Originally published in 1975, this assessment of the American Civil War is a broad treatment of the war as a major historical event, set in the context of a detailed picture of two governments, economies and societies at war. It discusses many controversial topics - the uncertainty and hesitation that surrounded the origins of the war, for example, its economic impact, the Radicals and their relationship with Lincoln and reconstruction as a wartime issue. It offers acute analysis of Lincoln's political skills, and an evaluation of emancipation and Lincoln's approach to it; the problems and performance of the opposition during the war; international reactions; an assessment of some of the leading generals like McClellan and Lee and the impact of the war on both Southern and Northern society.

This concise introduction to the Gettysburg campaign relates fascinating facts about all aspects of the battle and its participants. Revised and expanded for the 150th anniversary of the battle, it explains why the battle began, how it was fought, who was in command, what the soldiers experienced, and how the nation, the armies, and the town of Gettysburg dealt with the aftermath of the fighting -- all in a compact, fun-to-read format. * Fascinating facts about all aspects of the battle and its participants * Revised and expanded for the 150th anniversary of the battle Just some of the fascinating topics covered: * What led to the battle and why it was fought at Gettysburg * Who led the troops on both sides of the field * What average soldiers experienced, in their own words * Heroic actions and calamitous mistakes in judgment * What weapons were used and how effective they were * What happened to local civilians during and after the fight

During the Civil War, Confederate military courts sentenced to death more soldiers from North Carolina than from any other state. This study offers the first exploration of the service records of 450 of these wayward Confederates, most often deserters. Arranged by army, corps, division and brigade, it chronicles their military trials and frequent executions and offers explanations of how a lucky few were able to avoid their fate. Focus on court activity by company allows for comparisons that emphasize the wide disparity in discipline within a regiment and brigade. By stressing the effectiveness of these deadly decisions as deterrents to others, this work maintains that an earlier and wider reliance on execution would have strengthened the Confederacy sufficiently to force a negotiated end to the war, thus saving many Confederate and Federal lives.

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.

The recently discovered journal of William Ray of the Seventh Wisconsin is the most important primary source ever of soldier life in one of the war's most famous fighting organizations. No other collection of letters or diaries comes close to it.Two days before his regiment left Wisconsin in 1861, the twenty-three-year-old blacksmith began, as he described it, "to keep account" of his life in what became the "Iron Brigade of the West." Ray's journal encompasses all aspects of the enlisted man's life-the battles, the hardships, the comradeship. And Ray saw most of the war from the front rank. He was wounded at Second Bull Run, again at Gettysburg, and yet a third time in the hell of the Wilderness. He penned something in his journal almost every day-occasionally just a few lines, at other times thousands of words. Ray's candid assessments of officers and strategy, his vivid descriptions of marches and the fighting, and his evocative tales of foraging and daily army life fill a large gap in the historical record and give an unforgettable soldier's-eye view of the Civil War.

The United States was a debtor nation in the mid-nineteenth century, with half of its national debt held overseas. Lacking the resources to develop the nation and to fund the wars necessary to expand and then preserve it, the United States looked across the Atlantic for investment capital. The need to obtain foreign capital greatly influenced American foreign policy, principally relations with Britain. The intersection of finance and diplomacy was particularly evident during the Civil War when both the North and South integrated attempts to procure loans from European banks into their larger international strategies. Furthermore, the financial needs of the United States (and the Confederacy) imparted significant political power to an elite group of London-based financiers who became intimately involved in American foreign relations during this period. This study explores and assesses how the United State's need for capital influenced its foreign relations in the tumultuous years wedged between the two great financial crises of the nineteenth century, 1837 to 1873.
Drawing on the unused archives of London banks and the papers of statesmen on both sides of the Atlantic, this work illuminates our understanding of mid-nineteenth-century American foreign relations by highlighting how financial considerations influenced the formation of foreign policy and functioned as a peace factor in Anglo-American relations. This study also analyzes a crucial, but ignored, dimension of the Civil War - the efforts of both the North and the South to attract the support of European financiers. Though foreign contributions to each side failed to match the hopes of Union and Confederate leaders, thefinancial diplomacy of the Civil War shaped the larger foreign policy strategies of both sides and contributed to both the preservation of British neutrality and the ultimate defeat of the Confederacy.

Wilson's Wharf was the first major clash between U.S. Colored Troops and the Army of Northern Virginia. The 1st and 10th USCT infantry regiments, supported by two cannon and two U.S. Navy gunboats, faced 11 detachments of veteran Confederate cavalry who were under orders to ""kill every man."" Union commander General Edward Wild, a one-armed abolitionist, refused General Fitzhugh Lee's demand for surrender, telling Lee to ""go to Hell."" The battle resulted in a victory for the mainly black Union force. This book describes the action in detail and in the larger context of the history of black U.S. servicemen, including the British recruitment of runaway slaves during the Revolutionary War, the black Colonial Marines who joined the British in torching Washington in the War of 1812, and the South's attempts to enlist slaves in the final months of the Civil War.

