In many ways, the Northern soldier in the Civil War fought as if he had never left home. On campsites and battlefields, the Union volunteer adapted to military life with attitudes shaped by networks of family relationships, in units of men from the same hometown. Understanding these links between the homes the troops left behind and the war they had to fight, writes Reid Mitchell, offers critical insight into how they thought, fought, and persevered through four bloody years of combat.
In The Vacant Chair, Mitchell draws on the letters, diaries, and memoirs of common soldiers to show how mid-nineteenth-century ideas and images of the home and family shaped the union soldier's approach to everything from military discipline to battlefield bravery. For hundreds of thousands of "boys," as they called themselves, the Union army was an extension of their home and childhood experiences. Many experienced the war as a coming-of-age rite, a test of such manly virtues as self-control, endurance, and courage. They served in companies recruited from the same communities, and they wrote letters reporting on each other's performance--conscious that their own behavior in the army would affect their reputations back home. So, too, were they deeply affected by letters from their families, as wives and mothers complained of suffering or demanded greater valor. Mitchell also shows how this hometown basis for volunteer units eroded respect for military rank, as men served with officers they saw as equals: "Lieut Col Dewey introduced Hugh T Reid," one sergeant wrote dryly, "by saying, 'Boys, behold your colonel, ' and we _beheld_ him." In return, officers usually adopted paternalist attitudes toward their "boys"--especially in the case of white officers commanding black soldiers. Mitchell goes on to look at the role of women in the soldiers' experiences, from the feminine center of their own households to their hatred of Confederate women as "she-devils."
The intimate relations and inner life of the Union soldier, the author writes, tell us much about how and why he kept fighting through four bloody years--and why demoralization struck the Confederate soldier as the war penetrated the South, threatening his home and family while he was at the front. "The Northern soldier did not simply experience the war as a husband, son, father, or brother--he fought that way as well," he writes. "That was part of his strength. The Confederate soldier fought the war the same way, and, in the end, that proved part of his weakness." The Vacant Chair uncovers this critical chapter in the Civil War experience, showing how the Union soldier saw--and won--our most costly conflict.

Jesse Olsavsky's The Most Absolute Abolition tells the dramatic story of how vigilance committees organized the Underground Railroad and revolutionized the abolitionist movement. These groups, based primarily in northeastern cities, defended Black neighborhoods from police and slave catchers. As the urban wing of the Underground Railroad, they helped as many as ten thousand refugees, building an elaborate network of like-minded sympathizers across boundaries of nation, gender, race, and class. Olsavsky reveals how the committees cultivated a movement of ideas animated by a motley assortment of agitators and intellectuals, including famous figures such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Henry David Thoreau, who shared critical information with one another. Formerly enslaved runaways-who grasped the economy of slavery, developed their own political imaginations, and communicated strategies of resistance to abolitionists-serve as the book's central focus. The dialogues between fugitives and abolitionists further radicalized the latter's tactics and inspired novel forms of feminism, prison reform, and utopian constructs. These notions transformed abolitionism into a revolutionary movement, one at the heart of the crises that culminated in the Civil War.

Originally published in 1967, this book is a concise and ideal study of one of the most important periods of American history and is ideal for A Level students and as an introduction for undergraduates. It discusses the social, economic and political context for Lincoln's meteoric rise and the legacy of his many achievements including the abolition of slavery.

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.

A major contribution to debates about the origins of the Civil War, this study of English forests and hunting from the late sixteenth-century to the early 1640s explores their significance in the symbolism and effective power of royalty and the nobility in early modern England. Blending social, cultural and political history, Dan Beaver examines the interrelationships among four local communities to explain the violent political conflicts in the forests in the years leading up to the civil war. Adopting a micro-historical approach, the book explores how local politics became bound up with national political and ideological divisions. The author argues that, from the early seventeenth-century, a politics of land use in forests and other hunting reserves involved its participants in a sophisticated political discourse, touching on the principles of law and justice, the authority of the crown and the nature of a commonwealth.

Linked by declarations of emancipation within the same five-year period, two countries shared human rights issues on two distinct continents. In this book, readers will find a case-study comparison of the emancipation of Russian serfs on the Yazykovo Selo estate and American slaves at the Palmyra Plantation. Although state policies and reactions may not follow the same paths in each area, there were striking thematic parallels. These findings add to our understanding of what happens throughout an emancipation process in which the state grants freedom, and therefore speaks to the universality of the human experience. Despite the political and economic differences between the two countries, as well as their geographic and cultural distances, this book re-conceptualizes emancipation and its aftermath in each country: from a history that treats each as a separate, self-contained story to one with a unified, global framework.

In 1861, war between the United States and the Chiricahua seemed inevitable. The Apache band lived on a heavily traveled Emigrant and Overland Mail Trail and routinely raided it, organized by their leader, the prudent, not friendly Cochise. When a young boy was kidnapped from his stepfather's ranch, Lieutenant George Bascom confronted Cochise even though there was no proof that the Chiricahua were responsible. After a series of missteps, Cochise exacted a short-lived revenge. Despite modern accounts based on spurious evidence, Bascom's performance in a difficult situation was admirable. This book examines the legend and provides a new analysis of Bascom's and Cochise's behavior, putting it in the larger context of the Indian Wars that followed the American Civil War.

