From 1861-1865, the American Civil War raged at sea as well as on land and saw the use of numerous technological innovations, chief among them the ironclad warship. While various Civil War biographical directories exist, none have been devoted exclusively to the men who served as ironclad captains along the coasts or on the great inland rivers. Based on the Official Records, earlier biographical compilations and memoirs, ship and operations histories, newspapers, primary sources, and internet data, this is the first work to profile the men North and South charged with outfitting and fighting these revolutionary metal warships. Each of the 158 biographies includes (where known) birth, death, and pre- and post-war careers. Information on wartime service includes vessels served upon or commanded, with ironclads bolded for emphasis. Each profile includes source documentation and an appendix, "Ironclad Index," alphabetically identifies the various covered ironclads and lists the covered captains of each.

From the hills and valleys of Appalachia to the sun-drenched plains of Missouri and "bleeding" Kansas, a violent clandestine war was waged far from the famous Civil War battlefields that saw tens of thousands fall in line of battle. Bands of irregular Rebel cavalry fought a hit-and-run warfare against Union troops and the pro-Union population. Despite the brutality of their guerrilla tactics, there were constraints-women and were children were usually left with a roof over their heads. But along the Kansas-Missouri border a crueler war was fought by both sides in which no quarter given. Of the thousands of partisans involved, John Singleton Mosby, William Clarke Quantrill and William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson became famous for their savagery.

Among the threads running through Abraham Lincoln's adult life was an association with railroads. His first administration began with a pre-inaugural tour, five days of which were in the Empire State, while closure was brought to his second administration by a funeral train that also took five days crossing New York. Separated by four years, these two epic journeys represented events unique in American history. By virtue of the trains traveling through the heart of the state, thousands of ordinary people witnessed one, if not both, passages and, in a larger sense, also became participants in the grand tableau. Whether the visit by the presidential train lasted overnight, part of day, a few minutes, or only fleeting seconds, the experience became indelibly etched in the minds of those who had the opportunity to stand along the tracks or parade route, to see and possibly hear their leader speak, or to view his remains. Given the uniqueness the trains' purposes, they represent seminal events in national and state history. Fortunately, though there is a lack of tangible evidence in the form of relics and photographs of either event, there does exist a substantial documentation in the form of newspaper accounts, memoirs, and diaries. These permit the two fascinating and intertwined stories to be told in some detail.

How would Lincoln view race relations, terrorism, gun control, women's equality, and the influence of special interest groups on Congress? How would he react to the invasion of Iraq and the Great Recession? How would he feel about the growing gap between the haves and the have- nots, a worker's right to strike, the minimum wage, and labor unions? Would Lincoln have a mobile phone and embrace the whirl of social media? Phillips grounds his analysis in an illuminating understanding of Lincoln's own words and actions and offers a fascinating thesis that longtime fans and newcomers alike will be eagerto debate.

Ulysses S. Grant is often accused of being a cold-hearted butcher of his troops. In Ulysses S. Grant: A Victor, Not a Butcher, historian Edward H. Bonekemper III proves that Grant's casualty rates actually compared favorably with those of other Civil War generals. His perseverance, decisiveness, moral courage, and political acumen place him among the greatest generals of the Civil War--indeed, of all military history. Bonekemper proves that it was no historical accident that Grant accepted the surrender of three entire Confederate armies and won the Civil War. Bonekemper ably silences Grant's critics and restores Grant to the heroic reputation he so richly deserves.

More than one hundred and fifty years after the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter, the Civil War still captures the American imagination, and its reverberations can still be felt throughout America's social and political landscape. Louis P. Masur's The U.S. Civil War: A Very Short Introduction offers a masterful and eminently readable overview of the war's multiple causes and catastrophic effects. Masur begins by examining the complex origins of the war, focusing on the pulsating tensions over states rights and slavery. The book then proceeds to cover, year by year, the major political, social, and military events, highlighting two important themes: how the war shifted from a limited conflict to restore the Union to an all-out war that would fundamentally transform Southern society, and the process by which the war ultimately became a battle to abolish slavery. Masur explains how the war turned what had been a loose collection of fiercely independent states into a nation, remaking its political, cultural, and social institutions. But he also focuses on the soldiers themselves, both Union and Confederate, whose stories constitute nothing less than America's Iliad. In the final chapter Masur considers the aftermath of the South's surrender at Appomattox and the clash over the policies of reconstruction that continued to divide President and Congress, conservatives and radicals, Southerners and Northerners for years to come. In 1873, Mark Twain and Charles Dudley wrote that the war had "wrought so profoundly upon the entire national character that the influence cannot be measured short of two or three generations." This concise history of the entire Civil War era offers an invaluable introduction to the dramatic events whose effects are still felt today.

