The memoir of Sam Russell (1915-2010), a communist journalist and a British volunteer with the anti-fascist Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. First-hand accounts of significant historical events, from the formerly occupied Channel Islands at the end of World War II to the show trials of communists in Eastern Europe in the 1950s. Fascinating insight into the Spanish Civil War, the history of communism, and British radical history.

While conscientious objection in the twentieth century has been well documented, there has been surprisingly little study of its long history in America's early conflicts. Peter Brock, one of the foremost historians of American pacifism, seeks to remedy this oversight by presenting a rich and varied collection of documents, many drawn from obscure sources, that shed new light on American religious and military history. These include legal findings, church and meeting proceedings, appeals by non-conformists to government authorities, and illuminating excerpts from personal journals.One of the most striking features to emerge from these documents is the critical role of religion in the history of American pacifism. Brock finds that virtually all who refused military service in this period were inspired by religious convictions, with Quakers frequently being the most ardent dissenters. A dramatic, powerful portrait of early American pacifism, Liberty and Conscience presents not only the thought and practice of the objectors themselves, but also the response of the authorities and the general public.

The author's first book, The 50th Pennsylvania's Civil War Odyssey, addressed the wartime journey of a regiment that fought in six Southern states. In this, his second Civil War tale, you follow the hardships faced by a regiment that fought in only two. It fought in McClellan's Virginia Peninsula Campaign and then, in its second major fight at Plymouth, NC in April 1864, the entire Union garrison was captured by General Hoke's Confederate forces. This book also focuses on a lucky lieutenant from Bedford, Pennsylvania, who escaped from rebel captivity with two companions and, with help from field slaves and Unionists in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, walked 250 miles in 42 days to Union lines. His regiment, the 101st Pennsylvania, was not so fortunate. Captured in April of 1864 in its entirety at Plymouth, NC, nearly half of its enlisted men perished in Confederate POW camps.

General John A. Wickham, commander of the famous 101st Airborne Division in the 1970s and subsequently Army Chief of Staff, once visited Antietam battlefield. Gazing at Bloody Lane where, in 1862, several Union assaults were brutally repulsed before they finally broke through, he marveled, "You couldn't get American soldiers today to make an attack like that." Why did those men risk certain death, over and over again, through countless bloody battles and four long, awful years ? Why did the conventional wisdom -- that soldiers become increasingly cynical and disillusioned as war progresses -- not hold true in the Civil War?

It is to this question--why did they fight-- that James McPherson, America's preeminient Civil War historian, now turns his attention. He shows that, contrary to what many scholars believe, the soldiers of the Civil War remained powerfully convinced of the ideals for which they fought throughout the conflict. Motivated by duty and honor, and often by religious faith, these men wrote frequently of their firm belief in the cause for which they fought: the principles of liberty, freedom, justice, and patriotism. Soldiers on both sides harkened back to the Founding Fathers, and the ideals of the American Revolution. They fought to defend their country, either the Union--"the best Government ever made"--or the Confederate states, where their very homes and families were under siege. And they fought to defend their honor and manhood. "I should not lik to go home with the name of a couhard," one Massachusetts private wrote, and another private from Ohio said, "My wife would sooner hear of my death than my disgrace." Even after three years of bloody battles, more than half of the Union soldiers reenlisted voluntarily. "While duty calls me here and my country demands my services I should be willing to make the sacrifice," one man wrote to his protesting parents. And another soldier said simply, "I still love my country."

McPherson draws on more than 25,000 letters and nearly 250 private diaries from men on both sides. Civil War soldiers were among the most literate soldiers in history, and most of them wrote home frequently, as it was the only way for them to keep in touch with homes that many of them had left for the first time in their lives. Significantly, their letters were also uncensored by military authorities, and are uniquely frank in their criticism and detailed in their reports of marches and battles, relations between officers and men, political debates, and morale. For Cause and Comrades lets these soldiers tell their own stories in their own words to create an account that is both deeply moving and far truer than most books on war.

Battle Cry of Freedom, McPherson's Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the Civil War, was a national bestseller that Hugh Brogan, in The New York Times, called "history writing of the highest order." For Cause and Comrades deserves similar accolades, as McPherson's masterful prose and the soldiers' own words combine to create both an important book on an often overlooked aspect of our bloody Civil War, and a powerfully moving account of the men who fought it.

The 38th Virginia Infantry was organized in May and June of 1861, in the southern Virginia counties of Pittsylvania, Halifax, and Mecklenburg. Seven of the ten Companies were recruited in Pittsylvania, thus it was called the Pittsylvania Regiment. Less than a year prior, census takers unknowingly finished recording for posterity the men who would go to war. An in depth study shows seven Virginia counties and six North Carolina counties bordering the recruitment area of Pittsylvania, Halifax, and Mecklenburg would contribute men to the 38th Virginia. The 38th Virginia Infantry was in the field of battle from Yorktown in April of 1862, to Appomattox on April 9, 1865. The largest losses suffered were at battles of 7 Pines, Malvern Hill, Gettysburg, Chester Station, and the 2nd Battle of Drewry's Bluff. Herein is detail on the orders of battles, the prison camps endured, and the names of parents and wives of the soldiers, with focus on the census of 1860.