In 1861, Colonel Grenville Dodge organized the Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment and led them off to war. They had few uniforms or weapons and were more of a mob than a military unit, but Dodge shaped them into a fighting force that won honors on the battlefield and gained respect as one of the best regiments in the Union Army. Promoted to the rank of Major-General, Dodge became one of the youngest divisional, corps and departmental commanders in the Army. A superb field general, he also organized a network of more than 100 spies to gather military intelligence and built railroads to supply the troops in the Western Theater. This book covers Dodge's Civil War career and the history of the Fourth Iowa, who fought at Pea Ridge, Vicksburg, Chattanooga and Atlanta.

More than 150 years after its end, we still struggle to understand the full extent of the human toll of the Civil War and the psychological crisis it created. In Aberration of Mind, Diane Miller Sommerville offers the first book-length treatment of suicide in the South during the Civil War era, giving us insight into both white and black communities, Confederate soldiers and their families, as well as the enslaved and newly freed. With a thorough examination of the dynamics of both racial and gendered dimensions of psychological distress, Sommerville reveals how the suffering experienced by southerners living in a war zone generated trauma that, in extreme cases, led some southerners to contemplate or act on suicidal thoughts. Sommerville recovers previously hidden stories of individuals exhibiting suicidal activity or aberrant psychological behavior she links to the war and its aftermath. This work adds crucial nuance to our understanding of how personal suffering shaped the way southerners viewed themselves in the Civil War era and underscores the full human costs of war.

For someone who did not actually fight in the American Civil War, Stephen Crane was extraordinarily accurate in his description of the psychological tension experienced by a youthful soldier grappling with his desire to act heroically, his fears, and redemption. Stephen Crane's novel The Red Badge of Courage provides an extraordinary take on the battlefield experiences of a young soldier coming of age under extreme circumstances. His writing took place a generation after the war's conclusion, at a time when the entire nation was coming to grips with the meaning of the Civil War. It was during this time in the late 19th century that the battle over the memory of the war was taking place. This new, annotated edition of the novel is designed to guide readers through references made through Crane's characters and how they reflect Civil War military experiences-specifically how "the youth's" experiences reflect the reality of the multi-day battle of Chancellorsville, which took place in Virginia beginning on May 1, 1863, and concluded on May 4 of the same year. The annotated text is preceded by introductory essays on Crane and on the Civil War. Crane's short story "The Veteran" is also included to allow readers to better understand the post-war lives of Civil War soldiers. Explains key background information for better understanding The Red Badge of Courage Includes introductory essays on Crane and on the Civil War Provides the full text for both Red Badge and Crane's lesser-known short story "The Veteran" with comprehensive annotations that illuminate the links between the stories and their historical contexts

Following the loss of the CSS Arkansas in early August 1862, Union and Confederate eyes turned to the Yazoo River, which formed the developing northern flank for the South's fortress at Vicksburg, Mississippi. For much of the next year, Federal efforts to capture the citadel focused on possession of that stream. Huge battles and mighty expeditions were launched (Chickasaw Bayou, Yazoo Pass, Steele's Bayou) from that direction, but the city, guarded by stout defenses, swamps, and motivated defenders, could not be turned. Finally, Union troops ran down the Mississippi and came up from the south and the river defenses and the bastion itself were taken from the east. From July 1863 to August 1864, sporadic Confederate resistance necessitated continued Federal attention. This book recounts the whole story.

Here, for the first time, the fighting done by Hilliard's Legion, a part of Archibald Gracie's Brigade of Alabama Confederates, is examined in detail. Lee Elder's research shows conclusively that Gracie's command was never forced from the berm at the top of the Horseshoe Ridge and that some men from Hilliard's Legion penetrated to the top of the Ridge. Using period sources not generally cited by other researchers, including letters from Legion members, this study sheds new light on the Legion's role in the conclusion of the battle. It spotlights the previously untold history of a small number of Gracie's men who joined another Confederate brigade in the final movement of the battle that resulted in the surrender of more than 200 Union soldiers. Readers will explore some of the controversies surrounding the Battle of Chickamauga, and follow the Legion's history before and after it climbed Horseshoe Ridge. The notation on a Congressional Medal of Honor is corrected and the Legion's post-war contributions are explored. The text is followed by a complete roster of Hilliard's Legion with biographical notes on most of the soldiers.

This collection of writings by John Brown in the fateful days after his raid on Harper's Ferry showcase the depth of conviction of Brown's character. Paired with Louis DeCaro's narrative of the aftermath, trial, and execution of John Brown in Freedom's Dawn: The Last Days of John Brown in Virginia, this book preserves the first-hand experience of Brown as he gave his life for the abolitionist cause.

