A revealing compilation of essays documenting the effects of the Civil War and its aftermath on Americans-young and old, black and white, northern and southern. Civil War America: Voices from the Homefront describes the myriad ways in which the Civil War affected both Northern and Southern civilians. A unique collection of essays that include diary entries, memoirs, letters, and magazine articles chronicle the personal experiences of soldiers and slaves, parents and children, nurses, veterans, and writers. Exploring such wide-ranging topics as sanitary fairs in the North, illustrated weeklies, children playing soldier, and the care of postwar orphans, most stories communicate some element of change, such as the destruction of old racial relationships, the challenge to Southern whites' complacency, and the expansion of government power. Although some of the subjects are well known-Edmund Ruffin, Louisa May Alcott, Henry Cabot Lodge, Booker T. Washington-most of the witnesses presented in these essays are relatively unknown men, women, and children who help to broaden our understanding of the war and its effects far beyond the front lines. 26 essays on varied topics such as the impact of the war on children, as seen in Oliver Optic's Civil War: Northern Children and the Literary War for the Union, and the aftermath of the war, chronicled in The Devil's War: The Stories of Ambrose Bierce A wide range of primary source documents including book excerpts, diaries, personal letters, newspaper articles, and magazine articles Drawings, etchings, and photographs depicting battles, soldiers, and the families left behind A selected bibliography and general works offering information and analysis about the Confederate and Union home fronts during the Civil War

This book presents an original new history of the most important conflict in European affairs during the 1930s, prior to the events that produced World War II the Spanish Civil War. It describes the complex origins of the conflict, the collapse of the Spanish Republic, and the outbreak of the only mass worker revolution in the history of Western Europe. Stanley Payne explains the character of the Spanish revolution and the complex web of republican politics, while also examining in detail the development of Franco's counterrevolutionary dictatorship. Payne gives attention to the multiple meanings and interpretations of war and examines why the conflict provoked such strong reactions in its own time, and long after. The book also explains the military history of the war and its place in the history of military development, the non-intervention policy of the democracies, and the role of German, Italian, and Soviet intervention, concluding with an analysis of the place of the war in European affairs and in comparative perspective of revolutionary civil wars of the twentieth century."

Samuel Crawford, a medical officer working with Major Robert Anderson, unfolds the story of the first shots fired at Fort Sumter--and the events that led to the national struggle between the North and the South in the war for the union of the States. His account was originally published in 1887.

Seven perspectives of a bloody Civil War encounter
The Battle of Stone's River (or Murfreesboro to give it its Confederate appellation) took place over the turn of the year between 1862 and 1863 in Tennessee within the Western theatre of the American Civil War. The outcome of the conflict was inconclusive though the Union forces under Rosecrans regained a measure of prestige after the debacle of Fredericksburg and strategic advantage as Confederate strategic objectives in Tennessee were confounded. The campaign was principally distinguished by the appallingly high casualty toll on both sides which bears the dubious distinction of being the highest in the war. Both Bragg and Rosecrans lost almost one third of their engaged forces. This unique book has brought together no less than seven individual accounts-both personal experiences and works of history-concerning this fascinating campaign and battle. Each one might possibly be too small to achieve individual publication in modern times, but together they make an essential volume for every student of the period and theatre.

Drawing from narratives of former slaves to provide accurate and poignant insights, this book presents descriptions in the former slaves' own words about their lives before, during, and following the Civil War. Examining narratives allows us to better understand what life was truly like for slaves: "hearing" history in their own words brings the human aspects of slavery and their interpersonal relationships to life, providing insights and understanding not typically available via traditional history books. How the Slaves Saw the Civil War: Recollections of the War through the WPA Slave Narratives draws upon interviews collected largely during the 1930s-1940s as part of the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Because most slaves could not read or write, their perspective on the unfolding history of the war has been relatively unknown until these narratives were collected in the 1930s and 1940s. This book extracts the most cogent and compelling tales from the documentation of former slaves' seldom-heard voices on the events leading up to, during, and following the war. The work's two introductory chapters focus on the WPA's narratives and living conditions under slavery. The remaining chapters address key topics such as slave loyalties to either or both sides of the conflict, key battles, participation in the Union and/or Confederate armies, the day Union forces came, slave contact with key historical figures, and emancipation-and what came after. Supplies the actual words of former slaves used in the narratives, giving readers not only a better sense of the individuals' experiences but also of the oral tradition of African Americans during the Civil War period Includes carefully selected images of the time to underscore key concepts in the narratives and historical events and to engage the reader Provides an extensive bibliography of other reliable sources appropriate for further research by general readers, academics specializing in African American history, and Civil War buffs alike

