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Books > History > American history > 1800 to 1900
Considered one of the best treatments of the presidency of Abraham
Lincoln of its time, this portrait of the man and his
administration of the United States at the moment of its greatest
upheaval is both intimate and scholarly. Written by two private
secretaries to the president and first published in 1890, this
astonishingly in-depth work is still praised today for its clear,
easy-to-read style and vitality. This new replica edition features
all the original illustrations. Volume Nine covers: Sherman's
campaign to the Chattahoochee the Cleveland convention the
Wade-Davis manifesto the last days of the rebel navy Horace
Greeley's peace mission Atlanta Sheridan in the Shenandoah Cedar
Creek Lincoln reelected and much more. American journalist and
statesman JOHN MILTON HAY (1838-1905) was only 22 when he became a
private secretary to Lincoln. A former member of the Providence
literary circle when he attended Brown University in the late
1850s, he may have been the real author of Lincoln's famous "Letter
to Mrs. Bixby." After Lincoln's death, Hay later served as editor
of the *New York Tribune* and as U.S. ambassador to the United
Kingdom under President William McKinley. American author JOHN
GEORGE NICOLAY (1832-1901) was born in Germany and emigrated to the
U.S. as a child. Before serving as Lincoln's private secretary, he
worked as a newspaper editor and later as assistant to the
secretary of state of Illinois. He also wrote *Campaigns of the
Civil War* (1881).
This edited collection of Civil War correspondence between Col.
Thomas Cahill and his wife, Margaret, offers a rare glimpse into
the symbiotic relationship between soldiers and their home
communities. In the only substantial extant collection of letters
from an Irish American woman on the northern home front, Margaret's
pivotal role as a go-between in the financial affairs of men in the
regiment and their wives is made evident, as is the broader
interplay between the community of New Haven, Connecticut, and the
regiment. The couple's correspondence was nearly constant in their
four years apart. There is an inherent intimacy in the way that
daily life during the Civil War is documented and in particular in
the gradual revelation of the emotional toll taken by a
long-distance relationship. Because the volume includes letters
from both Cahill and his wife, the interplay between the regiment
and the home front is traced in a way most collections are not able
to achieve. This lively correspondence provides a great
introduction to primary source reading for students of the Civil
War home front. These teaching opportunities will supplemented by a
companion website that features more correspondence, maps, and
additional learning materials.
In the Ranks comprises of personal, eyewitness accounts of the
American Civil War: the state of the battles; the realities of the
technology and equipment; encampments and skirmishes of that
conflict. A collection of stunning first-hand recollections of the
conflict, we hear various unabashed and frank summaries of the
battles and campaigns of that conflict. The chaos and randomness of
war, and how many of the events happened essentially through
fortune or accident rather than sound and careful planning, is a
recurring theme throughout the text. Comprised of veterans'
recollections, often the descriptions are bloody and violent - it
is clear that the ordinary soldier was subject to terrifying
sights. An underappreciated classic of the U.S. Civil War era, In
the Ranks is neither an edifying or glory-filled read. Rather it is
a frank, realistic and forthrightly violent recounting of
day-to-day fighting.
"The Civil War was the most dramatic, violent, and fateful
experience in American history. . . . Little wonder that the Civil
War had a profound impact that has echoed down the generations and
remains undiminished today. That impact helps explain why at least
50,000 books and pamphlets . . . on the Civil War have been
published since the 1860s. Most of these are in the Library of
Congress, along with thousands of unpublished letters, diaries, and
other documents that make this depository an unparalleled resource
for studying the war. From these sources, the editors of "The
Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference "have compiled a
volume that every library, every student of the Civil War--indeed
everyone with an interest in the American past--will find
indispensable." --From the Foreword by James M. McPherson, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author of "Battle Cry of Freedom "
The study of Confederate troops, generals, and politicians during
the Civil War often overshadows the history of noncombatants- slave
and free, male and female, rich and poor- threatening obscurity for
important voices of the period. Although civilians comprised the
vast majority of those affected by the conflict, even the number of
civilian casualties over the course of the Civil War remains
unknown. Wallace Hettle's The Confederate Homefront provides a
sample of the enormous documentary record on the domestic
population of the Confederate states, offering a glimpse of what it
was like to live through a brutal war fought almost entirely on
southern soil. The Confederate Homefront collects excerpts from
slave narratives, poems, diaries and journals, along with brief
introductions that examine the circumstances and biases of each
source. Bearing witness to the lives of marginalized groups,
narratives by women navigating complex webs of loyalties and former
slaves resisting and escaping the Confederacy feature prominently.
Hettle also focuses on lesser-known aspects of the war, such as
conscription, draft evasion, and the development of Union military
policies that helped bring about the demise of slavery. Reflecting
recent work by Civil War historians, Hettle includes numerous
documents that focus on the role of Christianity in justifying the
Confederacy's increasingly destructive moral and ideological
position in the war. He also examines the guerrilla war on the
southern homefront and the plight of black and white refugees,
adding new insights into the destructive impact of warfare on the
lives of civilians. The first documentary history to foreground the
experiences of Confederate civilians, The Confederate Homefront
illuminates the overlooked lives of noncombatants in the Civil War
and bears witness to the traumatic final years of the institution
of American slavery.
