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Books > History > American history > 1800 to 1900
At its core, the Civil War was a conflict over the meaning of
citizenship. Most famously, it became a struggle over whether or
not to grant rights to a group that stood outside the pale of
civil-society: African Americans. But other groups--namely Jews,
Germans, the Irish, and Native Americans--also became part of this
struggle to exercise rights stripped from them by legislation,
court rulings, and the prejudices that defined the age. Grounded in
extensive research by experts in their respective fields, Civil War
Citizens is the first volume to collectively analyze the wartime
experiences of those who lived outside the dominant white,
Anglo-Saxon Protestant citizenry of nineteenth-century America. The
essays examine the momentous decisions made by these communities in
the face of war, their desire for full citizenship, the complex
loyalties that shaped their actions, and the inspiring and
heartbreaking results of their choices-- choices that still echo
through the United States today. Contributors: Stephen D. Engle,
William McKee Evans, David T. Gleeson, Andrea Mehrlander, Joseph P.
Reidy, Robert N. Rosen, and Susannah J. Ural.
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First Shot
(Hardcover)
Robert N. Rosen, Richard W Hatcher
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R719
R638
Discovery Miles 6 380
Save R81 (11%)
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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.
The Civil War resulted from the insistence of Southern "firebrands"
that the 1820 restrictions on where slavery could be practiced in
the Western territories of the USA be removed. And the dogged
determination of some Northerners to restrict the brutal treatment
of blacks and finally put slavery on the road to extinction. In the
1850's big shoes dropped one after another in staccato fashion to
dash such hopes. The final straws were the Dred Scott Decision in
1857 saying blacks weren't even people and Congress had no power to
restrict slavery anywhere And Civil War was going on in "bleeding
Kansas" between adherents of the two stances. John Brown was
radicalized there by the sacking of Abolitionist stronghold
Lawrence. He and his sons killed some Jayhawkers (slavery
adherents) from Missouri. Then Brown, his sons, and a few others,
lit a fuse in Oct 1859 by a hare brained scheme to seize the
Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry to arm slaves and precipitate
action to free them. So when Lincoln was elected in 1860-the South
bolted As they had threatened for 15 years. America was almost
destroyed. Until July 4, 1863 when two Union victories insured:
"that these honored dead (800,000) shall not have died in vain"
Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg, Pa Nov. 1863.
A battle badly conducted and the destruction of one brave man
This an account of the battle of Shiloh by one who was present as a
colonel of the Ohio Volunteer infantry, but it is also much more
than that. In every line of this book the reader feels the anger
and vitriol of a deeply offended man. This work transcends history
to become an exposure-according to the author's viewpoint-of
incompetence, double dealing and cover-up on behalf of the senior
officers of the Union Army. The particular target of Worthington's
accusation is his superior officer W. T. Sherman. Certainly the two
men were enemies-a situation which for Worthington, as the
subordinate officer, was to have disastrous consequences. It is now
recognised that Worthington's own conduct during the battle itself
was exemplary, contributing much to the benefit of the Union
action. Nevertheless, Sherman court martialled Worthington after
the battle and he was cashiered from the service. Notwithstanding
the illegality of his trial and its subsequent over turning by
Lincoln himself, Sherman, in concert with Grant, ensured
Worthington was never reinstated. This is a vital analysis of a
Civil War battle with no holds barred and a story of great
injustice done to a man of principle.
Lasting from June 1864 through April 1965, the RichmondPetersburg
Campaign was the longest of the Civil War, dwarfing even the
Atlanta and Vicksburg campaigns in its scope and complexity. This
compact yet comprehensive guide allows armchair historian and
battlefield visitor alike to follow the campaign's course, with a
clear view of its multifaceted strategic, operation, tactical, and
human dimensions.
A concise, single-volume collection of official reports and
personal accounts, the guide is organized in one-day and multi-day
itineraries that take the reader to all the battlefields of the
campaign, some of which have never before been interpreted and
described for the visitor so extensively. Comprehensive campaign
and battle maps reflect troop movements, historical terrain
features, and modern roads for ease of understanding and
navigation. A uniquely useful resource for the military enthusiast
and the battlefield traveler, this is the essential guide for
anyone hoping to see the historic landscape and the human face of
this most decisive campaign of the Civil War.
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 One covers: the Lincoln
lineage from the late 18th century Lincoln's boyhood in Kentucky
and Indiana his experience in the legislature and his early law
practice Lincoln's early opposition to slavery "The Shields Duel"
the campaign for Congress "civil war" in Kansas 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).
At the beginning of the Civil War, Georgia ranked third among the
Confederate states in manpower resources, behind only Virginia and
Tennessee. With an arms-bearing population somewhere between
120,000 and 130,000 white males between the ages of 16 and 60, this
resource became an object of a great struggle between Joseph Brown,
governor of Georgia, and Jefferson Davis, president of the
Confederacy. Brown advocated a strong state defense, but as the war
dragged on Davis applied more pressure for more soldiers from
Georgia. In December 1863, the state's general assembly reorganized
the state militia and it became known as Joe Brown's Pets. Civil
War historians William Scaife and William Bragg have written not
only the first history of the Georgia Militia during the Civil War,
but have produced the definitive history of this militia. Using
original documents found in the Georgia Department of Archives and
History that are too delicate for general public access, Scaife and
Bragg were granted special permission to research the material
under the guidance of an archivist and conducted under tightly
controlled conditions of security and preservation control.
