Author: Lyman Jackman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 952

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Author: Earl J. Hess
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700614214
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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I saw enough to sicken the heart. . . . The scenes which I witnessed were enough to overthrow all imaginations concerning the glory of war; but, dreadful as they were, I hope and believe that I would be willing to suffer the worst, . . . rather than prove a traitor to the trust which our country reposes in all her sons.--J. Spangler Kieffer, Pennsylvania Militia With its relentless bloodshed, devastating firepower, and large-scale battles often fought on impossible terrain, the Civil War was a terrifying experience for a volunteer army. Yet, as Earl Hess shows, Union soldiers found the wherewithal to endure such terrors for four long years and emerge victorious. A vivid reminder that the business of war is killing, Hess's study plunges us into the hellish realms of Civil War combat-a horrific experience crowded with brutalizing sights, sounds, smells, and textures. We share the terror of being shot at for the first time and hear the "grating sound a minie ball makes when it hits a bone instead of the heavy thud when it strikes flesh." We are assaulted by choruses of groans from the wounded and dying and come to understand why some soldiers returned to battle with great dread Drawing extensively upon the letters, diaries, and memoirs of Northern soldiers, Hess reveals their deepest fears and shocks, and also their sources of inner strength. By identifying recurrent themes found in these accounts, Hess constructs a multilayered view of the many ways in which these men coped with the challenges of battle. He shows how they were bolstered by belief in God and country, or simply by their sense of duty; how they came to rely on the support of their comrades; and how they learned to muster self-control in order to persevere from one battle to the next. Although our ability to appreciate war as it was conducted in the previous century has been clouded by our familiarity with modern conflicts, Hess's study conveys that reality with an immediacy rarely matched by other books. Even more, it urges us to reconsider these soldiers not as victims of the battlefield but rather as victors over the worst that war can inflict.

Author: Albert Stillman Batchellor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : New Hampshire
Languages : en
Pages : 62

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Author: John Hennessy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bull Run, 2nd Battle of, Va., 1862
Languages : en
Pages : 602

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Author: Matthew Borders
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1439675120
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Look into the eyes of these soldiers and see the faces of those who dared to stare into the face of Death. The Battle of Fredericksburg, fought December 11-15, 1862, is often remembered for the seemingly futile attacks by the Army of the Potomac against dug in Confederates on Marye's Heights. Less well understood is the fighting south of the heights on what has become known as Slaughter Pen Farm. In this work the images of thirty Union soldiers are published for the first time. They give a face and history to those men who struggled across that bloody landscape, as well as to those that charged up the slope of Marye's Heights into Confederate fire. Authors Matthew Borders and Joseph Stahl introduce you to these men, their stories and their sacrifice on the bullet swept battlefield of Fredericksburg.

Author: Bradley M. Gottfried
Publisher: Savas Beatie
ISBN: 1611217091
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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A map-based analysis of the Second Bull Run Campaign, detailing troop movements, battles, and strategies with full-color cartography and insightful commentary. The Maps of Second Bull Run: An Atlas of the Second Bull Run (Manassas) Campaign from the Formation of the Army of Virginia Through Chantilly, June 26–September 1, 1862 continues Bradley M. Gottfried’s efforts to study and illustrate the major campaigns of the Civil War. This is the tenth book in the ongoing Savas Beatie Military Atlas Series. President Abraham Lincoln’s frustration with George B. McClellan’s inability to defeat Robert E. Lee and capture Richmond dramatically increased after the unsuccessful Seven Days’ Battles. In response, Lincoln combined three small armies into the new Army of Virginia and placed it under Maj. Gen. John Pope, who had overseen several successes in the Western Theater. Pope’s aggressiveness and McClellan’s passivity on the Peninsula convinced Lee to send Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s wing of the Army of Northern Virginia to confront Pope. A bloody battle at Cedar Mountain on August 9 halted Pope’s move south, and Jackson’s raid on the vast stores at Manassas Junction triggered another confrontation, this time at Kettle Run. When McClellan’s troops abandoned the Peninsula, Lee moved his other wing under James Longstreet rapidly north. Pope missed an opportunity to prevent the junction of Lee’s wings by not stopping Longstreet at Thoroughfare Gap. The battle of Second Bull Run began on the evening of August 28 when Jackson tangled with Union troops at the Brawner Farm. Pope spent much of the next day hammering Jackson’s front, with no idea that Longstreet was arriving on the field. The Union assaults continued on August 30 until Longstreet launched a massive assault that rolled up the Union left flank and collapsed Pope’s army. The retreat was briefly interrupted by some of Jackson’s units at Chantilly, which ended the campaign. The Maps of Second Bull Run plows new ground by breaking down the entire campaign into 24 map sets or “action sections,” enriched with 122 detailed full-page color maps. These cartographic originals bore down to the regimental and battery level. They include the march to and from the battlefields and virtually every significant event in between, including cavalry actions. At least two—and as many as ten—maps accompany each map set. Keyed to each piece of cartography is a full-facing page of detailed text describing the units, personalities, movements, and combat (including quotes from eyewitnesses) depicted on the accompanying map, all of which make the cavalry actions come alive. This presentation allows readers to easily find a map and text on any portion of the sprawling campaign. Serious students will appreciate the extensive endnotes and complete orders of battle and take the book with them to the battlefields. A final bonus is that the maps unlock every other book or article written on any aspect of the campaign. Perfect for the easy chair or for stomping the hallowed grounds, The Maps of Second Bull Run is a seminal work that belongs on the bookshelf of every serious and casual student of the battle.

