Captain George N. Bliss experienced almost every aspect of the Civil War, except death. As an officer in the First Rhode Island Cavalry, Bliss engaged in some twenty-seven actions. He miraculously survived a skirmish in Waynesboro, Virginia, in September 1864, when he single-handedly charged into the Black Horse Cavalry. Badly injured and taken prisoner, Bliss was consigned to the notorious Libby Prison in Richmond. Midway through the war, Bliss also served for nine months at a Conscript Camp in Connecticut, where he sat on several courts-martial. Bliss richly detailed his war experiences in letters to his close friend, David Gerald, who lived in Rhode Island. In absolute candor, Bliss expressed his opinions on many topics and related a plethora of firsthand details. A colorful writer, he also penned dispatches from the field for a Providence newspaper. Meticulously transcribed and annotated, this collection of letters is unusual because Bliss did not mask the devastation and challenges of his intense wartime experiences as he might have done in writing to a family member. In conclusion, the editors describe how, following the war, Bliss sought out the Confederates who almost killed him, forming personal relationships that lasted for decades.

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.

Jarret Ruminski examines ordinary lives in Confederate-controlled Mississippi to show how military occupation and the ravages of war tested the meaning of loyalty during America's greatest rift. The extent of southern loyalty to the Confederate States of America has remained a subject of historical contention that has resulted in two conflicting conclusions: one, southern patriotism was either strong enough to carry the Confederacy to the brink of victory, or two, it was so weak that the Confederacy was doomed to crumble from internal discord. Mississippi, the home state of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, should have been a hotbed of Confederate patriotism. The reality was much more complicated. Ruminski breaks the weak/strong loyalty impasse by looking at how people from different backgrounds - women and men, white and black, enslaved and free, rich and poor - negotiated the shifting contours of loyalty in a state where Union occupation turned everyday activities into potential tests of patriotism. While the Confederate government demanded total national loyalty from its citizenry, this study focuses on wartime activities such as swearing the Union oath, illegally trading with the Union army, and deserting from the Confederate army to show how Mississippians acted on multiple loyalties to self, family, and nation. Ruminski also probes the relationship between race and loyalty to indicate how an internal war between slaves and slaveholders defined Mississippi's social development well into the twentieth century.

Originally published in 1915, the essays in this book deal with 9 English writers - as diverse in outlook and temperament as Bunyan and Boswell; poets and Puritans and men who were neither. The book examines each writer in his historical and social context - facing problems in art or religion and life in general.

Originally published in 1968, the documents collected in this volume (all re-set for ease of reading), trace the history of the Puritan Revolution from its roots in the early seventeenth century to the Restoration. They show how the causes and the course of the upheaval were reflected immediately and polemically in the torrent of books, tracts and pamphlets, letters, speeches, sermons, petitions, paper constitutions and government instruments that accompanied and often precipitated events. The documents substantiate the conviction of many scholars that the English Revolution represented a shaking of society comparable to the French and Russian revolutions. The Introduction discusses the work of historians of modern-day historians of the period and contributes to the debate about the underlying causes of the crisis.

When Confederate Major General J.E.B. Stuart said ""North Carolina has done nobly in this army,"" he had one of his own men to thank: Brigadier General James Byron Gordon. A protege of Stuart, Gordon was the consummate nineteenth-century landowner, politician, and businessman. Despite a lack of military training, he rose rapidly through the ranks and, as the commander of all North Carolina cavalrymen in the Army of Northern Virginia, he helped bring unparalleled success to Stuart's famed Confederate cavalry. This updated biography, originally published in 1996, chronicles Gordon's early life and military career and, through his men, takes a fresh look at the vaunted Army of Northern Virginia-its battles, controversies, and troops. This second edition includes additional source material that has come to light and a roster of Gordon's 1st North Carolina Cavalry.

