The USS Saginaw was a Civil War gunboat that served in Pacific and Asian waters between 1860 and 1870. During this decade, the crew witnessed the trade disruptions of the Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion, the transportation of Confederate sailors to Central America, the French intervention in Mexico, and the growing presence of American naval forces in Hawaii.In 1870, the ship sank at one of the world's most remote coral reefs; her crew was rescued sixty-eight days later after a dramatic open-boat voyage. More than 130 years later, Hans Van Tilburg led the team that discovered and recorded the Saginaw's remains near the Kure Atoll reef. Van Tilburg's narrative provides fresh insights and a vivid retelling of a classic naval shipwreck. He provides a fascinating perspective on the watershed events in history that reshaped the Pacific during these years. And the tale of archaeological search and discovery reveals that adventure is still to be found on the high seas.

Conventional wisdom says that marriage was rare or illegal for slaves and that if African Americans married at all, their vows were tenuous ones: "until death or distance do us part." It is believed that this history explains the dysfunction of the African American family to this day. In this groundbreaking book, Frances Smith Foster shows that this common wisdom is flawed as it is based upon partial evidence and it ignores the writings African Americans created for themselves. Rather than relying on documents produced for abolitionists, the state, or other biased parties, Foster draws upon a trove of little-examined alternative sources and in so doing offers a correction to this widely held but misinformed viewpoint. The works examined include family histories, folkloric stories, organizational records, personal memoirs, sermons and especially the fascinating and varied writings published in the Afro-Protestant Press of the times. She shows that "jumping the broom" was but one of many wedding rituals and that love, marriage and family were highly valued and central to early African American society. Her book offers a provocative new understanding of a powerful belief about African American history and sheds light on the roles of memory and myth, story and history in defining contemporary society and shaping the future.

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.

This is the first published biography of Lieutenant Commander Le Roy Fitch, U.S. Navy. Fitch saw action on the Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers; fought against Morgan, Wheeler and Forrest, as well as irregulars; commanded an ironclad monitor during the Battle of Nashville; and was renowned for his abilities in counterinsurgency and convoy tactics.

This book reveals the life of R. Clay Crawford, his dreams, his schemes, his successes and his failures, as he launched himself into many of the most turbulent episodes of nineteenth-century United States history. Like everyone else, he was born with a family history, not just genetic, but also cultural, determinants; this book therefore reveals the influences on his behavior inherited from his father and his grandfathers. And, again like everyone else, he passed on to his children a model, not just genetic, but cultural. Even so, Clay's story is not just a family affair. Clay was a ""self-made man,"" living in an age when that figure was thought to be a national asset-he thus stands out as a warning that the worship of the ""self-made man"" produces more rogues than Rockefellers.

The son of a North Carolina governor, Holmes graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1829 and served on the frontier during the ""Trail of Tears."" He fought in the Second Seminole War and the War with Mexico and, in 1859 , became the US Army's chief recruiting officer and was assigned to Governors Island at New York City. Only days before resigning from the US Army, he helped organise the naval expedition sent to relieve Fort Sumter from the Confederacy's blockade. But then casting his lot with his native state, Holmes led a Confederate brigade at First Manassas and a division during the Peninsular Campaign, commanded armies in the Trans-Mississippi, and organised North Carolina's young boys and old men into the Confederate Reserves. Holmes served with some of America's most notable historic figures: Zachary Taylor, Winfield Scott, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis. In modern times, however, he is virtually unknown. The man and the soldier possessed traits of both triumph and tragedy.

This book is the fifth volume in a series documenting the colonels of the Civil War Union army who did not advance beyond that rank. Presented in this volume are the colonels who commanded regiments from Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. A brief biographical sketch of each is included, providing a synopsis of each one's Civil War service followed by pertinent details of their life history. Accompanying the biographical sketches are photographs of most of the colonels. Preceding the biographical sketches for each state is a roster of that state's colonels, in regimental order, including those promoted to brigadier general and brevet brigadier general, whose lives are documented in other reference works. A bibliography of reference sources allows for examination of the lives of the colonels in more detail. The work is fully indexed.

As the Civil War's toll mounted, an antiquated medical system faced a deluge of sick and wounded soldiers. In response, the United States created a national care system primarily funded and regulated by the federal government. New Haven, Connecticut, was chosen as the site for a new military hospital because of available medical expertise, ready access to rail and water transportation and a pre-existing state hospital for the indigent. Pliny Adams Jewett, next in line to become chief of surgery at Yale, sacrificed his private practice and eventually his future in New Haven to serve as chief of staff of the new thousand-bed Knight U.S. General Hospital. The ""War Governor,"" William Buckingham, personally financed hospital construction while supporting needy soldiers and their families. He appointed state agents to scour battlefields and hospitals to ensure his state's soldiers got the best care while encouraging their transfer to the hospital in New Haven. This history of the hospital's construction and operation during the war discusses the state of medicine at the time as well as the administrative side of providing care to sick and wounded soldiers.

