The Civil War Through the Eyes of Lt Col John Withers and His Wife, Anita Dwyer Withers PDF Download
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Author: John Withers
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780984404438
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 229
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Book Description
Eyewitness accounts of the American Civil War, told through the viewpoints of a Confederate husband and wife. Providing a unique perspective on the American Civil War, this book weaves together the diaries of Lt. Col. John Withers, an Assistant Adjutant General for Jefferson Davis, and his wife, Anita Dwyer Withers. Reports of battles fought meld with domestic life in these journals, creating a multi-dimensional picture of the Withers' lives together during the "War Between the States." Jointly, their diaries encompass the entire length of the Civil War; from May 1860 - September 1865. A West Point graduate, John Withers served as an officer in the U.S. Army. Anita Dwyer Withers was the daughter of a distinguished citizen of San Antonio, Texas. In September 1860, Withers was ordered to Washington, D.C., and assigned duty as an Assistant in the Adjutant-General's office. As Anita was very close to her family in Texas, she was deeply troubled by the move. She wrote, "I regret it mightily." In Washington, John served under General Samuel Cooper's command until March, 1861, when he resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and came south to join the Confederate cause. Because of the nature of his job in the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Lt. Col. Withers and his wife were closely acquainted with many of the notable figures of Civil War history, including Jefferson Davis, his wife, Varina Davis, and the Secretary of War. John and Anita recorded Civil War events as they happened, including the Seven Days Battles. Each also wrote of the more personal aspects of their lives, such as Anita's near fatal illness and the agony of their young son's death. Lt. Col. John Withers and Anita were ordinary people living in extraordinary times. Their story is timeless, and well worth being remembered.
Author: John Withers
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780984404438
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 229
Get Book Here
Book Description
Eyewitness accounts of the American Civil War, told through the viewpoints of a Confederate husband and wife. Providing a unique perspective on the American Civil War, this book weaves together the diaries of Lt. Col. John Withers, an Assistant Adjutant General for Jefferson Davis, and his wife, Anita Dwyer Withers. Reports of battles fought meld with domestic life in these journals, creating a multi-dimensional picture of the Withers' lives together during the "War Between the States." Jointly, their diaries encompass the entire length of the Civil War; from May 1860 - September 1865. A West Point graduate, John Withers served as an officer in the U.S. Army. Anita Dwyer Withers was the daughter of a distinguished citizen of San Antonio, Texas. In September 1860, Withers was ordered to Washington, D.C., and assigned duty as an Assistant in the Adjutant-General's office. As Anita was very close to her family in Texas, she was deeply troubled by the move. She wrote, "I regret it mightily." In Washington, John served under General Samuel Cooper's command until March, 1861, when he resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and came south to join the Confederate cause. Because of the nature of his job in the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Lt. Col. Withers and his wife were closely acquainted with many of the notable figures of Civil War history, including Jefferson Davis, his wife, Varina Davis, and the Secretary of War. John and Anita recorded Civil War events as they happened, including the Seven Days Battles. Each also wrote of the more personal aspects of their lives, such as Anita's near fatal illness and the agony of their young son's death. Lt. Col. John Withers and Anita were ordinary people living in extraordinary times. Their story is timeless, and well worth being remembered.
Author: John Withers
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780984404421
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 280
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Book Description
An eyewitness account of the American Civil War, never before published in its entirety. Told from the first person perspective of Lt. Col. John Withers, an Assistant Adjutant General in the James Buchanan administration, and later in the Jefferson Davis administration for the Confederacy, this civil war diary encompasses over two years in Withers' life, from October 1860 - December 1862. Because of the nature of his job, Lt. Col. Withers was closely acquainted with many of the notable figures of Civil War history. His friend, Ed. A Palfrey, later wrote, "his relations with the President and Secretary of War were of an intimate character, as was necessarily the case from the position he held." Lt. Col. Withers' family was from the south. When Withers received a letter from his aunt, Susanna Withers Clay (wife of Clement Comer Clay, 8th Governor of Alabama), urging him to resign his commission in the U.S. Army and come south to join the Confederate cause, Withers did so. He joined the Confederate Army in March, 1861. While stationed in the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia, Lt. Col. Withers recorded civil war events as they happened, including the Seven Days Battles, and other battles that took place during the early part of the "War Between the States." He also wrote of the more personal aspects of his life, such as the agony of his wife's illness and his young son's death. Withers wrote of the profound and the mundane, and even, on occasion, the slightly bizarre human behavior that he witnessed. His diary provides a unique, first person account of life during the American Civil War. His is a rich story, and worthy to be told. Handwritten diary images are included. (Print edition only.)