Banks failed, credit contracted, inequality grew, and people everywhere were out of work while political paralysis and slavery threatened to rend the nation in two. As financial crises always have, the Panic of 1837 drew forth a plethora of reformers who promised to restore America to greatness. Animated by an ethic of individualism and self-reliance, they became prophets of a new moral order: if only their fellow countrymen would call on each individual's God-given better instincts, the most intractable problems could be resolved. Inspired by this reformist fervor, Americans took to strict dieting, water cures, phrenology readings, mesmerism, utopian communities, free love, mutual banking, and a host of other elaborate self-improvement schemes. Vocal activists were certain that solutions to the country's ills started with the reformation of individuals, and through them communities, and through communities the nation. This set of assumptions ignored the hard political and economic realities at the core of the country's malaise, however, and did nothing to prevent another financial panic twenty years later, followed by secession and civil war. Focusing on seven individuals-George Ripley, Horace Greeley, William B. Greene, Orson Squire Fowler, Mary Gove Nichols, Henry David Thoreau, and John Brown-Philip Gura explores their efforts, from the comical to the homicidal, to beat a new path to prosperity. A narrative of people and ideas, Man's Better Angels captures an intellectual moment in American history that has been overshadowed by the Civil War and the pragmatism that arose in its wake.

The Eighth Connecticut Infantry was one of the longest-serving Union volunteer regiments in the Civil War and saw action throughout the Eastern Theater, from Burnside's expedition in North Carolina to the battles at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Cold Harbor and Petersburg, and campaigns throughout Virginia. Drawing on letters and diaries of the soldiers themselves, this first ever regimental history of the Eighth chronicles four years of combat service as they unfolded, with maps newly created from historical accounts.

Originally published in 1910, this book traces the political role of the House of Lords during the first half of the seventeenth century, from its early years of defending the constitution against the crown, and the subsequent conflict with the Lower House during the Civil War, to its abolition in 1649 and restoration eleven years later.

Originally published in 1991, this book traces the evolution of the House of Lords as a court for private litigation during the critically important years from 1621 to 1675. It offers new insights into contemporary politics, government and religion, adding an important dimension to our understanding of the House of Lords. This book is primary reading for advanced undergraduates and postgraduate students on courses on early Stuart England, the Civil War and Restoration history.

Although there have been many studies of the English revolution and its more dramatic trials, until this book was published in 1971, little attention had been paid to the Long Parliament's attempts to impeach a number of judges. This book describes how the judges became unpopular, selecting a number of themes - from the development of unanimous decision and opinions, to the role of the judges as agents and supervisors of government policies. The Long Parliament viewed them as the great instrument behind evil policies and believed they had attempted to usurp the power of legislation. Charles I is seen as placing too much reliance on his judges and his failure to realize that legality could not be a perpetual answer to political dissent in the end cost him his throne. The book is intended as an introduction for undergraduates.

Originally published in 1930 and reprinted in 1966 this book focusses on the social and economic developments of the Puritan revolution - aspects which are often overlooked in favour of the political. Using archival resources, this study shows that the period 1640-1660 was one of change and experiment in the social as well as political sphere. Particular focus is given to the depression in industry and agriculture and the resultant increase in poverty and unemployment. The extent to which the traditional authority of church and state was weakened, is also discussed.

Originally published in 1985 the English Civil War is a subject which continues to excite enormous interest throughout the world. This atlas consists of over fifty maps illustrating all the major - and many of the minor - bloody campaigns and battles of the War, including the campaigns of Montrose, the battle of Edgehill and Langport. Providing a complete introductory history to the turbulent period, it also includes maps giving essential background information; detailed accompanying explanations; a useful context to events.

Until this book was published in 1974, many of the letters in this book between Charles I Prince Rupert his nephew and the leading Royalist commander had never been published. From a mainly private collection, the letters give a fascinating insight into the stormy relationship between the monarch and his nephew. Also included are letters from the Royalist exiles, including the future King Charles II and letters to and from other notable figures of the time including Queen Henrietta Maria, Montrose and Oliver Cromwell. The period covered by the letters is the turning point of the Civil War and enables the reader to see the War through the eyes of those who participated in it. The letters have been edited in such a way as to illuminate to the full the personalities of their writers and the appropriate historical and personal context to the letters.