When a Chickamauga Battlefield ranger was asked where to find the Texas monument, his quick reply was "Go to where the fighting was fiercest." While that spontaneous response accurately underscored the legendary battlefield zeal of the Texas forces in virtually every major Civil War battle, it likely did little to answer the visitor's question.
In this book, the authors will inform visitors to many Civil War battlefields about the heroic role played by the Texans at key sites and why the State of Texas has, over the years, seen fit to officially commemorate the valor of the hard-fighting men of Texas with impressive monuments.
With the sesquicentennial observance of America's Civil War already underway, however, Texas has chosen to pay little attention to Texans' contribution to the Confederate cause. Regardless of the scant official recognition being afforded this seminal event, the facts remain that there was a Civil War and that Texans were very often at the hot center of its battles--"Where the fighting was the fiercest."
Students of American history, as well as visitors and those planning to visit the eighteen battlefield monuments described in this book, will learn how Texas forces fared in the fighting. Time must never be allowed to erase the memories of those sacrifices and those battle-bloodied accomplishments on the field of honor. This book will ensure that present and future generations will always remember the monumental significance of the story of Texas in the Civil War.

This landmark book, the product of years of research by a team of two dozen historians, reveals that resistance to occupation by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during the Second World War was not narrowly delineated by country but startlingly international. Tens of thousands of fighters across Europe resisted 'transnationally', travelling to join networks far from their homes. These 'foreigners' were often communists and Jews who were already being persecuted and on the move. Others were expatriate business people, escaped POWs, forced labourers or deserters. Their experiences would prove personally transformative and greatly affected the course of the conflict. From the International Brigades in Spain to the onset of the Cold War and the foundation of the state of Israel, they played a significant part in a period of upheaval and change during the long Second World War. -- .

Well known in his time though now forgotten, Joseph Brown is a quintessential representative of mid-19th Century Midwestern economic and political success. A Scottish immigrant to Alton, Illinois, he made his pre-Civil War fortune as a miller and steamboat master, dabbling in riverboat design and small town politics on the side. When the war erupted, he employed his connections (including a friendship with Abraham Lincoln) to obtain contracts for the construction of three stopgap ironclads for the U.S. War Department, the Chillicothe, Indianola, and Tuscumbia. These vessels, often described as failures, were active in some of the most ferocious river fighting of the 1863 Vicksburg campaign, with one, the Chillicothe, employed on the Red River in 1864. After the war, ""Capt. Joe,"" as he was nicknamed, became a railroad executive and was elected the 25th mayor of St. Louis, MO. This work is the first devoted to his life and career, as well as to the construction and operational histories of his trio of controversial warships.

With The Weaker Sex in War, Kristen Brill shows how white women's wartime experiences shaped Confederate political culture-and the ways in which Confederate political culture shaped their wartime experiences. These white women had become passionate supporters of independence to advance the cause of Southern nationalism and were used by Confederate leadership to advance the cause. These women, drawn from the middle and planter class, played an active, deliberate role in the effort. They became knowing and keen participants in shaping and circulating a gendered nationalist narrative, as both actors for and symbols of the Confederate cause. Through their performance of patriotic devotion, these women helped make gender central to the formation of Confederate national identity, to an extent previously unreckoned with by scholars of the Civil War era.In this important and original work, Brill weaves together individual women's voices in the private sphere, collective organizations in civic society, and political ideology and policy in the political arena. A signal contribution to an increasingly rich vein of historiography, The Weaker Sex in War provides a definitive take on white women and political culture in the Confederacy.

With Washington's proximity to the Confederate capital of Richmond, Union military operations in the first two years of the Civil War focused mainly on the Eastern Theater, where General McClellan commanded the Army of the Potomac. McClellan's ""On to Richmond"" battle cry dominated strategic thinking in the high command. When he failed and was sacked by President Lincoln, a coterie of senior officers sought his return. This re-examination of the high command and McClellan's war in the East provides a broader understanding of the Union's inability to achieve victory in the first two years, and takes the debate about the Union's leadership into new areas.

Throughout film history, war films have been in constant dialogue with both previous depictions of war and contemporary debates and technology. War films remember older war film cycles and draw upon the resources of the present day to say something new about the nature of war. The American Civil War was viscerally documented through large-scale panorama paintings, still photography, and soldier testimonials, leaving behind representational principles that would later inform the development of the war film genre from the silent era up to the present. This book explores how each of these representational modes cemented different formulas for providing war stories with emotional content.