Author: Bradley Gottfried
Publisher: Savas Beatie
ISBN: 1611212596
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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The Maps of the Wilderness: An Atlas of the Wilderness Campaign, May 2-7, 1864 continues Bradley M. Gottfried’s efforts to study and illustrate the major campaigns of the Civil War’s Eastern Theater. This is his fifth book in the ongoing Savas Beatie Military Atlas Series. The previous four were The Maps of Gettysburg (2007), The Maps of First Bull Run (2009), The Maps of Antietam (2012), and The Maps of the Bristoe Station and Mine Run Campaigns (2013). This latest magisterial work breaks down the entire campaign (and all related operational maneuvers) into 24 map sets or “action-sections” enriched with 120 original full-page color maps. These spectacular cartographic creations bore down to the regimental and battery level. The Maps of the Wilderness includes an assessment of the winter of 1863-1864, the planning for the campaign, the crossing of the Rapidan River, and two days of bloody combat and the day of watchful stalemate thereafter. At least one—and as many as eight—maps accompany each “action-section.” Opposite each map is a full facing page of detailed footnoted text describing the units, personalities, movements, and combat (including quotes from eyewitnesses) depicted on the accompanying map, all of which make the story of the first large-scale combat of 1864 come alive. Each cartographic snapshot also serves to unlock everything ever written on the subject. This detailed coverage also includes an order of battle, interview with the author, bibliography, and an index. This original presentation leads readers on a journey through the epic battle that would prove to be the opening salvo in a prolonged fight that would not end until the Confederates surrendered at Appomattox in April 1865. The Wilderness Campaign has two unique characteristics. First, although he did not command the Army of the Potomac, the battle was Ulysses S. Grant’s first against General Robert E. Lee. Second, the Wilderness fighting—prolonged, bloody, and inconclusive—is widely viewed as the most confusing action of the entire war. The dense thickets and deep smoke obscured much of what occurred during the two days of combat. Gottfried’s book cuts through the confusion to deliver a clear account of the horrendous struggle. Perfect for the easy chair or for walking hallowed ground, The Maps of the Wilderness is a seminal work that, like his earlier studies, belongs on the bookshelf of every serious and casual student of the Civil War, or in the hands of an avid enthusiast out walking the Hallowed Ground.

Author: John Michael Priest
Publisher: Savas Publishing
ISBN: 1940669537
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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At 12:00 a.m. on May 4, 1864, Ulysses s. Grant and George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac began crossing the Rapidan River in an effort to turn the strategic right flank of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Confederate reaction was swift. Richard E. Ewell’s Second Corps and Ambrose P. Hill’s Third Corps moved to meet the advancing Union infantry, artillery, and cavalry in the heavy terrain known simply as “The Wilderness,” a sprawling area of second growth scrub oak, brush, and gullies, interspersed with meandering creeks. Inside this difficult terrain one of the largest and bloodiest battles would consume two days and thousands of men. Nowhere to Run is the story of the men and their officers who fought and died in the horrific fighting. With John Michael Priest’s customary thoroughness, specially drawn maps, and extensive documentation, the reader will experience the battles just as the men themselves saw it, and wrote about it, from their own eyes and their own pens. “Farther to the rear, and closer to Germanna Ford, [Ambrose Burnside’s Federal] IX Corps band serenaded the troops whit patriotic airs while the soldiers waited for their coffee to boil. The veterans did not want to hear the selections the musicians had chosen. They insisted on ‘Home Sweet Home.’ The sight of so many playing cards strewn along the roadside led many of the men in the 45th Pennsylvania (Potter’s division) to think of their souls. Private William A. Roberts (Company K) listened to the melancholy strains of the John H. Payne favorite and solemnly observed veterans, like himself, crying unashamedly.”

Author: Gordon C. Rhea
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807155985
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 534

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With To the North Anna River, the third book in his outstanding five-book series, Gordon C. Rhea continues his spectacular narrative of the initial campaign between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee in the spring of 1864. May 13 through 25, a phase oddly ignored by historians, was critical in the clash between the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia. During those thirteen days -- an interlude bracketed by horrific battles that riveted the public's attention -- a game of guile and endurance between Grant and Lee escalated to a suspenseful draw on Virginia's North Anna River. From the bloodstained fields of the Mule Shoe to the North Anna River, with Meadow Bridge, Myers Hill, Harris Farm, Jericho Mills, Ox Ford, and Doswell Farm in between, grueling night marches, desperate attacks, and thundering cavalry charges became the norm for both Grant's and Lee's men. But the real story of May 13--25 lay in the two generals' efforts to outfox each other, and Rhea charts their every step and misstep. Realizing that his bludgeoning tactics at the Bloody Angle were ineffective, Grant resorted to a fast-paced assault on Lee's vulnerable points. Lee, outnumbered two to one, abandoned the offensive and concentrated on anticipating Grant's maneuvers and shifting quickly enough to repel them. It was an amazingly equal match of wits that produced a gripping, high-stakes bout of warfare -- a test, ultimately, of improvisation for Lee and of perseverance for Grant.

Author: John Michael Priest
Publisher: Savas Publishing
ISBN: 1940669553
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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In Victory Without Triumph: The Wilderness May 6th & 7th, 1864, John Priest meticulously details the vicious infantry fighting along the Plank Road, Longstreet's counterstrike against the II Corps, the cavalry operations of both armies near Todd's Tavern, and John B. Gordon's daring assault against the Army of the Potomac's right flank. Embellished with 38 detailed, two-color maps, Victory Without Triumph enables the reader to follow the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia through the last two days of the campaign which signaled the advent of Ulysses S. Grant into the Eastern theater of the war. John Priest has turned meticulous research into a gripping story that engages the reader from the very first page. No civil war studies collection can be considered complete without the acquisition of Victory Without Triumph.