept by Kautz for 43 years, this biography covers his early experiences and his time in the turbulent Pacific Northwest, where he was involved in Indian affairs and the Rogue River War. As with so many American military men of the time, however, the defining event in his career was the Civil War. Originally assigned to the Western Theater, where he played a role in the capture of Morgan's Raiders, Kautz's service included participation in the First Battle of Deep Bottom, the Wilson-Kautz Raid, and the Petersburg assault aimed at capturing Richmond. Kautz has often been misrepresented in historical mentions and this biography seeks to set the record straight. Period photographs and a number of maps are included.

This volume examines what the citizen soldiery of the New England states wore when they marched off to save the Union in 1861. An exhaustive search of thousands of newspapers yielded a myriad of reports and personal accounts from soldiers letters, which together offer a hitherto unpublished view of the stirring events during the first few months of the Civil War. Combined with fascinating detail from numerous diaries and regimental histories, the author is able to describe the appearance of the Union volunteers of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine. The narrative is enhanced by photographs of original uniform items from private collections, plus imagery of the day showing the great variety of clothing and headgear worn. Accepted by the Company of Military Historians, this is an essential reference for collectors, living historians, modelers, and curators, as well as anyone with a general interest in the Civil War.

General Winfield Scott Hancock was perhaps the most influential officer in the federal lines, though he commanded only one of seven Union corps at Gettysburg. On day one, he rallied fleeing troops and placed them in the formidable position the Union army occupied for the remainder of the battle. In a frantic few minutes on day two, he masterfully conducted reinforcements into a yawning gap in his defensive line, securing the position just moments before the Confederates advanced to try to take it. On the third day, he led the successful defense against the massive frontal assault known as Pickett's Charge. Understanding Hancock's pivotal actions at Gettysburg is essential to understanding the battle itself. This book covers his life and military career and considers the personal qualities that made him a preeminent figure in the greatest battle of the Civil War.

Elite Confederate Women in the American Civil War is a wide-ranging primary source collection that offers a compelling selection of upper-class, white Confederate women's voices from archives across the South. From the prison diary of Mary Terry to Elizabeth Baker Crozier's eyewitness account of the siege of Knoxville, this volume introduces lesser-known voices of the war to show the interconnections between the home front and the front lines, and how the war shaped the lives of women and households across the South. This collection challenges students to engage with the role of first-person narratives in history and to reconsider the roles of southern women in the Civil War. Exploring the themes of slavery, nationalism, secession and occupation, these narratives offer new ways to think about traditional issues in Civil War history and, more broadly, show the ways in which studies of women and gender can enrich studies of cultures of war. This book is designed for undergraduate and graduate students of both the American Civil War and women's history.

Elite Confederate Women in the American Civil War is a wide-ranging primary source collection that offers a compelling selection of upper-class, white Confederate women's voices from archives across the South. From the prison diary of Mary Terry to Elizabeth Baker Crozier's eyewitness account of the siege of Knoxville, this volume introduces lesser-known voices of the war to show the interconnections between the home front and the front lines, and how the war shaped the lives of women and households across the South. This collection challenges students to engage with the role of first-person narratives in history and to reconsider the roles of southern women in the Civil War. Exploring the themes of slavery, nationalism, secession and occupation, these narratives offer new ways to think about traditional issues in Civil War history and, more broadly, show the ways in which studies of women and gender can enrich studies of cultures of war. This book is designed for undergraduate and graduate students of both the American Civil War and women's history.

This book is the story of the fascinating and accomplished life of a 19th-century Delaware favorite son, Brig. Gen. Henry Lockwood, who sailed aboard the U.S. Navy man-of-war United States with novelist Herman Melville and figures importantly in Melville's novel White-Jacket; who participated in Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones's seizure of Monterey from Mexico; who was a progenitor and co-builder of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis; who pacified the slavery-bound Delmarva peninsula during the Civil War; who distinguished himself as a brigade commander at Gettysburg; and who later commanded Maryland Heights at Harper's Ferry, the Middle Department/8th Corps, and a division at Cold Harbor. All these accomplishments occurred in the face of a stuttering tendency that afflicted him throughout his life. The book also notices important family members such as son Lieut.James Lockwood, who died of starvation during the Greely polar expedition after having reached the furthest point north of any human; brother Navy Surgeon John Lockwood, whose polemical essays in conjunction with Melville's didactic message in White-Jacket were major factors in the outlawing of punitive flogging in the Navy; and son-in-law Adm. Charles Sigsbee, who was in command of the Maine when it blew up in Havana Harbor, thus adding to the cries for war against Spain. Three pivotal events in Lockwood's military career have unjustly detracted from his historical reputation: the failure of the Naval Academy to memorialize him for his seminal role its building; the lack of historical notice of his pacification and reconciliation of Delmarva without a shot being fired; and his relief from division command at Cold Harbor by an unhinged corps commander. For the historical record, Lockwood finally receives vindication in this book.

This book is a first-of-a-kind comprehensive, photographic essay regarding surviving artifacts of Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn - some never before published. Years were spent photographing and acquiring artifacts in museums and private collections, which are presented here in vivid, high-resolution color photographs, shot from various angles with the researcher and collector in mind. The photographs are catalogued under chapters devoted to the battle, Custer's 7th Cavalry, and the Lakota and Cheyenne warriors who fought them. Hundreds of photographic images accompanying the chapters are filled with informative descriptions regarding physical properties, history, origin of the items, and the stories behind them. This definitive work will provide a valuable resource for military researchers and historians, as well as an aesthetically stunning photographic essay to compliment any collection or library.

Edward Ephraim Cross (1832-1863) accomplished more in his short lifetime years than most men who live to be 100. By the eve of the Civil War, he had traveled from Cincinnati to Arizona working as a political reporter, travel writer, editor, trail hand, silver mine supervisor, and Indian fighter. In the summer of 1861, he became colonel of the Fighting Fifth New Hampshire Volunteers and gained fame as a fearless battlefield commander during action at Fair Oaks, Antietam, Fredricksburg, and Chancellorsville before being mortally wounded at Gettysburg. However, behind this great soldier lay a flawed man, an alcoholic with a short temper who fought a constant battle with words against immigrants, abolitionists, and others with whom he disagreed. This detailed biography presents a full portrait of this controversial and little-known figure, filling a critical gap in the literature of the northern Civil War experience.

Organized at Anderson, Indiana, in October 1862, the 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry's Civil War service spanned the Mississippi Valley and the Gulf South. From Louisville to New Orleans and Mobile to the Rio Grande, the regiment took the war to the inland waterways and southern bayous, fighting in many of the Civil War's most famous campaigns, including Vicksburg, Red River and Mobile. This chronicle of the 47th Indiana follows the regiment's odyssey through the words of its officers and men. Sources include Chaplain Samuel Sawyer's account of his exploits in the Indianapolis Daily Journal, soldiers' accounts in Indiana newspapers, stories of war and intrigue from newspapermen of the Bohemian Brigade, and General James R. Slack's own story in letters to his wife, Ann. Numerous photographs, previously unpublished battle and area maps, and a full regimental roster complete this detailed account.