Paying Freedom's Price provides a comprehensive yet brief and readable history of the role of African Americans-both slave and free-from the decade leading up to the Civil War until its immediate aftermath. Rather than focusing on black military service, the white-led abolitionist movement, or Lincoln's emergence as the great emancipator, Escott concentrates on the black military and civilian experience in the North as well as the South. He argues that African Americans-slaves, free Blacks, civilians, soldiers, men, and women- played a crucial role in transforming the sectional conflict into a war for black freedom. The book is organized chronologically as well as thematically. The chronological organization will help readers understand how the Civil War evolved from a war to preserve the Union to a war that sought to abolish slavery, but not racial inequality. Within this chronological framework, Escott provides a thematic structure, tracing the causes of the war and African American efforts to include abolition, black military service, and racial equality in the wartime agenda. Including a timeline, selected primary sources, and an extensive bibliographic essay, Escott's book will be provide a superb starting point for students and general readers who want to explore in greater depth this important aspect of the Civil War and African American history.

The wealth of transatlantic scholarship to emerge in recent years has greatly enriched our understanding of the mutual, far-reaching cultural exchange between Great Britain and the United States. Yet scholars often lose sight of this relationship in the years immediately leading up to the outbreak of the Civil War. Drawing on a capacious array of travel narratives, novels, poems, political scuffles, and more, Christopher Hanlon's innovative study examines the patterns of affiliation through which U.S. culture encoded the turmoil of antebellum America in terms of imagined connections with England. Through engagement with contemporaneous renditions of English race, history, landscape aesthetics, telecommunications, and economic discourse, America's England reveals how Northern and Southern partisans re-imagined the terms behind their antagonisms, forming a transatlantic surround for the otherwise cisatlantic political struggles that would dissolve the Union in 1861. Among other ramifications, the re-conceptualization of sectional issues in transatlantic terms undermined the notion that white citizens of the United States formed a unified biological or cultural community, effectively polarizing the imagined ethnic and cultural bases of the American polity. But beyond that, a continued reference to English historical, cultural, and political formations allowed figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, Henry Timrod, Lydia Maria Child, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Sumner, and others to situate an era of developing national acrimony along longer historical and transnational curves, forming accounts of national crisis that situated questions of a domestic political bearing at oceanic removes from Northern and Southern combatants. Demonstrating that English genealogies, geographies, and economics shaped the sectional crisis for antebellum Americans on both sides of the Mason-Dixon, America's England locates the key crisis points of the period in a broader transatlantic constellation that provided distinctive circumstances for literary production.

When North and South went to war, millions of American families endured their first long separation. For men in the armies-and their wives, children, parents, and siblings at home-letter writing was the sole means to communicate. Yet for many of these Union and Confederate families, taking pen to paper was a new and daunting task. I Remain Yours narrates the Civil War from the perspective of ordinary people who had to figure out how to salve the emotional strain of war and sustain their closest relationships using only the written word. Christopher Hager presents an intimate history of the Civil War through the interlaced stories of common soldiers and their families. The previously overlooked words of a carpenter from Indiana, an illiterate teenager from Connecticut, a grieving mother in the mountains of North Carolina, and a blacksmith's daughter on the Iowa prairie reveal through their awkward script and expression the personal toll of war. Is my son alive or dead? Returning soon or never? Can I find words for the horrors I've seen or the loneliness I feel? Fear, loss, and upheaval stalked the lives of Americans straining to connect the battlefront to those they left behind. Hager shows how relatively uneducated men and women made this new means of communication their own, turning writing into an essential medium for sustaining relationships and a sense of belonging. Letter writing changed them and they in turn transformed the culture of letters into a popular, democratic mode of communication.

Was the Civil War preordained to last four years or were there reasons why neither side could land a knockout punch? From the outset, both North and South anticipated a brief conflict but despite more than 50 bloody battles neither could force a decisive conclusion. For most of the war, these battles followed a pattern: the victors claimed the field and the vanquished retreated to rest, resupply and fight another day.Some generals began to realize that pursuit to capture or destroy the retreating enemy was needed to end the war. Yet this was easier said than done. Taking a fresh look at the zero-sum tactics that characterized many major combat actions in the war, this book examines the performance of unsuccessful (sometimes insubordinate) commanders and credits two generals with eventually seeing the need for organized pursuit.