Once symbols of the past, ruins have become ubiquitous signs of our future. Americans today encounter ruins in the media on a daily basis-images of abandoned factories and malls, toxic landscapes, devastating fires, hurricanes, and floods. In this sweeping study, Miles Orvell offers a new understanding of the spectacle of ruins in US culture, exploring how photographers, writers, painters, and filmmakers have responded to ruin and destruction, both real and imaginary, in an effort to make sense of the past and envision the future. Empire of Ruins explains why Americans in the nineteenth century yearned for the ruins of Rome and Egypt and how they portrayed a past as ancient and mysterious in the remains of Native American cultures. As the romance of ruins gave way to twentieth-century capitalism, older structures were demolished to make way for grander ones, a process interpreted by artists as a symptom of America's "creative destruction." In the late twentieth century, Americans began to inhabit a perpetual state of ruins, made visible by photographs of decaying inner cities, derelict factories and malls, and the waste lands of the mining industry. This interdisciplinary work focuses on how visual media have transformed disaster and decay into spectacles that compel our moral attention even as they balance horror and beauty. Looking to the future, Orvell considers the visual portrayal of climate ruins as we face the political and ethical responsibilities of our changing world. A wide-ranging work by an acclaimed urban, cultural, and photography scholar, Empire of Ruins offers a provocative and lavishly illustrated look at the American past, present, and future.

During the Chickamauga Campaign, General David Stanley's two Union cavalry divisions battled Nathan Bedford Forrest's and Joseph Wheeler's two cavalry corps in some of the most difficult terrain for mounted operations in the Civil War. The Federal cavalry divisions, commanded by George Crook and Edward McCook, secured the flanks on the Union advance on Chattanooga, secured the crossing of the Tennessee River, and then pushed into enemy-held territory. Cavalry fights at Alpine and La Fayette marked the early part of the campaign, but the battle exploded on September 18 as Col. Robert Minty and Col. John Wilder held back a determined attack by Confederate infantry, reminiscent of Buford's actions at Gettysburg. Due to Stanley's illness, Robert Mitchell assumed command of the cavalry during the battle along Chickamauga Creek, with notable cavalry actions at Glass Mill, Cooper's Gap, and securing the flanks after the battle. Soon thereafter, the Union cavalry fought Wheeler's mounted forces raiding through Tennessee before the battle at Farmington sent the Confederate horsemen back across the Tennessee River. The contributions of the Union cavalry during this campaign are often overlooked, but the troopers fought through conditions so dusty they could hardly see the horse in front of them while boldly leading the infantry in the second costliest battle in the Civil War.

Originally published in 1933, and written by "America's historian", James Truslow Adams, this volume tells the story of the rise of the American nation encompassing economics, religion, social change and politics from settlement to the Civil War. Due emphasis is given to the inter-connectedness of America with Europe - both in terms of cultural heritage and political and military entanglements. Extensive in size and scope and richly illustrated with half-tones and maps these volumes balance a historical narrative with philosophical interpretation whilst touching on as many aspects of American life and history as possible.

Originally published in 1933, and written by "America's historian", James Truslow Adams, this volume tells the story of the rise of the American nation encompassing economics, religion, social change and politics from settlement to the Civil War. Due emphasis is given to the inter-connectedness of America with Europe - both in terms of cultural heritage and political and military entanglements. Extensive in size and scope and richly illustrated with half-tones and maps these volumes balance a historical narrative with philosophical interpretation whilst touching on as many aspects of American life and history as possible.

