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During the summer and fall of 1864, Virginia's Shenandoah Valley was one of the most contested regions of the South. Federal armies invaded the Valley three times--twice they were repulsed. This book describes the third campaign, the supreme achievement of the Army of the Potomac's Sixth Corps. One of the most respected units in the Federal Army, the Sixth Corps formed the nucleus of the Federal force that spent several months competing for control of the Valley with a desperate Confederate army, resulting in some of the toughest fighting of the war. Following victories at Winchester and Fisher's Hill the Sixth Corps campaign culminated with a remarkable stand that stopped the attacking enemy and turned what began as a disastrous defeat into a spectacular victory at Cedar Creek.
Although Appomattox Court House is one of the most symbolically charged places in America, it was an ordinary tobacco-growing village both before and after an accident of fate brought the armies of Lee and Grant together there. It is that Appomattox--the typical small Confederate community--that William Marvel portrays in this deeply researched, compelling study. He tells the story of the Civil War from the perspective of those who inhabited one of the conflict's most famous sites. The village sprang into existence just as Texas became a state and reached its peak not long before Lee and Grant met there. The postwar decline of the village mirrored that of the rural South as a whole, and Appomattox served as the focal point for both Lost Cause myth-making and reconciliation reveries. Marvel draws on original documents, diaries, and letters composed as the war unfolded to produce a clear and credible portrait of everyday life in this town, as well as examining the galvanizing events of April 1865. He also scrutinizes Appomattox the national symbol, exposing and explaining some of the cherished myths surrounding the surrender there.
"Cooling has produced what is sure to become the definitive scholarly account of the campaign. Drawing on a vast array of sources, including seldom-used veterans' accounts, Cooling presents a comprehensive campaign study from origins to aftermath. Not only does Cooling masterfully describe the specific movements of the opposing forces, but he also never loses sight of the wider context in which the campaign was fought. In fact, Cooling's greatest contribution may be his clear demonstration that Grant was fooled by Early's operations and took an uncommonly long time to react to a very serious threat."--American Historical Review "Cooling's superb account of one of the most dramatic ventures of the Civil War, one the peaked with a Confederate army at the gate of the nation's capital even as powerful Union forces threatened a clamp on the capital of Rebeldom . . . reflects most intensive research and provides a strictly objective account of the doings of both sides in the course of Early's thrust at Washington, from his entry into Maryland until his withdrawal back into Virginia."--Journal of Military History
Using letters, diaries, and regimental newspapers to take us inside the minds of Civil War soldiers—black and white, Northern and Southern—as they fought and marched across a divided country, this unprecedented account is “an essential contribution to our understanding of slavery and the Civil War" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). In this unprecedented account, Chandra Manning With stunning poise and narrative verve, Manning explores how the Union and Confederate soldiers came to identify slavery as the central issue of the war and what that meant for a tumultuous nation. This is a brilliant and eye-opening debut and an invaluable addition to our understanding of the Civil War as it has never been rendered before.
An expert in world conflicts, Jones brings the sounds and sights of battle to life, detailing each charge, the evolution of battle tactics, and the importance of diplomacy for both sides. In these two volumes Terry Jones provides impressively clear coverage of the underlying economic causes, the progressively divisive political developments, the outbreak of the war itself, and, finally, the military campaigns year-by-year and battle-by-battle. He clarifies complex issues as he explains the various factions, their interests, and their hidden agendas. Entries cover: o Military and political leaders o Names, places, and events o Individual battles o Diplomatic encounters o Statistics on numbers of combatants o Armaments and weaponry o Imprisonment o Casualties from both war and disease From the hopelessly impotent Congressional votes to the spilling of blood on the battlefield, Jones makes this period of American history compelling reading. Extensively cross-referenced; includes a substantial bibliography; illustrated with maps and photos.
The soldiers on both sides of the Civil War were united by a common history, and yet the legacy of this past was ambiguous, upholding both rebellion and union. Union and Confederate men went to war as Americans, convinced they fought an un-American, savage enemy. The war they fought was as emotional and catastrophic as any in history, a violent crucible that forged a new national identity. Civil War Soldiers is a fresh and compelling attempt to fathom the war's significance—then and now—and makes immediate the charged issues and bitter ironies of a nation torn by a conflict over the common ideals of liberty and justice. Drawing on diaries and letters, the focus of this pioneering study is on the men who fought, caught up in a conflict whose causes and consequences seemed as complex and contradictory to the soldiers themselves as they do to us. Reid Mitchell re-creates their experience and discusses the questions one would have most wanted to ask them: Why did you fight? How did you feel about slavery and race? What did you take home from the war? What legacy have you left us? "Fresh insights, startling descriptions, and poignant human detail about the war from the men who fought it."—Chicago Tribune
May 1864. The Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia spent three days in brutal close-quarter combat in the Wilderness that left the tangled thickets aflame. No one could have imagined a more infernal battlefield—until the armies moved down the road to Spotsylvania Court House. Even the march itself was unprecedented. For three years the armies had fought battles and disengaged after each one. That pattern changed on the night of May 7. Instead of leaving the Wilderness to regroup, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant led the Federal army southward, skirmishing with Confederates all the way. “There will be no turning back,” he had declared. He lived up to his word. By dawn on May 8, the armies had tussled their way ten miles down the road and opened another large-scale fight that would last until May 21. “One thing is certain of this campaign thus far,” explained Dr. Daniel Holt of the 121st New York: “More blood has been shed, more lives lost, and more human suffering undergone than ever before in a season.” The fighting launched a score of new place-names and events that would sear themselves into the American consciousness, such as Spindle Field, Upton’s assault, the Mule Shoe, the Bloody Angle, and the Harris Farm. The casualties exacted at Spotsylvania exceeded those of the Wilderness by thousands. The fighting severely tested the offensive capabilities of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Southern army, just as the defensive posture his men embraced would, in turn, test the limits of Federal endurance. A Tempest of Iron and Lead: Spotsylvania Court House, May 8–21, 1864 is a comprehensive and comprehensible study of this endlessly fascinating campaign. Author Chris Mackowski is intimately familiar with the battle of Spotsylvania Court House. He is a former historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, and he continues to give tours of the battlefield as the historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the battlefield’s eastern front. His meticulous knowledge of the landscape and familiarity with primary source materials, earned over nearly two decades—coupled with outstanding maps and helpful images—create a readable and satisfying single-volume account the campaign has so richly deserved.