The second and concluding volume of Professor Ashworth's study of American antebellum politics, this book offers an exciting new interpretation of the origins of the Civil War. The volume deals with the politics of the 1850s and with the plunge into civil war. Professor Ashworth offers a new way of understanding the conflict between North and South and shows how northern free labor increasingly came into conflict with southern slavery as a result of both changes in the northern economy and the structural weaknesses of slavery.

The Nashville and Decatur Railroad was in operation five months before the start of the Civil War and 17 months before the Federals took control of Nashville and the railroad. Running through Central Tennessee to Alabama, the highly contested line passed through Confederate-held territory, where rebels and their sympathizers continually sabotaged bridges, trestles and track. This first full-length work on the N&D Railroad emphasizes its importance in the Western Theater and brings to light the four key men who kept it open for the duration of the war. Significant military activities in the region are described, along with the contraband camp, military complex and other features surrounding the railroad's only tunnel.

The Mobile & Ohio Railroad was the longest line in the nation when it was completed in spring of 1861--the final spike driven a few weeks after Confederate artillery shelled Fort Sumter. Within days, the M&O was swept up in the Civil War as a prime conveyor of troops and supplies, a strategic and tactical asset to both Confederate and Union armies, who fought to control it. Its northern terminus at Columbus, Kentucky saw some of the earliest fighting in the war. The southern terminus in Mobile, Alabama was the scene of some of the last. U. S. Grant, William T. Sherman, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Newton Knight of the "Free State of Jones" and others battled over the M&O, the Federals taking it mile-by-mile. This book chronicles the campaigns and battles for the railroad and the calamity endured by the civilians who lived along it.

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.

This is a coordinated presentation of the economic basis of revolutionary change in 16th- and early-17th century England, addressing a crucial but neglected phase of historical development. It traces a transformation in the agrarian economy and substantiates the decisive scale on which this took place, showing how the new forms of occupation and practice on the land related to seminal changes in the general dynamics of commercial activity. An integrated, self-regulating national market generated new imperatives, particularly a demand for a right of freedom of trade from arbitrary exactions and restraints. This took political force through the special status that rights of consent had acquired in England, based on the rise of sovereign representative law following the Break with Rome. These associations were reflected in a distinctive merchant-gentry alliance, seeking to establish freedom of trade and representative control of public finance, through parliament. This produced a persistent challenge to royal prerogatives such as impositions from 1610 onwards. Parliamentary provision, especially legislation, came to be seen as essential to good government. These ambitions led to the first revolutionary measures of the Long Parliament in early 1641, establishing automatic parliaments and the normative force of freedom of trade.

The book draws on letters, diaries, recent books and articles in History, but also relies on multi-disciplinary sources in politics and literature, along transnational comparisons to place the events in a broader perspective. The book invites the reader to embark with the soldiers and some civilians on their journey into the murderous events across the nation. The passage began with the heroic cliches that prevailed during the initial organization and embarkation of the armies. However the shock of battle and the weary life in camps brought new images of the war such as a bleak vision seeing the war as a chaotic absurdity, others began to suspect conspiratorial agencies behind the conflict, yet others sought to galvanize their support for the hard road ahead by invoking melodramatic metaphors as a crusade, and means of national redemption and punishment of the adversary. As the fighting intensified after the initial clashes of 1862, some believed that the hard war opened the way for imposing revolutionary changes such as upending the South's social structure providing social, economic and political equality to a new class-the ex-slaves. Finally, there were some who felt the war was a Sophoclean-Greek tragedy because the outcome and nature of the war proved contrary to what they had assumed the struggle would be about and what it would be like.

The fifth and final volume in the Colonels in Blue series, this book covers Civil War Union colonels who commanded regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops, the U.S. Regular Army, the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Sharpshooters. Colonels who served as staff officers or with special units, such as the U.S. Veteran Volunteer Infantry, the U.S. Volunteer Infantry, the Veteran Reserve Corps and various organizations previously undocumented, are also included. Brief biographical sketches cover each officer's Civil War service, followed by pertinent details of their lives. Photographs are provided for most, many published for the first time. Rosters of the colonels in each category include those promoted to higher ranks whose lives are documented in other works.

Although she was one of the leading thinkers and writers of the women's suffrage movement, Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898) was largely written out of history. After working in collaboration with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and after serving as president of the National Woman Suffrage Association, Gage developed increasingly radical views on feminism, religious liberty, and equality under the law. She eventually parted ways with the suffrage movement and founded the more progressive Woman's National Liberal Union. In Witness to Rebellion, award-winning author Peter Svenson presents and examines Gage's last significant work, a scrapbook that collects newspaper clippings about the Civil War from the 1860s onward. Providing relevant contextual information, Svenson formats the content of the scrapbook to transform this important artifact into a readable work that offers a new and engaging perspective on nineteenth-century American history. Gage's scrapbook sheds light on her thinking, both as a feminist and a Union patriot, as she lived through the bloodshed and upheaval of the war years and their aftermath. Witness to Rebellion is a valuable resource not only for scholars of history, women's studies, and material culture, but also for general readers with interest in women's suffrage and the Civil War.

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.