Charles Swett (1828-1910) was a prosperous Vicksburg merchant and small plantation owner who was reluctantly drawn into secession but then rallied behind the Confederate cause, serving with distinction in the Confederate Army. After the war some of Swett's peers from Mississippi and other southern states invited him to explore the possibility of settling in British Honduras or the Republic of Honduras.

"Confederates in the Tropics" uses Swett's 1868 travelogue to explore the motives of would-be Confederate migrants' fleeing defeat and Reconstruction in the United States South. The authors make a comparative analysis of Confederate communities in Latin America, and use Charles Swett's life to illustrate the travails and hopes of the period for both blacks and whites.

Swett's diary is presented here in its entirety in a clear, accessible format, edited for contemporary readers. Swett's style, except for his passionate prefatory remarks, is a remarkably unsentimental, even scientific look at Belize and Honduras, more akin to a field report than a romantic travel account. In a final section, the authors suggest why the expatriate communities of white Southerners nearly always failed, and follow up on Swett's life in Mississippi in a way that sheds light on why disgruntled Confederates decided to remain in or eventually to return to the U.S. South.

Before there was Shirley Temple or Judy Garland or Fanny Brice, before musical comedy even existed as a genre, Maggie Mitchell (1836-1918) consistently drew sold-out crowds for four decades as a musical comedy star. Admired by Abraham Lincoln as well as John Wilkes Booth, along with millions of adoring fans, both female and male, Maggie blazed across the American stage, her energy unstoppable in her signature roles: Fanchon, Little Barefoot, Pearl of Savoy, French Spy, Little Savage, and Jane Eyre. Trying to capture her appeal, reviewers exhausted their store of adjectives and metaphors, among them "vivacious," "beautiful," "hoydenish," "sprightly," "piquant," "elfin," "impish," "mischievous," "winsome," "electric," "versatile," "chaste," "a fascinating little witch," "a materialized sunbeam" and "a champagne sparkle." When she finally retired, one of the wealthiest actresses in the world, she left in her wake dozens of Maggie Mitchell imitators, and critics ever since have spoken of the "Maggie Mitchell style" of acting: effervescent, endearing, and eternally youthful. As an actress, a faithful wife and mother, and an icon of respectability in a field often condemned by moralists, she left a legacy of unparalleled achievement.

July 1, 1863. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee advanced across the Pennsylvania countryside toward the small town of Gettysburg-less than 90 miles from Washington, D.C.--on a collision course with the Union Army of the Potomac. In Lee's ranks were 5,000 South Carolina troops destined to play critical roles in the three days of fighting ahead. From generals to privates, the Palmetto State soldiers were hurled into the Civil War's most famous battle-hundreds were killed, wounded or later suffered as prisoners of war. The life-and-death stories of these South Carolinians are here woven together here with official wartime reports, previously unpublished letters, newspaper accounts, diaries and the author's personal observations from walking the battlefield.

In the years following the American Civil War, many participants-generals, politicians, journalists, and soldiers-authored first-hand accounts of their unique experiences. As Alfred E. Smith of the Library of Congress wrote in 1998, "No chapter of American history has been so voluminously recorded." While the quality and reliability of the memoirs vary, a large number provide important perspectives that, taken together, offer vivid descriptions of major battles, political developments, and other momentous events from Fort Sumter to Appomattox. In Remembering the Civil War, historians Michael Barton and Charles Kupfer carefully select excerpts from the memoirs of key participants and weave them together to tell the story of the war in a single volume. Contributors include Union generals Ulysses Grant, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, W.T. Sherman, Abner Doubleday, and Philip Sheridan. Confederate authors include Robert E. Lee, Gen. James Longstreet, Cpl. Sam Watkins, Lt. John W. Worsham, Col. Edward Porter Alexander, Capt. John Wilkinson, and Jefferson Davies. Personal documents provide soldiers' perspectives of what fighting was like on the ground, as well as hospital and prison life. A comprehensive introduction and headnote for each excerpt provide background information and context.

An aggressive and colorful personality, William Barksdale was no stranger to controversy. Orphaned at 13, he succeeded as lawyer, newspaper editor, Mexican War veteran, politician and Confederate commander. During eight years in the U.S. Congress, he was among the South's most ardent defenders of slavery and advocates for states' rights. His emotional speeches and altercations-including a brawl on the House floor-made headlines in the years preceding secession. His fiery temper prompted three near-duels, gaining him a reputation as a brawler and knife-fighter. Arrested for intoxication, Colonel Barksdale survived a military Court of Inquiry to become one of the most beloved commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia. His reputation soared with his defense against the Union river crossing and street-fighting at Fredericksburg, and his legendary charge at Gettysburg. This first full-length biography places his life and career in historical context.

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.

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.

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

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.