A major Civil War battle-and Lee's triumph
The Battle of Chancellorsville was one of the principal engagements
of the American Civil War. It was fought between Hooker's Army of
the Potomac and Lee's Army of Northern Virginia which was half the
size of the enemy. Battle was joined in Spotsylvania County,
Virginia on April 30th 1863 and it raged until May 6th.
Irrespective of the eventual outcome of the war, Chancellorsville
has remained a text book battle for military historians. Lee,
always renowned for command capability, here showed military nerve
and audacity by dividing his army in the face of a vastly
numerically superior enemy. Further, he demonstrated the maxim of
'know your opponent' for he clearly had the measure of the timid
prevaricating Hooker. The outcome was an overwhelming Confederate
victory and won the accolade, 'Lee's Perfect Battle'. The edge was
taken off the success by the death of 'Stonewall' Jackson-a
military genius both Lee and the Confederate cause could ill afford
to lose. Dodge's history, written from a Union perspective,
provides interesting mitigating circumstances concerning Federal
actions and personalities-usually absent from later histories-for
the student of the period to evaluate.
This extensive two-way exchange of letters between Rufus Robbins
and members of his family provides a highly personalized view of
the life of a Union soldier, as well as life on the home front in
South Abington, Massachusetts, an important source of war materiel.
Enlisting in the Seventh Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment
at the seasoned age of 31, Rufus carefully crafts letters that are
articulate, graphic, and often witty and that contribute much to
our understanding of the daily course of the war. Notes from home
reflect the Robbins family's ever-present worry and concern for
Rufus' well-being. His brothers detail their involvement in the
sewing of army boots, an activity for which South Abington held a
large contract.
As a confirmed Universalist, Rufus struggled to live a life of
faith in the midst of war. His letters demonstrate the depth of his
character, showing both maturity and confidence. However, as the
war continued, one sees his belief in the righteousness of the
Union cause, his confidence in God, and his sometimes naive
simplicity replaced with a more realistic form of idealism. In this
collection, those interested in military affairs can learn about
the economic workings of the camps, the recreational outlets for
the soldiers, and the grim realities of the Peninsula Campaign,
while scholars focussing on civilian life will gain a greater
understanding of the impact of the war on the families and friends
left behind.
Perhaps no person exerted more influence on postwar white Southern
memory than former Confederate chaplain and Baptist minister J.
William Jones. Christopher C. Moore's Apostle of the Lost Cause is
the first full-length work to examine the complex contributions to
Lost Cause ideology of this well-known but surprisingly
understudied figure. Commissioned by Robert E. Lee himself to
preserve an accurate account of the Confederacy, Jones responded by
welding hagiography and denominationalism to create, in effect, a
sacred history of the Southern cause. In a series of popular books
and in his work as secretary of the Southern Historical Society
Papers, Jones's mission became the canonization of Confederate
saints, most notably Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis,
for a postwar generation and the contrivance of a full-blown myth
of Southern virtue-in-defeat that deeply affected historiography
for decades to come. While personally committed to Baptist
identity, Jones supplied his readers with embodiments of Southern
morality who transcended denominational boundaries and enabled
white Southerners to locate their champions (and themselves) in a
quasi-biblical narrative that ensured ultimate vindication for the
Southern cause. In a time when Confederate monuments and the
enduring effects of white supremacy are in the daily headlines, an
examination of this key figure in the creation of the Lost Cause
legacy could not be more relevant.
In 1859, a thirteen-year-old-girl began a diary, detailing the
emotions and events of everyday life. Daily life in her small
hometown of Cleveland, Tennessee was not destined to remain quiet
and routine, however. When the Civil War began, the diary entries
provide a firsthand account of the sorrows inflicted when the Civil
War tore families apart in the border South. Myra, a staunch
Confederate, gave a vivid account of the war, how it divided her
community and left misery in its wake. Her diary became a bosom
friend to whom she could confide her pain and grief. While she
never knew the historical importance of her diary, her descendants
did, and preserved this precious legacy.
Like the famous diary of Anne Frank, Myra Inman's diary begins
with ordinary events and proceeds to tell the story of a child's
view of the horrors of war. This book offers a unique perspective
on the Civil War -- that of a child in the borderlands, where
families were torn apart by differing loyalties.
The American Civil War was a vicious conflict that developed in
intense hatred between opposing sides. Despite some historians'
assertions that this was history's last great "gentlemen's war,"
the conflict was anything but civil. There is ample evidence to
suggest that both sides quite commonly retaliated against one
another throughout the war, often in chillingly inhumane ways.
Violent retaliation was most apparent within Federal and
Confederate penitentiaries. Prisoners of war were frequently
subjected to both physical and mental abuse. This sort of
mistreatment was employed to obtain information, recruit prisoners
for military service, or to force prisoners to sign oaths of
allegiance. In addition to the torture and neglect that were
carried out on a regular basis, even more unbelievable-and less
known-was the actual killing of these unarmed men in retribution
for their army's actions on the battlefield. Sometimes it happened
as the prisoners threw down their weapons and raised their hands to
surrend
The Civil War Re-Lived in 40 Stories! Between the first shots fired
at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, to Lee's surrender at Appomattox
Courthouse on April 9, 1865, the nation was irrevocably changed, as
were the lives of the soldiers and civilians who lived through the
war. This is an extraordinary collection of stories about that
epochal conflict, bringing the victories and defeats, the valor and
the heartbreak, alive with personal intensity. Includes entries by:
Ambrose Bierce Stephan Crane Mark Twain and many others.
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