Sometimes called the "wharf rats from New Orleans" and the "lowest scrapings of the Mississippi," Lee's Tigers were the approximately twelve thousand Louisiana infantrymen who served in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia from the time of the campaign at First Manassas to the final days of the war at Appomattox. Terry L. Jones offers a colorful, highly readable account of this notorious group of soldiers renowned not only for their drunkenness and disorderly behavior in camp but for their bravery in battle. It was this infantry that held back the initial Federal onslaught at First Manassas, made possible General Stonewall Jackson's famed Valley Campaign, contained the Union breakthrough at Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle, and led Lee's last offensive actions at Fort Stedman and Appomattox.Despite all their vices, Lee's Tigers emerged from the Civil War with one of the most respected military records of any group of southern soldiers. According to Jones, the unsavory reputation of the Tigers was well earned, for Louisiana probably had a higher percentage of criminals, drunkards, and deserters in its commands than any other Confederate state. The author spices his narrative with well-chosen anecdotes-among them an account of one of the stormiest train rides in military history. While on their way to Virginia, the enlisted men of Coppens' Battalion uncoupled their officers' car from the rest of the train and proceeded to partake of their favorite beverages. Upon arriving in Montgomery, the battalion embarked upon a drunken spree of harassment, vandalism, and robbery. Meanwhile, having commandeered another locomotive, the officers arrived and sprang from their train with drawn revolvers to put a stop to the disorder. "The charge of the Light Brigade," one witness recalled, "was surpassed by these irate Creoles."

Lee's Tigers is the first study to utilize letters, diaries, and muster rolls to provide a detailed account of the origins, enrollments, casualties, and desertion rates of these soldiers. Jones supplies the first major work to focus solely on Louisiana's infantry in Lee's army throughout the course of the war. Civil War buffs and scholars alike will find Lee's Tigers a valuable addition to their libraries.

From its first major engagement at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, to the campaigns against Confederates in the swamps of occupied Louisiana, the 12th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry fought more than twenty battles in three theaters of combat. So great was the regiment's contribution to the Union victory that a monument at Gettysburg honors the unit for its place "in the first line of battle." The campaigns of the 12th Illinois reflect the larger shape of the war. In 1862 and early 1863, the 12th Illinois defended Union supply lines against the lightning raids of J. E. B. Stuart's Confederate Cavalry in Virginia and Maryland. In 1863, it helped to turn back the tide of the Confederate advance at Gettysburg. And in 1864-1865 the unit went on the offensive and raided deep into the Southern heartland as the Union pursued a strategy of "hard war." Drawing upon firsthand accounts from letters, diaries, memoirs, and official service records, Blackwell brings the soldiers of the 12th Illinois to life. As with other militia units in the heady first months of the war, the 12th Illinois assembled quickly, and its officers had at best only rudimentary military training. They were little prepared for the rigors of leading men into war or coping with desertions and horrific casualties. In the First Line of Battle tells the story of how the 12th Illinois Cavalry came through the war with its colors intact. Tracking the regiment from its first muster early in 1862 through its service in Texas during Reconstruction, Blackwell shows readers the war as it was lived by men who fought across the length and breadth of the Confederacy. Tracing the path of the 12th Illinois, he sheds new light on the role of the Union cavalry in the Civil War.