This volume details the Civil War experiences of the 11th Wisconsin Volunteers as they traveled more than 9000 miles in the service of their country. The book looks at the attitude prevalent in Wisconsin at the start of the war and discusses the background of the men who comprised the regiment, 72 percent of whom were farmers. Compiled primarily from the letters and diaries of the men who served in the 11th Wisconsin, the work focuses on the firsthand day-to-day experiences of the common soldier, including rations (or lack thereof), clothing, disease, and, at times, the simple act of waiting. The 11th Wisconsin lost more men to disease than to battle, so their story presents an accurate picture not only of the heroic but also the sometimes humdrum yet perilous existence of the soldier. Appendices provide a list of occupations practiced by the men, dates of muster into service for the regiment's companies and a copy of a sermon delivered by George Wells after Lee's surrender in 1865.

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.

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.

A talented field commander, Union General Philip Kearny began his career as a lieutenant with the 1st U.S. Dragoons. He studied cavalry tactics in France and fought with the Chasseurs d'Afrique in Algeria, where his fearlessness earned him the nickname "Kearny le Magnifique." Returning to America, he wrote a cavalry manual for the U.S. Army and later raised a troop of dragoons--using his own money to buy 120 matching dapple-gray mounts for his men--and led them during the Mexican War, where he lost an arm. One of the most experienced officers at the outbreak of the Civil War, he commanded a division in the Army of the Potomac, famously leading a charge at the Battle of Williamsburg, saber in hand and reins in his teeth. He disliked and sometimes disobeyed General George McClellan, once protesting an order to retreat as "prompted by cowardice or treason." Kearny was on the verge of higher command when he was killed in action in the Battle of Chantilly in 1862.

This is the untold story of the heroic efforts of the men of the 4th United States Cavalry as they sabered their way through the Western Theater of the Civil War and into the heart of the Confederacy. From the earliest battles in Missouri at Dug Springs and Wilson's Creek, to Fort Donelson and Shiloh, Tennessee, and on to the great Battle of Chickamauga Creek, Georgia, where they delayed the advance of the Confederate Army for ten hours at Reed's Bridge, the regiment not only fought on Southern soil, but faced the best cavalry leaders the Confederacy had to offer, including Nathan Bedford Forrest. From the siege of Atlanta and Kilpatrick's Raid around the city, to the final great cavalry charge at Selma, Alabama, the 4th United States earned a reputation second to none as they became the Masters of the Field.

The Civil War is a much plumbed area of scholarship, so much so that at times it seems there is no further work to be done in the field. However, the experience of children and youth during that tumultuous time remains a relatively unexplored facet of the conflict. Children and Youth during the Civil War Era seeks a deeper investigation into the historical record by and giving voice and context to their struggles and victories during this critical period in American history. Prominent historians and rising scholars explore issues important to both the Civil War era and to the history of children and youth, including the experience of orphans, drummer boys, and young soldiers on the front lines, and even the impact of the war on the games children played in this collection. Each essay places the history of children and youth in the context of the sectional conflict, while in turn shedding new light on the sectional conflict by viewing it through the lens of children and youth. A much needed, multi-faceted historical account, Children and Youth during the Civil War Era touches on some of the most important historiographical issues with which historians of children and youth and of the Civil War home front have grappled over the last few years.

On August 26, 1861, one hundred volunteers met at Camp Wood and formed Company A. These men, for the most part, were well educated and left to us a series of letters to families and friends, diaries, letters to their local newspapers, official reports, and talks they gave after the war at reunions. Their correspondence differs from most others in that they do not simply record the temperature and what they had to eat. The story the correspondence of Company A tells allows the reader to know what it was really like to be a volunteer soldier. The men describe what they saw from their vantage points on the parts of the battlefield they could see. Their letters cover their discussions and arguments concerning slavery, the national draft, the right of "citizen soldiers" to confiscate property, and the use of blacks in combat. On a very personal level they describe what it was like to be captured and spend time in Confederate prisons awaiting exchange, what they felt when they had to leave wounded or dead comrades on the field when they had to retreat, whether to reenlist, the punishments they had to endure, the witnessing of military executions, and whether to mutiny. There are marvellous descriptions of the unauthorized truces the men arranged with the Confederates to trade tobacco for coffee or to bathe in a stream separating them.

This volume of original essays, featuring an all-star lineup of Civil War and Lincoln scholars, is aimed at general readers and students eager to learn more about the most current interpretations of the period and the man at the center of its history. The contributors examine how Lincoln actively and consciously managed the war - diplomatically, militarily, and in the realm of what we might now call public relations - and in doing so, reshaped and redefined the fundamental role of the president.

The Antebellum Press: Setting the Stage for Civil War reveals the critical role of journalism in the years leading up to America's deadliest conflict by exploring the events that foreshadowed and, in some ways, contributed directly to the outbreak of war. This collection of scholarly essays traces how the national press influenced and shaped America's path towards warfare. Major challenges faced by American newspapers prior to secession and war are explored, including: the economic development of the press; technology and its influence on the press; major editors and reporters (North and South) and the role of partisanship; and the central debate over slavery in the future of an expanding nation. A clear narrative of institutional, political, and cultural tensions between 1820 and 1861 is presented through the contributors' use of primary sources. In this way, the reader is offered contemporary perspectives that provide unique insights into which local or national issues were pivotal to the writers whose words informed and influenced the people of the time. As a scholarly work written by educators, this volume is an essential text for both upper-level undergraduates and postgraduates who study the American Civil War, journalism, print and media culture, and mass communication history.