This study describes the creation of the Primitive Baptist movement and discusses the main outlines of their thought. It also weaves the story of the Primitive Baptists with other developments in American Christianity in the Early Republic.

Right-Wing Spain in the Civil War Era explores the lives of the leading Spanish conservatives in the turbulent period 1914-1945. The volume is a collection of biographies of the most important figures of the Spanish Right during the last years of the Restoration (1914-1923), the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-1930), the Second Republic (1931-1936), the Civil War (1936-39) and the early years of the Franco regime (1939-45). This book brings together a number of leading historians of twentieth-century Spain. By adopting a biographical approach, the volume aims at providing a new insight of the origins, development and aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. Contrary to the traditional view, Right-Wing Spain in the Civil War Era shows a diverse and fragmented Spanish right which, far from being isolated, was profoundly influenced by German Nazism, Italian Fascism and French Traditionalism. This remarkable and innovative collection of essays will be welcomed by students and lecturers of Spanish history alike.

The South's raiding cavalry on campaign
This substantial, well known and highly regarded work presents itself to the reader as a history of a renowned unit of Confederate Cavalry. Whilst that is undoubtedly the case, the narrative is made the more relevant, interesting and indeed entertaining because its author rode within its ranks. So the book also works admirably as a first hand account of the experiences of a cavalier of the South at war. John Hunt Morgan was a Kentuckian and a regular soldier who was drawn, in common with so many of his native state, reluctantly into war against the federal government. He raised the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry regiment and as its Colonel fought at Shiloh, but it was as a raider that Morgan's Cavalry achieved most fame and, for some, notoriety. 'Morgan's Raid' which took place in July 1863 was a remarkable feat of cavalry command. With lightning manoeuvres Morgan broke past the Union lines and led nearly 2,500 Confederate cavalrymen deep into Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio making this action the deepest incursion into the north of any body of uniformed Confederate troops in the war. For those interested in the dash, elan and actions of this redoubtable body of horse soldiers and their talented commander, Duke's book-a deservedly recognised classic-is essential. Available in soft cover and hard cover with dust jacket for collectors."

The American Civil War (1861-65) remains a searing event in the collective consciousness of the United States. It was one of the bloodiest conflicts in modern history, claiming the lives of at least 600,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Civil War was also one of the world's first truly industrial conflicts, involving railroads, the telegraph, steamships and mass-manufactured weaponry. The eventual victory of the Union over the Confederacy rang the death-knell for American slavery, and set the USA on the path to becoming a truly world power. Paul Christopher Anderson shows how and why the conflict remains the nation's defining moment, arguing that it was above all a struggle for power and political supremacy. Melding social, cultural and military history, the author explores iconic battles like Shiloh, Chickamauga, Antietam and Gettysburg, as well as the bitterly contesting forces underlying them. He shows that while both sides began the war in order to preserve - the integrity of the American state in the case of the Union, the integrity of a culture and value system in the case of the Confederacy - it allowed the South to define a regional identity that has survived into modern times.

William McKnight was a member of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry from September 1862 until his death in June of 1864. During his time of service, McKnight penned dozens of emotion-filled letters, primarily to his wife, Samaria, revealing the struggles of an entire family both before and during the war. This collection of more than one hundred letters provides in-depth accounts of several battles in Kentucky and Tennessee, such as the Cumberland Gap and Knoxville campaigns that were pivotal events in the Western Theater. The letters also vividly respond to General John Hunt Morgan's raid through Ohio and correct claims previously published that McKnight was part of the forces chasing Morgan. By all accounts Morgan did stay for a period of time at McKnight's home in Langsville during his raid through Ohio, much to McKnight's horror and humiliation, but McKnight was in Kentucky at the time. Tragically, McKnight was killed in action nearly a year later during an engagement with Morgan's men near Cynthiana, Kentucky.

"It is well that war is so terrible," Robert E. Lee reportedly said, "or we would grow too fond of it." The essays collected here make the case that we have grown too fond of it, and therefore we must make the war ter-rible again. Taking a "freakonomics" approach to Civil War studies, each contributor uses a seemingly unusual story, incident, or phenomenon to cast new light on the nature of the war itself. Collectively the essays remind us that war is always about "damage," even at its most heroic and even when certain people and things deserve to be damaged.

Here then is not only the grandness of the Civil War but its more than occasional littleness. Here are those who profited by the war and those who lost by it--and not just those who lost all save their honor, but those who lost their honor too. Here are the cowards, the coxcombs, the belles, the deserters, and the scavengers who hung back and so survived, even thrived. Here are dark topics like torture, hunger, and amputation. Here, in short, is war.