The Dakota Conflict, or Great Sioux Uprising as it was called,
occurred 150 years ago in 1862 and became identified as part of the
American Civil War. The Dakota Conflict caused the greatest loss of
civilian life in an Indian war in U.S. history, and resulted in the
largest mass execution in U.S. history. The author is a direct
descendant of settlers living in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, who
witnessed htis dark chapter in American history. We commemorate all
victims of the Sioux Uprising, we forgive the crimes of our
ancestors, and we support efforts at reconciliation between the
white and Indian cultures. This hardcover book, Blood on the
Prairie A Novel of the Sioux Uprising Sesquicentennial Edition, is
a collector edition intended for personal and community libraries.
The Native Peoples of the United States could only take so much
from the world. "Blood on the Prairie" is a novel set amongst this
theater of the American Civil War, where the Sioux Nation rebelled
against Minnesota and led to some of the bloodiest conflicts of the
period. Author Steven Ulmen draws on his own personal history to
tell the story of the conflict. "Blood on the Prairie" is a strong
pick for fans of historical fiction, recommended. Burroughs
Bookshelf, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW, September 2012
Considered one of the best treatments of the presidency of Abraham
Lincoln of its time, this portrait of the man and his
administration of the United States at the moment of its greatest
upheaval is both intimate and scholarly. Written by two private
secretaries to the president and first published in 1890, this
astonishingly in-depth work is still praised today for its clear,
easy-to-read style and vitality. This new replica edition features
all the original illustrations. Volume Eight covers: conspiracies
in the North habeas corpus Chickamauga Chattanooga Burnside in
Tennessee the Gettysburg address foreign relations in 1863 Grant
general-in-chief Spotsylvania and much more. American journalist
and statesman JOHN MILTON HAY (1838-1905) was only 22 when he
became a private secretary to Lincoln. A former member of the
Providence literary circle when he attended Brown University in the
late 1850s, he may have been the real author of Lincoln's famous
"Letter to Mrs. Bixby." After Lincoln's death, Hay later served as
editor of the *New York Tribune* and as U.S. ambassador to the
United Kingdom under President William McKinley. American author
JOHN GEORGE NICOLAY (1832-1901) was born in Germany and emigrated
to the U.S. as a child. Before serving as Lincoln's private
secretary, he worked as a newspaper editor and later as assistant
to the secretary of state of Illinois. He also wrote *Campaigns of
the Civil War* (1881).
This study introduces a new perspective on Lincoln and the Civil
War through an examination of his declaration of our national
values and the subsequent interpretation of those values by
families during the war. This volume is a completely new approach
to Civil War history. Historians rightly regard Abraham Lincoln as
a moral exemplar, a president who gave new life to the national
values that defined America. While some previous studies attest to
Lincoln's identification with family virtues, this is the first to
link Lincoln's personal biography with actual histories of families
at war. It analyzes the relationship that existed between Lincoln
and these families and assesses the moral struggles that validated
the families' decision for or against the conflict. Written to be
accessible to students and the general reader alike, the book
examines Lincoln's presidency as measured against the stories of
families, North and South, that struggled with his definition of
Union virtues. It looks at Lincoln's compelling case for democratic
values-among them, justice, patriotism, honor, and commitment-first
stated in his 1861 speech before Independence Hall. The work also
uses case studies to demonstrate how virtue, as practiced in
families, illuminated, contested, adapted, and even transformed his
concept, giving new meaning to the "virtues of war." Takes a new
approach to the study of the Civil War as it connects Lincoln to
families' assessment of their own and national virtues Provides a
unique viewpoint on Lincoln's virtues derived from his important
Independence Hall speech Shows how virtue helped to coalesce
families into one unified nation Is enlivened by short biographical
pieces in every chapter
The History of the American West Collection is a unique project
that provides opportunities for researchers and new readers to
easily access and explore works which have previously only been
available on library shelves. The Collection brings to life
pre-1923 titles focusing on a wide range of topics and experiences
in US Western history. From the initial westward migration, to
exploration and development of the American West to daily life in
the West and intimate pictures of the people who inhabited it, this
collection offers American West enthusiasts a new glimpse at some
forgotten treasures of American culture. Encompassing genres such
as poetry, fiction, nonfiction, tourist guides, biographies and
drama, this collection provides a new window to the legend and
realities of the American West.
A guide to the conflicts for the Union
This book has a curious pedigree. During the U.S. Grant
administration, the Secretary of War instructed the Corps of Clerks
to compile a thorough and complete catalogue of all the engagements
of the late American Civil War-irrespective of their magnitude. The
work was duly completed, published in small edition and a copy was
presented by the Adjutant-General to the Secretary of War who, upon
receiving it, promptly checked its pages for a minor incident in
which he had been involved only to discover that it was notably
absent It was from this rather embarrassing foundation that this
book (oddly titled in its original edition 'When and Where We Met
Each Other on Shore or Afloat' ) was conceived and, after much
research, published. The task was a daunting one and the book
occupied its author, Theodore D. Strickler, for over a decade as he
examined official and other reliably authentic sources. Of course,
all the well known battles are recorded here, but also included are
the hundreds of minor affairs including scouting parties,
skirmishes and raids. Strickler had the advantage of living
witnesses to authenticate his findings and at the time of its
original publication the book claimed to be the most complete
compilation of its kind. The principal body of the text is in list
form and the Leonaur edition has faithfully reproduced this in its
original form for the sake of authenticity. All other text-which
includes a piece on unit insignia-has been newly typeset. By virtue
of its extreme thoroughness this book will be invaluable to all
serious students of the American Civil War.
Every Leonaur title is available in softcover and hardback with
dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil
lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.
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