Author: LtCol. John Withers
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781517510619
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 148
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Book Description
The American Civil War, more commonly known as the Civil War, raged from 1861 to 1865. This bloody conflict was conducted to maintain the Union of the United States and prevent the formation of an independent country known as the Confederate States of America. In 1861 the United States consisted of 34 states. Seven Southern slave states seceded from the United States to form the Confederacy. Eventually the Confederacy included eleven states, but they claimed thirteen, plus additional western territories. The primary issue behind the southern states seceding from the Union was that of slavery. The North desired to abolish slavery, the South wanted to keep it. April 12, 1861, marked the beginning of hostilities when Southern forces fire upon Fort Sumter, South Carolina. After four bloody years and 600,000 Union and Confederate soldiers dead, the Confederacy surrendered and the Union was maintained. Sadly, the battles were fought between brothers, between fathers and sons, between families and friends. It wasn't uncommon for old friends commanding forces of the Union and Confederacy to face-off across the killing fields of various battlefields. No one knows how many fathers killed their sons, how many son's killed their fathers and how many brothers, killed their sibling. Or how many lifelong friends killed each other. It was indeed a sad and tragic episode in America history. Interestingly, many officers serving in the Union army resigned their commission and enlisted in the Confederate Army. That was true for General Robert E. Lee the supreme commander of the Confederate Army and it was true for Lt. Col. John Withers a graduate of the United States Military Academy who resigned his commission in the union army in March 1861 and was appointed a Captain in the Confederate Army on March 29, 1861. His diary provides an exceptionally intimate window into his military and family life which is rarely seen in publications. His love for his family is evident and his dedication to duty comes through clearly. At times, his diary reads similar to a novel; capturing the joy, sadness, death, destruction, horrors and mundane activities of everyday life during times of war. His entries include meeting Presidents, British Royalty and Generals of the Union and Confederacy and learning of battles in real time. One must remember, this was his personal diary, it was never meant for public review. Yet, it is a marvelously profound work and powerful piece of history. I opted to preserve the authenticity, flavor and intimacy of his diary by printing it in his original handwriting. This brings remarkable warmth to his story not present in a transcribed form. It allows the readers to imagine Lt. Col. Withers seated at a desk, lit by a lantern, as he put words to paper at the end of the day. Since this is a copy of his original diary, some of the words on the right side of the page were unavoidably clipped by the National Archives during processing. However, the missing letters do not distract from the work. No matter your opinion regarding the Civil War; you will agree that after reading this magnificent diary, you will never forget Lt. Col. Withers. Enjoy his journey.
Author: Bradley R. Clampitt
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807177652
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323
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Book Description
This groundbreaking analysis of Confederate demobilization examines the state of mind of Confederate soldiers in the immediate aftermath of war. Having survived severe psychological as well as physical trauma, they now faced the unknown as they headed back home in defeat. Lost Causes analyzes the interlude between soldier and veteran, suggesting that defeat and demobilization actually reinforced Confederate identity as well as public memory of the war and southern resistance to African American civil rights. Intense material shortages and images of the war’s devastation confronted the defeated soldiers-turned-veterans as they returned home to a revolutionized society. Their thoughts upon homecoming turned to immediate economic survival, a radically altered relationship with freedpeople, and life under Yankee rule—all against the backdrop of fearful uncertainty. Bradley R. Clampitt argues that the experiences of returning soldiers helped establish the ideological underpinnings of the Lost Cause and create an identity based upon shared suffering and sacrifice, a pervasive commitment to white supremacy, and an aversion to Federal rule and all things northern. As Lost Causes reveals, most Confederate veterans remained diehard Rebels despite demobilization and the demise of the Confederate States of America.
Author: Paul Tremewan
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1462873944
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 248
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Book Description
As near Hell as I ever expect to be is the biography of a Civil War soldier from Ohio. In September 1861 twenty-seven-year-old John Vanetton Patterson left his young wife and two babies on their farm near Pemberville. Patterson and thousands of other Ohioans answered Lincoln's call to save the Union. In November Victoria Patterson received a letter, she opened it, and read the inside address, "As near Hell as I ever expect to be". Over the next four years this soldier husband was sick, wounded, captured, and imprisoned. He escaped... Based on letters to his wife, this is his story of trial and yearning.