The 3rd Maryland Infantry, Potomac Home Brigade was organized at Cumberland, Hagerstown, and Baltimore, Maryland, beginning October 31, 1861, and mustered in on May 20, 1862, for three years under the command of Colonel Henry C. Rizer. Companies I and K were organized at Ellicott's Mills and Monrovia, Maryland, in April and May 1864. Although the 3rd served throughout the war in the Virginia Theater, they did not get involved in most of the major battles. Their major battles were at Harper's Ferry and Monocacy. The regiment mustered out of the service at Baltimore on May 29, 1865.

This book examines the internal controversies of the Roosevelt Administration in connection with Spain during World War II, the role of the President in these controversies, and the foundations of the policy that was followed from the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War until the launching of Operation Torch in 1942.

* Provides a concise overview of the Civil War, including a look at the Reconstruction period * Includes primary documents, chronology, glossary and Who's Who guide to key figures * Highlights dramatic social and political changes occurring in the period

During the Civil War, Northerners fought each other in elections with almost as much zeal as they fought Southern rebels on the battlefield. Yet politicians and voters alike claimed that partisanship was dangerous in a time of national crisis.
In No Party Now, Adam I. P. Smith challenges the prevailing view that political processes in the North somehow helped the Union be more stable and effective in the war. Instead, Smith argues, early efforts to suspend party politics collapsed in the face of divisions over slavery and the purpose of the war. At the same time, new contexts for political mobilization, such as the army and the avowedly non-partisan Union Leagues, undermined conventional partisan practices. The administration's supporters soon used the power of anti-party discourse to their advantage by connecting their own antislavery arguments to a powerful nationalist ideology. By the time of the 1864 election they sought to de-legitimize partisan opposition with slogans like "No Party Now But All For Our Country!"
No Party Now offers a reinterpretation of Northern wartime politics that challenges the "party period paradigm" in American political history and reveals the many ways in which the unique circumstances of war altered the political calculations and behavior of politicians and voters alike. As Smith shows, beneath the superficial unity lay profound differences about the implications of the war for the kind of nation that the United States was to become.
Finalist, 2007 Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship

What was it like living in a small sleepy Southern town when the war suddenly arrived on the doorstep 150 years ago? Th ese are the stories of residents from various walks of life, and the struggles they face as the Union's Peninsula Campaign deploys forces to Fort Monroe, engages just east of Williamsburg, then continues, 'On to Richmond ' as their battle cry went. For example,

-William & Mary students, like Th omas Barlow, face life-changing decisions: to return home, or enlist with his classmates? Some of them would become heroes, but many more casualties.

-Slaves, like W.B. Nelson, must decide as well: should he remain with his master or runaway? While some remain, many become 'contrabands, ' and later freedmen, and 'colored troops.'

-Politicians, like Benjamin Butler of Boston, are given the rank of Major General despite the lack of any military experience, while General George B. McClellan, who despised President Lincoln and Washington politics, later runs for national offi ce. Neither transformation is particularly successful."

-Williamsburg residents, like shopkeeper William W. Vest and family must decide between fl eeing as refugees, or staying, like William Peachy, lawyer, to endure Federal occupation.