100 photos taken on field during the Civil War. Famous shots of Manassas, Harper's Ferry, Lincoln, Richmond, slave pens, etc.

Despite the seemingly never-ending torrent of books about the American Civil War, relatively little has been written about the role of the United States Revenue Marine Service (now the U.S. Coast Guard) in the naval struggle against the Confederacy. The United States Revenue Cutters in the Civil War presents a ship-by-ship study of this neglected aspect of the war, from the decisions of individual cutter commanders as to which side they would take in the struggle to their ships key role in enforcing the Northern blockade of the South s coasts. The author, an expert on the early history of the Revenue Service, also tells the amazing story of the capture of the cutter Caleb Cushing by Confederates under the command of Lieutenant Charles W. Savez Read, CSN in the harbor of Portland, Maine, his daring escape, brief battle with Union ships, and the scuttling of the Cushing. This hard-to-find publication also documents the other combat actions, nautical mishaps, and ultimate fates of these unsung participants in the naval side of the Civil War.

The Civil War and the men and women who lived during that time continue to interest, preoccupy, and bemuse a wide and various population. This volume provides information on 872 men and women of the Union, covering those who influenced the course of public policy, opinion, and events. Coverage of political leaders, such as congressmen and cabinet officers, is comprehensive, while others, such as editors, photographers, and abolitionists, are covered selectively. Military leaders are included for specific contributions to the Union. Each profile provides biographical information about the person, stressing the war years and offering an assessment of the individual's place in the Union. Each entry concludes with bibliographic sources. Taken together, the profiles illumine those mystic chords of memory that continue to tie us yet to the Civil War generation.

A famous American writer's experiences of the Civil War
The title of this book, of course, refers to the men of the United States who rallied to their nation's flag and the cause of the maintenance of the union between all the states at the first trumpet call to arms in 1861. The dissatisfaction of the eleven Southern states which would form the Confederacy burst into violence in April of that year with the attack on Fort Sumter and these first shots heralded four years of appalling bloodshed and acrimony before the United States of America could once again be declared a whole nation. This is not a general history of the war, it is, in the person of Charles Carleton Coffin, an account of personal experiences by an expert observer who is now regarded as one of the most important journalists the American nation has ever produced-Coffin was also a fine author and accomplished politician. The term 'embedded correspondent' has become a familiar term to describe newsmen who accompany an army in the field. The nineteenth century was however a golden age of special correspondents, of various nations, who joined fighting forces at the sharp end of conflict all over the globe and not a few of them-as they do to this day-paid the ultimate price for their dogged persistence in placing the facts before the public. Coffin was determined to experience the Civil War at close quarters and in this substantial book he takes us on campaign, from the intimacy of the march and the camp, among ordinary men and officers-and close by the commanders of the Union Army, as momentous events unfolded and important decisions were made. All first hand accounts are invaluable source works irrespective of the skill in penmanship of their authors. They record events and the exploits of individuals long gone and are, quite simply, the lifeblood of history. Nevertheless, when history is seen by a keen eye and related by those with a vivid turn of phrase and command of language it is at its best. Coffin was such an observer, he experienced the war in full measure at Bull Run, the Tennessee Campaign, Pittsburg Landing, the invasion of Maryland and Kentucky, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Petersburg and the fall of Richmond and witnessed many other momentous events on land and afloat. Available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.

In antebellum society, women were regarded as ideal nurses because of their sympathetic natures. However, they were expected to exercise their talents only in the home; nursing strange men in hospitals was considered inappropriate, if not indecent. Nevertheless, in defiance of tradition, Confederate women set up hospitals early in the Civil War and organized volunteers to care for the increasing number of sick and wounded soldiers. As a fledgling government engaged in a long and bloody war, the Confederacy relied on this female labor, which prompted a new understanding of women's place in public life and a shift in gender roles.

Challenging the assumption that Southern women's contributions to the war effort were less systematic and organized than those of Union women, "Worth a Dozen Men "looks at the Civil War as a watershed moment for Southern women. Female nurses in the South played a critical role in raising army and civilian morale and reducing mortality rates, thus allowing the South to continue fighting. They embodied a new model of heroic energy and nationalism, and came to be seen as the female equivalent of soldiers. Moreover, nursing provided them with a foundation for pro-Confederate political activity, both during and after the war, when gender roles and race relations underwent dramatic changes.

"Worth a Dozen Men" chronicles the Southern wartime nursing experience, tracking the course of the conflict from the initial burst of Confederate nationalism to the shock and sorrow of losing the war. Through newspapers and official records, as well as letters, diaries, and memoirs--not only those of the remarkable and dedicated women who participated, but also of the doctors with whom they served, their soldier patients, and the patients' families--a comprehensive picture of what it was like to be a nurse in the South during the Civil War emerges.