Of the 192 Union military hospitals during the Civil War, 19 circulated self-published newspapers. Editorial policies ranged from defanging copperhead Democrats to providing a record of soldiers' experiences. The horrors of wound infection and amputation were reported in the words of surgeons, medical students, nurses and patients. Those who experienced the war wrote about it in simple narrative, providing insight into wartime health care and a broader understanding of their sacrifices. Convalescent life was painful and terrifying. Surviving fever or bed-ridden for months with festering wounds, disabled veterans wondered who would respond to their needs. Who would hire them? Who would marry them? Relationships with sweethearts, wives and mothers, blacks, Irish and Confederates were frequent subjects. This book covers the founding and development of nine hospital newspapers, each explored by subject matter: patriotism, politics, religion, satire, romance and marriage, battlefield experience and treatment of prisoners of war.

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.

Finalist for the 2011 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize "A seminal work. . . . One of the best examples of new, sophisticated scholarship on the social history of Civil War soldiers." -The Journal of Southern History "Will undoubtedly, and properly, be read as the latest word on the role of manhood in the internal dynamics of the Union army." -Journal of the Civil War Era During the Civil War, the Union army appeared cohesive enough to withstand four years of grueling war against the Confederates and to claim victory in 1865. But fractiousness bubbled below the surface of the North's presumably united front. Internal fissures were rife within the Union army: class divisions, regional antagonisms, ideological differences, and conflicting personalities all distracted the army from quelling the Southern rebellion. In this highly original contribution to Civil War and gender history, Lorien Foote reveals that these internal battles were fought against the backdrop of manhood. Clashing ideals of manliness produced myriad conflicts, as when educated, refined, and wealthy officers ("gentlemen") found themselves commanding a hard-drinking group of fighters ("roughs")-a dynamic that often resulted in violence and even death. Based on extensive research into heretofore ignored primary sources, The Gentlemen and the Roughs uncovers holes in our understanding of the men who fought the Civil War and the society that produced them.

The Diary of a Civil War Marine: Private Josiah Gregg is a rare firsthand account of a United States Marine during the Civil War, written within hours of the events described. Gregg enlisted as a private at the beginning of the war, and served as a shipboard Marine on the Vanderbilt as it hunted Confederate raiders in the Caribbean and Atlantic. He also served aboard the Brooklyn at the battles of Mobile Bay and Fort Fischer. Part war story and part travel log, Gregg tells a good story with the confident prose of a man who worked as a school teacher and a clerk before the war. Seen by only Gregg's descendants for the last 140 years, the diary entries have been edited to include notes that explain what might be unclear to a modern audience. Also included are brief histories of the ships and the events described in the journal, and eight black and white photographs that were found inside the journal.

The 11th Missouri Infantry distinguished itself as just the type of regiment the Union needed in the Civil War. Hard as nails and loyal to a fault, the men of the ""Eagle Brigade"" would follow their commanders ""into hell if they ordered."" They battled two Confederate regiments at Iuka, turned the tide at Battery Robinett at Corinth, assaulted the impossible Stockade Redan at Vicksburg as ranks of the soldiers were cut down, and broke Hood's line at Nashville. Although the 11th Missouri ranks among the 300 top regiments of the Civil War, little of its history has been formally recorded. This study provides a detailed account of the regiment's four-and-a-half years of outstanding service and a roster.

Frederick Douglass asks students to confront an explosive question: How, in a nation founded on ideas of equal rights and freedom, could the institution of slavery become so entrenched and long-lasting? How was slavery justified and how was it criticised? At a literary forum, students consider the newly-published Narrative of Frederick Douglass and hold a hearing on John C. Calhoun's view of slavery as a "positive good". Finally, players address the US Constitution, its original protections of the slaveholders' power and the central question: Are Americans more beholden to the Constitution or to some "higher law"?

This is the story of 150 of the most adventurous scouts, gold prospectors, gunslingers, buffalo hunters, and Civil War veterans of both sides-they may have been the deadliest collection of shooters to ever hit the trail. This is the most detailed work ever produced on the obscure legend of the 1874 Yellowstone Wagon Road Prospecting Expedition in the Montana Territory-the product of multi-year research across the country, and visits to the three battlefields and expedition route of over 500 miles-an event that impacted the Little Bighorn in 1876. Numerous legends of the West rode on the expedition, later playing roles in the Great Sioux War of 1876. Their adversaries now were the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne-some of the greatest light cavalry to ever gallop over the North American continent. And watching their every move were Sitting Bull, Gall, Hump, Crazy Horse, and a renegade chief named Inkpaduta, ready to strike.

Soldier mortals would not survive if they were not blessed with the gift of imagination and the pictures of hope,"" wrote Confederate Private Henry Graves in the trenches outside Petersburg, Virginia. ""The second angel of mercy is the night dream."" Providing fresh perspective on the human side of the Civil War, this book explores the dreams and imaginings of those who fought it, as recorded in their letters, journals and memoirs. Sometimes published as poems or songs or printed in newspapers, these rarely acknowledged writings reflect the personalities and experiences of their authors. Some expressions of fear, pain, loss, homesickness and disappointment are related with grim fatalism, and some with glimpses of humor.