Michael Gorra asks provocative questions in this historic portrait of William Faulkner and his world. He explores whether William Faulkner should still be read in this new century and asks what his works tell us about the legacy of slavery and the American Civil War, the central quarrel in America's history. Born in 1897 in Mississippi, Faulkner wrote such iconic novels as Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury, creating in Yoknapatawpha County the richest gallery of characters in American fiction, his achievements culminating in the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature. But given his works' echo of "Lost Cause" romanticism, his depiction of black characters and black speech, and his rendering of race relations in a largely unreconstructed South, Faulkner demands a sobering reevaluation. Interweaving biography, absorbing literary criticism and rich travelogue, The Saddest Words recontextualises Faulkner, revealing a civil war within him, while examining the most plangent cultural issues facing American literature today.

A New York Times Notable Book of 2013 A Kirkus Best Book of 2013 A Bookpage Best Book of 2013Dazzling in scope, Ecstatic Nation illuminates one of the most dramatic and momentous chapters in America's past, when the country dreamed big, craved new lands and new freedom, and was bitterly divided over its great moral wrong: slavery.â ¨ â ¨With a canvas of extraordinary characters, such as P. T. Barnum, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, and L. C. Q. Lamar, Ecstatic Nation brilliantly balances cultural and political history: It's a riveting account of the sectional conflict that preceded the Civil War, and it astutely chronicles the complex aftermath of that war and Reconstruction, including the promise that women would share in a new definition of American citizenship. It takes us from photographic surveys of the Sierra Nevadas to the discovery of gold in the South Dakota hills, and it signals the painful, thrilling birth of modern America.An epic tale by award-winning author Brenda Wineapple, Ecstatic Nation lyrically and with true originality captures the optimism, the failures, and the tragic exuberance of a renewed Republic.

An elite volunteer unit in blue
An independent observer from within another regiment of the Union Army-upon seeing the Delaware Volunteers in action-declared them unreservedly to be the finest volunteer regiment in the army. Although amateurs, this unit attained levels of proficiency in all aspects of the business of soldiering normally the domain of elite regular units. This history charts its progress through the war between the states including the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Rappahannock, Bristoe Station, Mine Run, The Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Petersburg, Deep Bottom and the Fall of Richmond. Available in soft cover and hard cover with dust jacket, this book will be a welcome addition to the libraries of those interested in the American Civil War and the men of Delaware who did so much to preserve the union and help form the modern republic.

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CAMPAIGNS OF A NON-COMBATANT, AND HIS lilomaunt abroad hiring tlje tDar. CHAPTER I. MY IMPRESSMENT. " Here is a piece of James Franklin's printing press, Mr. Townsend," said Mr. Pratt to me, at Newport the other day, ? " Ben. Franklin wrote for the paper, and set type upoit. The press was imported from England in 1730, or thereabouts." He produced a piece of wood, a foot in length, and then laid it away in its drawer very sacredly. " I should like to write to that press, Mr. Pratt," I said, ? "there would be no necessity in such a case of getting off six columns for to-night's mail." " Well " said Mr. Pratt, philosophically, " I have a theory that a man grows up to machinery. As your day so shall your strength be. I believe you have telegraphed up to a House instrument, haven't you ? " "Mr. Pratt," cried I, with some indignation, "your memory is too good. This is Newport, and I have come down to see the surf. Pray, do not remind me of hot hours in a newspaper office, the click of a Morse dispatch, and work far into the midnight " So I left Mr. Pratt, of the Newport Mercury, with anostentation of affront, and bade James Brady, the boatman, hoist sail and carry me over to Dumpling Rocks. On the grassy parapet of the crumbling tower which once served the purposes of a fort, the transparent water hungering at its base, the rocks covered with fringe spotting the channel, the ocean on my right hand lost in its own vastncss, and Newport out of mind save when the town bells rang, or the dip of oars beat in the still swell of Narragansett, I lay down, chafing and out of temper, to curse the only pleasurable labor I had ever undertaken. To me all places were workshops: the seaside, the springs, the summer mountains, the cataracts, the theatres, th...