In January 1863, a long-anticipated military order arrived on the desk of Massachusetts Governor John Andrew. President Lincoln's secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, had granted the governor authority to raise regiments of black soldiers. Two units-the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantry-were soon mustered and Andrew was eager to recruit a black cavalry regiment. In December, he issued General Order No. 44, announcing ""a Regiment of Cavalry Volunteers, to be composed of men of color...is now in the process of recruitment in the Commonwealth."" Drawing on letters, diaries, memoirs and official reports, this book provides the first full-length regimental history of the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry, chronicling the unit's organization, participation in the Petersburg campaign, guarding of prisoners at Point Lookout, Maryland, and its triumphant ride into Richmond. The postwar lives and contributions of many of the men are included.

Karen Abbott, the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City and "pioneer of sizzle history" (USA Today), tells the spellbinding true story of four women who risked everything to become spies during the Civil War.Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women--a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow--who were spies.After shooting a Union soldier in her front hall with a pocket pistol, Belle Boyd became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and assumed the identity of a man to enlist as a Union private, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The beautiful widow, Rose O'Neale Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful Northern politicians to gather intelligence for the Confederacy, and used her young daughter to send information to Southern generals. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper Southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring, right under the noses of suspicious rebel detectives.Using a wealth of primary source material and interviews with the spies' descendants, Abbott seamlessly weaves the adventures of these four heroines throughout the tumultuous years of the war. With a cast of real-life characters including Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, General Stonewall Jackson, detective Allan Pinkerton, Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and Emperor Napoleon III, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy draws you into the war as these daring women lived it.Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy contains 39 black & photos and 3 maps.

Anti-Catholicism has had a long presence in American history. The Civil War in 1861 gave Catholic Americans a chance to prove their patriotism once and for all. Exploring how Catholics sought to use their participation in the war to counteract religious and political nativism in the United States, Excommunicated from the Union reveals that while the war was an alienating experience for many of 200,000 Catholics who served, they still strove to construct a positive memory of their experiences in order to show that their religion was no barrier to their being loyal American citizens.

New Bedford's Civil War examines the social, political, economic, and military history of New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the nineteenth century, with a focus on the Civil War homefront from 1861 to 1865 and on the city's black community, soldiers, and veterans.
Earl Mulderink's engaging work contributes to the growing body of Civil War studies that analyzes the "war at home" by focusing on the bustling center of the world's whaling industry in the nineteenth century. Using a broad chronological framework of the 1840s through the 1890s, this book contextualizes the rise and fall of New Bedford's whaling enterprise and details the war's multifaceted impacts between 1861 and 1865. A major goal of this book is to explore the war's social history by examining how the conflict touched the city's residents--both white and black.
Known before the war for both its wealth and its antislavery fervor, New Bedford offered a congenial home for a sizeable black community that experienced a "different Civil War" than did native-born whites. Drawing upon military pension files, published accounts, and welfare records, this book pays particular attention to soldiers and families connected with the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the "brave black regiment" (made famous by the Academy Award-winning 1989 film Glory) that helped shape national debates over black military enlistment, equal pay, and notions of citizenship. New Bedford's enlightened white leaders, many of them wealthy whaling merchants with Quaker roots, actively promoted military enlistment that pulled 2,000 local citizen-soldiers (about 10 percent of the city's total population) into the Union ranks.
As the Whaling City gave way to a postwar landscape marked by textile manufacturing and heavy foreign immigration, the black community fought to keep alive the meaning and history of the Civil War. Joining their one-time neighbor Frederick Douglass, New Bedford's black veterans used the memory of the war and their participation in it to push for full equality--a losing battle by the turn of the twentieth century.

African American women enslaved by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek Nations led lives ranging from utter subjection to recognized kinship. Regardless of status, during Removal, they followed the Trail of Tears in the footsteps of the slaveholders, suffering the same life-threatening hardships and poverty. As if Removal to Indian Territory weren't cataclysmic enough, the Civil War shattered the worlds of these slave women even more, scattering families, destroying property, and disrupting social and family relationships. Suddenly free, they had nowhere to turn. Freedwomen found themselves negotiating new lives within a labyrinth of federal and tribal oversight, Indian resentment, and intruding entrepreneurs and settlers. Remarkably, they reconstructed their families and marshaled the skills to fashion livelihoods in a burgeoning capitalist environment. They sought education and forged new relationships with immigrant black women and men, managing to establish a foundation for survival. Linda Williams Reese is the first to trace the harsh and often bitter journey of these women from arrival in Indian Territory to free-citizen status in 1890. In doing so, she establishes them as pioneers of the American West equal to their Indian and other Plains sisters.