With a focus on the relationship between Orwell and Kopp during the Spanish Civil War, 'George Orwell's Commander in Spain: The is a biography of a fascinating figure: double spy, fraud, brilliant inventor and stout-hearted commander.

On April 12, 1864, a small Union force occupying Fort Pillow, Tennessee, a fortress located on the Mississippi River just north of Memphis, was overwhelmed by a larger Confederate force under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest. While the battle was insignificant from a strategic standpoint, the indiscriminate massacre of Union soldiers, particularly African-American soldiers, made the Fort Pillow Massacre one of the most gruesome slaughters of the American Civil War, rivaling other instances of Civil War brutality. The Fort Pillow Massacre outlines the events of the massacre while placing them within the racial and social context of the Civil War. Bruce Tap combines a succinct history with a selection of primary documents, including government reports, eyewitness testimony, and newspaper articles, to introduce the topic to undergraduates.

A compelling narrative of one of the Civil War's most pivotal campaigns in which Federal armies drove Robert E. Lee's army to the brink of defeat in April 1865. The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign lasted for ten months, the longest in any theater of the war, and dwarfed all of the war's other campaigns for length of sustained combat, distances covered by the opposing forces, number of troops deployed, and number of battles and engagements. Yet this military operation has traditionally received little attention from scholars, considering its importance in bringing the war to an end. This concise reference analyzes the grueling 1864-65 campaign, particularly its strategic, operational, and tactical decisions, which shaped the course and outcome of the war. The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign affected every segment of American society, bringing the impact of the war home to soldiers and civilians alike. General Ulysses S. Grant's armies employed more African Americans than in any other Civil War campaign, and their contributions were critical to Union victory. In an indication of the decisive importance of the campaign, the Confederacy took the unimaginable step of attempting to arm slaves for military service. A historian and lifelong resident of Virginia, Charles R. Bowery Jr. combines a vivid narrative, in-depth character study, and technical aspects of warfare to describe the human drama of one of the Civil War's most complex, decisive, and fascinating conflicts. This riveting account reveals how, in spite of the exceptional commands of leaders Grant and Lee, both sides suffered from personal rivalries, questions of honor, ineffective organization, and poor communication. The book concludes with an assessment of the mixed performances of both armies, the factors that influenced the outcome, and the campaign's role in ending the Civil War. Addresses the concerns of the New Military History, including the impact of the battles on common soldiers, civilians of all races, and the environment Provides driving directions to various campaign sites, along with suggested itineraries to encourage historical tourism Includes maps of the various engagements to encourage further research into significant events

On April 12, 1864, a small Union force occupying Fort Pillow, Tennessee, a fortress located on the Mississippi River just north of Memphis, was overwhelmed by a larger Confederate force under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest. While the battle was insignificant from a strategic standpoint, the indiscriminate massacre of Union soldiers, particularly African-American soldiers, made the Fort Pillow Massacre one of the most gruesome slaughters of the American Civil War, rivaling other instances of Civil War brutality. The Fort Pillow Massacre outlines the events of the massacre while placing them within the racial and social context of the Civil War. Bruce Tap combines a succinct history with a selection of primary documents, including government reports, eyewitness testimony, and newspaper articles, to introduce the topic to undergraduates.

This book follows the 7th Tennessee Infantry Regiment from their May 1861 mustering-in to the war's final moments at Appomattox in April 1865. It is an intensely personal account based upon the Tennesseans' letters, journals, memoirs, official reports, personnel records, and family histories. It is a powerful account of courage and sacrifice. The men (a full roster is included) changed from exhilarated volunteers to battle-hardened veterans. They had eagerly rushed to join up, ""anxious to confront the enemy on the battle front."" Later, amid the grim realities, the Tennesseans stayed with their comrades and carried out their responsibilities. Rifleman Tom Holloway wrote, ""I went into this measure with the conviction that it was my imperative duty."" Eventually, as the war destroyed the Tennesseans, Lt. Ferguson Harris wrote simply, ""I wonder who will be the last of us to go?

