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Digital version of the 52 volume print edition originally published in 1876-1959, describing Confederate action and life during the Civil War and the postwar period. Also includes Messages and papers of the Confederacy, originally published in 2 v. in 1905.
The American Civil War was a vicious conflict that developed in intense hatred between opposing sides. Despite some historians’ assertions that this was history’s last great “gentlemen’s war,” the conflict was anything but civil. There is ample evidence to suggest that both sides quite commonly retaliated against one another throughout the war, often in chillingly inhumane ways. Violent retaliation was most apparent within Federal and Confederate penitentiaries. Prisoners of war were frequently subjected to both physical and mental abuse. This sort of mistreatment was employed to obtain information, recruit prisoners for military service, or to force prisoners to sign oaths of allegiance. In addition to the torture and neglect that were carried out on a regular basis, even more unbelievable—and less known—was the actual killing of these unarmed men in retribution for their army’s actions on the battlefield. Sometimes it happened as the prisoners threw down their weapons and raised their hands to surrender. More often, however, the killing took place at the prisons, where guards carried out cold-blooded executions, their victims chosen by lottery. These unconscionable acts were frequently sanctioned by the highest levels of authority in Washington and Richmond, and at times the conflict devolved into a “war of retaliation.” Threats of revenge were often countered by the opposing army, each side trying to outdo the other. These acts of vengeance were seldom directed at the guilty; most often, soldiers targeted innocent prisoners who had the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Author Lonnie Speer explores this little-known practice of reciprocal wartime violence, focusing on the most notorious and well-documented cases of the war. The author illustrated his claims with the first-hand accounts of numerous prisoners, painting a chilling picture of Civil War military and political policy.
“In all the vast collection of books on the American Civil War there is no book like this one,” says Bruce Catton. Never before has such a stunning body of facts dealing with the war been gathered together in one place and presented in a coherent, useful, day-by-day narrative. And never before have statistics revealed human suffering of such heroic and tragic magnitude. The text begins in November, 1860, and ends with the conclusion of hostilities in May, 1865, and the start of reconstruction. It is designed to furnish the reader not only with information, but to tell a story. Here, in addition to the momentous events that are a familiar part of our history, the daily entries recount innumerable lesser military actions as well as some of the other activities and thoughts of men great and unknown engaged in America’s most costly war: · May 5, 1864—a private in the Army of Northern Virginia writes at the beginning of the Battle of the Wilderness, “It is a beautiful spring day on which all this bloody work is being done.” · May 6, 1864—Gen. Lee rides among his men and is shouted to the rear by his protective troops. · April 30, 1864—Joe David, five-year-old son of the Confederate President, dies after a fall from the high veranda of the White House in Richmond. · April 14, 1865—President Lincoln’s busy day includes a Cabinet meeting where he tells of his recurring dream of a ship moving with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore; that night Mr. Lincoln attends a performance of a trifling comedy at Ford’s Theatre, “Our American Cousin”.