Author: John Brown Gordon
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 570
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Book Description
GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON'S last work was the publishing of his "Reminiscences of the Civil War." This volume, written in his vigorous style and broad, patriotic spirit, has been most favorably received and read all over the country. Since his death this memorial edition is brought out; and it is appropriate that an additional introduction should accompany it, somewhat in the shape of a biographical sketch. General John Brown Gordon was an all-round great man--a valiant and distinguished soldier, an eminent statesman, a great orator, an author of merit, and a public-spirited and useful citizen. He was born in Upson County, Georgia, February 6, 1832. His father was the Rev. Zachary Herndon Gordon. The family was of Scotch extraction, and its members fought in the Revolutionary War. He received his education at the university of his native State, and by profession was a lawyer. At the breaking out of the war, in 1861, he enlisted as a private soldier, and was elected captain of his company. His career was perhaps as brilliant as that of any officer in the Confederate army. In rapid succession he filled every grade--that of Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier-General, Major-General, and, near the end, was assigned to duty as Lieutenant-General (by authority of the Secretary of War), and while he never received the commission in regular form, he commanded, at the surrender at Appomattox, one half of the Army of Northern Virginia, under Robert E. Lee. At the close of the war he had earned the reputation of being perhaps the most conspicuous and personally valiant officer surviving, and the one generally regarded as most promising and competent for increased rank and larger command. His imposing and magnificent soldierly bearing, coupled with his splendid ringing voice and far-reaching oratory, made him the "White-plumed Knight of our Southland" and the "Chevalier Bayard of the Confederate Army." He had the God-given talent of getting in front of his troops and, in a few magnetic appeals, inspiring them almost to madness, and being able to lead them into the jaws of death. This was notably done at Fredericksburg, and again on the 12th of May, at the battle of Spottsylvania Court House. He greatly distinguished himself on many bloody fields. I mention now, as most prominent, the battles of Seven Pines, Sharpsburg or Antietam, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cedar Creek, Petersburg, and Appomattox. At Sharpsburg he was wounded five times, but would not leave his troops till the last shot laid him helpless and insensible on the field. A scholarly professor of history in one of our Southern universities recently stated that in his study of the great war on both sides he had found but one prominent general who, when he was in command, or when he led a charge, had never been defeated or repulsed, and that general was John B. Gordon.
Author: John Rodgers Meigs
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252030761
Category : Military engineers
Languages : en
Pages : 348
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Book Description
This collection of letters and documents offers a rare glimpse into a young officer's interesting but short life. Mary A. Giunta's A Civil War Soldier of Christ and Country tells the story of the relationships between the headstrong John Rodgers Meigs and his family and friends; his heartwarming eagerness to please his demanding parents; his West Point experiences that include a meeting with Abraham Lincoln; and his life as a combatant in the Civil War. John Rodgers Meigs was the son of Union Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, and his official correspondence reveals much about his duties as a military engineer and aide-de-camp to Union generals. The private correspondence between him and his father and mother is especially compelling. Approximately forty of the letters were written in an early version of Pitman shorthand and are here transcribed for the first time. Collectively, they provide an intimate picture of the young Meigs, uncover the concerns of a family with high expectations, and offer a unique look at a devastating war.
Author: John R. Kelso
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300227779
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
The first edited edition of a Union soldier’s remarkable memoir, offering a rare perspective on guerrilla warfare and on the larger meanings of the Civil War While tales of Confederate guerilla-outlaws abound, there are few scholarly accounts of the Union men who battled them. This edition of John R. Kelso’s Civil War memoir presents a firsthand account of an ordinary man’s extraordinary battlefield experiences along with his evolving interpretation of what the bloody struggle meant. A former Methodist preacher and Missouri schoolteacher, Kelso served as a Union Army foot soldier, cavalry officer, guerilla fighter, and spy. Initially shaped by a belief in the Founding Fathers’ republic and a disdain for the slave-holding aristocracy, Kelso became driven by revenge after pro-Southern neighbors stole his property, burned down his house, and drove his family and friends from their homes. Interweaving Kelso’s compelling voice with historian Christopher Grasso’s insightful commentary, this fascinating work charts the transformation of an everyday citizen into a man the Union hailed as a hero and Confederate sympathizers called a monster.
Author: Carol K. Bleser
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190283351
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327
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Book Description
From Robert E. and Mary Lee to Ulysses S. and Julia Grant, Intimate Strategies of the Civil War examines the marriages of twelve prominent military commanders, highlighting the impact wives had on their famous husbands' careers. Carol K. Bleser and Lesley J. Gordon assemble an impressive array of leading scholars to explore the marriages of six Confederate and six Union commanders. Contributors reveal that, for many of these men, the matrimonial bond was the most important relationship in their lives, one that shaped (and was shaped by) their military experience. In some cases, the commanders' spouses proved relentless and skillful promoters of their husbands' careers. Jessie Frémont drew on all of her connections as the daughter of former Senator Thomas Hart Benton to aid her modestly talented husband John. Others bolstered their military spouses in less direct ways. For example, Ulysses S. Grant's relationship with Julia (a Southerner and former slave owner herself) kept him anchored in stormy times. Here, too, are tense and tempestuous pairings, such William Tecumseh Sherman and his wife Ellen--his foster sister before becoming his wife--and Jefferson Davis's fascinatingly complex bond with Varina, further complicated by the hostile rumors about the two in Richmond society. Throughout, these historians paint remarkably intimate portraits of their subjects. Readers will see these famed men in a way that they perhaps never considered: not merely as famous leaders, but as lovers, husbands and fathers.
Author: Lydia Spencer Lane
Publisher: UNM Press
ISBN: 9780826309341
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 202
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Book Description
Through her eyes we see the close-knit social life of an army post, the western frontier's divided response to the American Civil War, and the cultures and peoples of the West.