-Williamsburg's women, like Letitia Tyler Semple, lead efforts to improve soldier medical care, opening their homes to thousands of wounded. Others, like Mary Payne, persevere to be at her husband's bedside, while Miss Margaret Durfey falls in love with her patient.

...from the time of the memorable toast of Andrew Jackson--"The federal union; it must be preserved!" ... to the assassination of President Lincoln, and the end of the war. With famous words and deeds of woman, sanitary and hospital scenes, prison experiences, andc. By Frazar Kirkland (pseud.)

Winner of the Civil War Round Table of New York's Fletcher Pratt Literary Award Winner of the Austin Civil War Round Table's Daniel M. & Marilyn W. Laney Book Prize Winner of an Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award "A superb account" (The Wall Street Journal) of the longest and most decisive military campaign of the Civil War in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which opened the Mississippi River, split the Confederacy, freed tens of thousands of slaves, and made Ulysses S. Grant the most important general of the war. Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the last stronghold of the Confederacy on the Mississippi River. It prevented the Union from using the river for shipping between the Union-controlled Midwest and New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The Union navy tried to take Vicksburg, which sat on a high bluff overlooking the river, but couldn't do it. It took Grant's army and Admiral David Porter's navy to successfully invade Mississippi and lay siege to Vicksburg, forcing the city to surrender. In this "elegant...enlightening...well-researched and well-told" (Publishers Weekly) work, Donald L. Miller tells the full story of this year-long campaign to win the city "with probing intelligence and irresistible passion" (Booklist). He brings to life all the drama, characters, and significance of Vicksburg, a historic moment that rivals any war story in history. In the course of the campaign, tens of thousands of slaves fled to the Union lines, where more than twenty thousand became soldiers, while others seized the plantations they had been forced to work on, destroying the economy of a large part of Mississippi and creating a social revolution. With Vicksburg "Miller has produced a model work that ties together military and social history" (Civil War Times). Vicksburg solidified Grant's reputation as the Union's most capable general. Today no general would ever be permitted to fail as often as Grant did, but ultimately he succeeded in what he himself called the most important battle of the war--the one that all but sealed the fate of the Confederacy.

The Civil War of a noted U. S. GeneralAlthough Cox is well known as a chronicler of the Civil War-through books on campaigns, battles and principal characters-this book is entirely different. This is the story of the Civil War as it touched his own life. It is, as he says, 'a narrative by one who was an active participant from its beginning to its end and in which he has deliberately avoided repetition of the contents of his other works'. This first volume begins with Cox's appointment as Brigadier-General of Volunteers commanding Ohioan and Kentuckian troops, and then describes his subsequent experiences in West Virginia, the Kanawha Valley and the battles leading to Antietam and beyond. Cox manages to successfully combine a historian's overview of the whole war with historic events that unfolded in his presence, to create an essential Civil War memoir.

This book analyzes the pivotal battle of Shiloh in 1862, the bloodiest fought by Americans up to that time, in which Albert Sidney Johnston's desperate effort to reverse Confederate fortunes in the heartland fell just short of decisive victory. The Battle of Shiloh was one of the most important battles of the Civil War, and it offers a particularly rich opportunity to study the ways in which different leaders reacted to unexpected challenges. Shiloh: Confederate High Tide in the Heartland provides a fascinating and fast-paced narrative history of the key campaign and battle in the Civil War's decisive western theater-the heartland of the Confederacy west of the Appalachians. The book emphasizes the significance of contingency in evaluating the decisions of the Union and Confederate commanders, as well as the tenacity displayed by both sides, which contributed to the tremendous bloodshed of the conflict and revealed the depth of Union determination that would ultimately doom the Confederacy. Intended for Civil War enthusiasts as well as scholars of American military history, this work reveals the complex challenges and decisions of leadership and documents how the Confederacy was never as close to scoring a truly decisive victory as its forces were on the first day of the Battle of Shiloh. Includes photographs and maps that clarify the historical events of Shiloh Reveals how key decisions by several generals, sometimes based on erroneous information, had the potential to change the outcome of the battle