First published in 1885 and long out of print, Where Men Only Dare to Go by Royall W. Figg remains a classic memoir of Confederate service. This updated edition, with a new foreword by historian Robert K. Krick, brings Figg's captivating narrative back into print. Figg tells the story of Captain William W. Parker's Virginia battery, a significant Confederate unit that participated in every important engagement fought by the Army of Northern Virginia. Comprised mainly of young men, it became known as "Parker's Boy Battery." Figg joined the company at age twenty as a charter member at the battery's initial muster on March 14, 1862. He appears on each of the battery's fourteen bimonthly muster rolls from March 1862 to February 1865 -- an unusually devoted service record. His devotion is evident in the detailed accounting he provides of the battery's history, a vivid and engaging record of the experiences of a Confederate artillerist providing a rich blend of bravery, rascally behavior, and drollery.

J. Thompson Brown, the last commander of Parker's Virginia Battery, described Figg as "a fair representative of our Company, an intelligent fairly educated boy.... He was a truthful and Christian gentleman.... I believe what he says, as no man could doubt Royal W. Figg's statement." The reappearance of Where Men Only Dare to Go after so many years offers a new generation a chance to read the eyewitness report of this bright, observant young soldier who fought through the famous battles in the eastern theater.

Rare recollections of combat and camaraderie from the Army of the Potomac. Thomas W. Hyde, a native of Maine who rose rapidly through the Union ranks and eventually received the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Antietam, published his portrait of the Army of the Potomac in 1894. More than a mere personal remembrance, ""Following the Greek Cross"" tells the story of an illustrious army unit and offers rare glimpses into the Northern perspective on the war and its significance in U.S. history. One of the most cited - and most difficult to find - Union memoirs, this volume returns to print with an expanded edition featuring new information about the author, more than a dozen photographs, and a complete index. Hyde began his military career in 1861 as a major of the Seventh Maine Infantry Regiment. When that unit became part of the Sixth Corps of the massive Army of the Potomac, Hyde was promoted to a staff post. He served on the staffs of several prominent Union officers, including John Sedgwick and Horatio G. Wright, major generals who between them commanded the Sixth Corps in several important campaigns in the Virginia theater. Hyde's unit was also among those who followed General Lee's army into Pennsylvania and fought at Gettysburg. In his correspondence Hyde writes engagingly about the war, his fellow soldiers, strategy and tactics, and daily life in the Union forces. He elaborates on their motivation for fighting, the strength of their camaraderie, and their unflagging determination to preserve the Union. Eric J. Mink's new introduction provides fresh insights on Hyde's origins, perspectives, and postwar achievements, which include the establishment of one of North America's most important shipyards, in Hyde's hometown of Bath, Maine.

Prussian-born cartographer Oscar Hinrichs was a key member of Stonewall Jackson's staff, collaborated on maps with Jedediah Hotchkiss, and worked alongside such prominent Confederate leaders as Joe Johnston, Richard H. Anderson, and Jubal Early. After being smuggled along the Rebel Secret Line in southern Maryland by John Surratt Sr., his wife Mary, and other Confederate sympathizers, Hinrichs saw action in key campaigns from the Shenandoah Valley and Antietam to Gettysburg, Petersburg, and Appomattox. After the Confederate surrender, Hinrichs was arrested alongside his friend Henry Kyd Douglas and imprisoned under suspicion of having played a role in the Booth conspiracy, though the charges were later dropped. Hinrichs's detailed wartime journals, published here for the first time, shed new light on mapmaking as a tool of war, illuminate Stonewall Jackson's notoriously superior strategic and tactical use of terrain, and offer unique perspectives on the lives of common soldiers, staff officers, and commanders in Lee's army. Impressively comprehensive, Hinrichs's writings constitute a valuable and revelatory primary source from the Civil War era.

A Confederate artillery officer, William Thomas Poague fought in General "Stonewall" Jackson's campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley and at Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and elsewhere. After Jackson's death, Poague remained in the Army of Northern Virginia. Gunner with Stonewall sheds light on a neglected aspect of the Civil War, the role of the artillery in combat.

The notebooks containing these memoirs were edited by Monroe F. Cockrell, an expert on the Confederacy and graduate of Virginia Military Institute, and first published in 1957. A new introduction by Robert K. Krick has been added for this Bison Books edition. Krick is the author of Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain and Conquering the Valley: Stonewall Jackson at Port Republic.

At Cedar Mountain on August 9,1862, Stonewall Jackson exercised independent command of a campaign for the last time. Robert Krick untangles the myriad original accounts by participants on both sides of the battle to offer an illuminating portrait of the Confederate general commanding his troops under the extraordinary pressures of combat. From diaries, reminiscences, letters, and newspaper articles, Krick reconstructs a vivid and detailed account of the confrontation at Cedar Mountain and Jackson's victory there. |Robert Krick untangles the myriad accounts by participants who fought the battle on both sides, and he offers an illuminating portrait of the Confederate general commanding his troops under the extraordinary pressures of combat.