This is a documentary work offering a first-person account of a Union soldier's daily adversity while a prisoner of war from 20 September 1863 to 4 June 1865. In 1891, while a patient at the Leavenworth National Home, Irish immigrant Edward Glennan began to write down his experiences in vivid detail, describing the months of malnutrition, exposure, disease and self-doubt. The first six months Glennan was incarcerated at Libby and Danville prisons in Virginia. On 20 March 1864, Glennan entered Camp Sumter, located near Andersonville, Georgia. He reminisced about the events of his eight-month captivity at Andersonville, such as the hanging of the Raider Six, escape tunnels, gambling, trading, ration wagons, and disease. Afflicted with scurvy, Glennan nearly lost his ability to walk. To increase his chances for survival, he skillfully befriended other prisoners, sharing resources acquired through trade, theft and trickery. His friends left him either by parole or death. On 14 November 1864, Glennan was transported from Andersonville to Camp Parole in Maryland; there he remained until his discharge on 4 June 1865.

The 115th New York began its military career as part of the largest surrender of U.S. troops to take place before World War II and ended its career as part of the largest successful amphibious landings of U.S. troops before World War II. In between, it travelled a fighting odyssey through the American Civil War that is unique among Union regiments. Not only did it fight mainly in theatres and battles unknown to all but the most serious Civil War student, but it endured mass arrest and banishment by its own army and a cabal of its own officers against its commander. In earning distinction as one of ""Fox's Fighting 300"" Union regiments, the 115th fought in obscure campaigns along the Southern coast, joined briefly in the famous combat between Grant and Lee in Virginia, fought alongside African American units, witnessed the liberation of thousands of slaves and captured Union soldiers, and ended up campaigning with William T. Sherman's western army. The soldiers of the 115th New York were common men from Saratoga County, the Mohawk Valley, and Adirondack Mountain areas of New York State. In telling their story, author Mark Silo utilizes the words and recollections left by sixty-seven of these men, as well as vast amounts of source material regarding the events and battles they experienced. The result, states National Park Service historian John J. Hennessy, is ""Truly exceptional... a woven story that is both excellent history and engaging narrative - an important chronicle of common men on an uncommon quest for survival and triumph.

This book is a study of an important regiment in the Civil War overlooked by most historians. Unlike most regiments, which came from rural areas of the country, the 14th Brooklyn was taken from the city of Brooklyn in the State of New York. Having been a militia unit until the outbreak of the war, they were quickly mobilized and they served in most of the major battles in the East. Their bravery in battle was noted by both friends and enemies and certainly by the military leadership on both sides. The book tells of both the military and personal side of fighting; the soldiers' letters home show their homesickness as well as their willingness to endure whatever was necessary to preserve what they believed was right. It shows the relationship between the men of the regiment and the people of Brooklyn, who because they were a militia unit, provided some of their supplies rather than the Federal government. This was particularly true of their distinctive uniforms modeled after the French Chasseur uniforms with bright red pants. The 14th kept these uniforms even after the Federal government standardized the Union uniform to the blue with which we are all familiar.

This book is about previously unidentified people who became Abolitionists involved in the antislavery movement from about 1840 to 1860. Although arrests were made in surrounding counties, not one person was prosecuted for aiding a fugitive slave in DeKalb County. First, the area Congregational, Universalist, Presbyterian and Wesleyan Methodist churches all had compelling antislavery beliefs. Church members, county elected officials, and the Underground Railroad conductors and stationmasters were all one and the same. Additionally, DeKalb County had the highest concentration of subscriptions to the Chicago-based Western Citizen antislavery newspaper. It was an accepted local activity to help escaped slaves. An addendum to the book includes evidence and personal information for over 600 men and women, plus their families, who defied the prevailing Fugitive Slave Law, and helped the antislavery movement in this one Northern Illinois county. This book documents their strong religious motivations and chronicles their moves to seek political redress. Unique photos and illustrations add interest to the compelling story.

An army marches on its stomach - Napoleon Bonaparte As far back in history as Napoleon, officers knew that to be effective an army needs good and plentiful food. Without good food a soldier loses their edge. .They lose a portion of their strength. .They lose a portion of their reactions. .They do not make as good of decisions. .They quickly lose their motivation. Having food available for these vast armies was a huge task. Getting food to the right place when armies move is a nightmare. However, a soldier's nourishment can decide if they survive each battle. How opposing forces eat before battle may be as important to victory as tactics and weapons.

This book contains never before published information, including artillery firing tables, for an Indiana infantry regiment converted to heavy artillery. It concentrates upon these Hoosiers' three-and-a-half years of duty in the Trans-Mississippi Theater and Gulf states during the Civil War, often as a separate command. They acted as infantry, cavalry and light artillery (with captured cannons) before being converted to heavy artillery in 1863. Their cannons and artillery equipment were hauled by hundreds of mules. The regiment participated in the taking of New Orleans, securing an important rail link to Morgan City, Louisiana, the Teche Campaign, the siege and reduction of Port Hudson, the Red River Campaign, and sieges and reductions of Fort Gaines, Fort Morgan, Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, Alabama.

The English Civil War was a time of disruption, suffering and persecution for many people, not least the clergy of the established church, who found themselves ejected from their livings in increasing numbers as Parliamentarian forces extended their control across the country. Yet, historians have tended to downplay their suffering, preferring in most cases to concentrate instead upon the persecution suffered by dissenters after the Restoration. Drawing upon an impressive array of sources - most notably the remarkable set of family and parish memories collected by John Walker in the early years of the eighteenth century - this book refocuses attention on the experiences of the sequestered loyalist clergy during the turbulent years of the 1640s and 1650s. The study highlights how the experiences of the clergy can help illuminate events in wider society, whilst at the same time acknowledging the unique situation in which Church of England ministers found themselves. For although the plundering, imprisonment and personal loss of the clergy was probably indicative of the experiences of many ordinary people on middle incomes, the ever present religious dimension to the conflict ensured particular attention was paid to those holding religious office. During the war and interregnum, zealous religious reformers attacked every aspect of established religion, targeting both existing institutions and those who supported them. Clergy were ejected on an unprecedented scale, suffering much violence and persecution and branded as 'malignants' and 'baal's priests'. By re-examining their history, the book offers a balanced assessment of the persecution, challenging many preconceptions about the ejected loyalists, and providing new insights into the experiences and legacies of this influential group.

The first of two volumes focusing on the African-American experience during the Civil War. Twenty-six articles review the rise of abolitionism in the North, the recruitment of black troops, their performance in battle, race as a factor in combat, women and the war effort, and black troops fighting for the Confederacy.

This book follows the men of the 5th Corps and the Army of the Potomac through the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor, with the army condemned to move blindly through enemy territory without the benefit of cavalry scouting or screening. It considers the lost opportunities of June 1864, when Grant's masterly movement of the Army of the Potomac across the James to confront the enemy at Petersburg should have ended in victory and the fall of Richmond. Bungling and complacency doomed the attacks onPetersburg's fortifications, and instead of victory, the battered Federals were condemned to a drawn-out siege, and another 10 months of war. Finally, it considers what happened to a number of the prominent Federal participants in the Overland Campaign during the last year of the war and after. Many of those who lied and cheated their way to the top became government leaders and the authors of policy for years to come.

Previous histories of the press in the American Civil War have focused on how journalists covered military operations. Taking a cultural approach, this book is unique in its focus on the press as a social, political, and economic institution that both shaped and was shaped by the Confederacy's experience in the Civil War. It expertly documents how the press changed, how it stayed the same, and how it evolved by examining the role of the press in Confederate society, social and demographic characteristics of journalists and their audiences, legal regulation of the industry, and how the war influenced the business side of journalism as well as the editorial. The story of the Confederate press provides a prime opportunity to study how a domestic war affects the American press. By examining the actors as well as the roles, it is possible to draw a more complete picture of the place of the press in the Confederacy and how the war influenced Southern newspapers.

The epic life story of a schoolteacher and preacher in Missouri, guerrilla fighter in the Civil War, Congressman, freethinking lecturer and author, and anarchist. A former Methodist preacher and Missouri schoolteacher, John R. Kelso served as a Union Army foot soldier, cavalry officer, guerrilla fighter, and spy. Kelso became driven by revenge after pro-Southern neighbors stole his property, burned down his house, and drove his family and friends from their homes. He vowed to kill twenty-five Confederates with his own hands and, often disguised as a rebel, proceeded to track and kill unsuspecting victims with "wild delight." The newspapers of the day reported on his feats of derring-do, as the Union hailed him as a hero and Confederate sympathizers called him a monster. Teacher, Preacher, Soldier, Spy: The Civil Wars of John R. Kelso is an account of an extraordinary nineteenth-century American life. During Reconstruction, Kelso served in the House of Representatives and was one of the first to call for the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Personal tragedy then drove him west, where he became a freethinking lecturer and author, an atheist, a spiritualist, and, before his death in 1891, an anarchist. Kelso was also a strong-willed son, a passionate husband, and a loving and grieving father. The Civil War remained central to his life, challenging his notions of manhood and honor, his ideals of liberty and equality, and his beliefs about politics, religion, morality, and human nature. Throughout his life, too, he fought private wars-not only against former friends and alienated family members, rebellious students and disaffected church congregations, political opponents and religious critics, but also against the warring impulses in his own character. In Christopher Grasso's hands, Kelso's life story offers a unique vantage on dimensions of nineteenth-century American culture that are usually treated separately: religious revivalism and political anarchism; sex, divorce, and Civil War battles; freethinking and the Wild West. A complex figure and passionate, contradictory, and prolific writer, John R. Kelso here receives a full telling of his life for the first time.

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.