The Civil War Letters (1862-1865) of Private Henry Kauffman

The Civil War Letters (1862-1865) of Private Henry Kauffman PDF Author: Henry Kauffman
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
This collection of letters was written by a young infantryman, Henry Kauffman, during his service in the American Civil war. The letters should appeal to Civil War enthusiasts, mainly because of their style and the personality of the young man who penned them. Although registered as blacksmith in the Company Descriptive Book of the 110th Regiment of the Ohio Infantry, Henry Kauffman insisted upon serving as a front-line infantryman throughout the war. His unit was involved in some of the more intense fighting in the war, particularly in the Shenandoah Valley. He was captured by the Confederates at one point and paroled. He deserted, was caught and returned to duty. Later he was wounded and finally mustered out of a military hospital.

The Civil War Letters (1862-1865) of Private Henry Kauffman

The Civil War Letters (1862-1865) of Private Henry Kauffman PDF Author: Henry Kauffman
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Get Book Here

Book Description
This collection of letters was written by a young infantryman, Henry Kauffman, during his service in the American Civil war. The letters should appeal to Civil War enthusiasts, mainly because of their style and the personality of the young man who penned them. Although registered as blacksmith in the Company Descriptive Book of the 110th Regiment of the Ohio Infantry, Henry Kauffman insisted upon serving as a front-line infantryman throughout the war. His unit was involved in some of the more intense fighting in the war, particularly in the Shenandoah Valley. He was captured by the Confederates at one point and paroled. He deserted, was caught and returned to duty. Later he was wounded and finally mustered out of a military hospital.

For Cause and Comrades

For Cause and Comrades PDF Author: James M. McPherson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199741050
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
General John A. Wickham, commander of the famous 101st Airborne Division in the 1970s and subsequently Army Chief of Staff, once visited Antietam battlefield. Gazing at Bloody Lane where, in 1862, several Union assaults were brutally repulsed before they finally broke through, he marveled, "You couldn't get American soldiers today to make an attack like that." Why did those men risk certain death, over and over again, through countless bloody battles and four long, awful years ? Why did the conventional wisdom -- that soldiers become increasingly cynical and disillusioned as war progresses -- not hold true in the Civil War? It is to this question--why did they fight--that James McPherson, America's preeminent Civil War historian, now turns his attention. He shows that, contrary to what many scholars believe, the soldiers of the Civil War remained powerfully convinced of the ideals for which they fought throughout the conflict. Motivated by duty and honor, and often by religious faith, these men wrote frequently of their firm belief in the cause for which they fought: the principles of liberty, freedom, justice, and patriotism. Soldiers on both sides harkened back to the Founding Fathers, and the ideals of the American Revolution. They fought to defend their country, either the Union--"the best Government ever made"--or the Confederate states, where their very homes and families were under siege. And they fought to defend their honor and manhood. "I should not lik to go home with the name of a couhard," one Massachusetts private wrote, and another private from Ohio said, "My wife would sooner hear of my death than my disgrace." Even after three years of bloody battles, more than half of the Union soldiers reenlisted voluntarily. "While duty calls me here and my country demands my services I should be willing to make the sacrifice," one man wrote to his protesting parents. And another soldier said simply, "I still love my country." McPherson draws on more than 25,000 letters and nearly 250 private diaries from men on both sides. Civil War soldiers were among the most literate soldiers in history, and most of them wrote home frequently, as it was the only way for them to keep in touch with homes that many of them had left for the first time in their lives. Significantly, their letters were also uncensored by military authorities, and are uniquely frank in their criticism and detailed in their reports of marches and battles, relations between officers and men, political debates, and morale. For Cause and Comrades lets these soldiers tell their own stories in their own words to create an account that is both deeply moving and far truer than most books on war. Battle Cry of Freedom, McPherson's Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the Civil War, was a national bestseller that Hugh Brogan, in The New York Times, called "history writing of the highest order." For Cause and Comrades deserves similar accolades, as McPherson's masterful prose and the soldiers' own words combine to create both an important book on an often-overlooked aspect of our bloody Civil War, and a powerfully moving account of the men who fought it.

Civil War Eyewitnesses

Civil War Eyewitnesses PDF Author: Garold Cole
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 9781570033278
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
A bibliographical guide to recently published Civil War diaries, journals, letters, and memoirs.

God's Almost Chosen Peoples

God's Almost Chosen Peoples PDF Author: George C. Rable
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807834262
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Book Description
Throughout the Civil War, soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict saw the hand of God in the terrible events of the day, but the standard narratives of the period pay scant attention to religion. Now, in God's Almost Chosen Peoples, Li

A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac

A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac PDF Author: Francis M. Wafer
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0773533818
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Lured across the border by promises of opportunity and adventure, Francis M. Wafer - a young student from Queen's Medical College in Kingston - joined the Union's army of the Potomac as an assistant surgeon. From the battle of the Wilderness to the closing campaigns, Wafer was both participant and chronicler of the American Civil War. Cheryl Wells provides an edited and fully annotated collection of Wafer's diary entries during the war, his letters home, and the memoirs he wrote after returning to Canada. Wafer's writings are a fascinating and deeply personal account of the actions, duties, feelings, and perceptions of a noncombatant who experienced the thick of battle and its grave consequences. The only substantial account by a Canadian Civil War soldier who returned to Canada, A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac fills a critical gap in American Civil War historiography and will have broad appeal among scholars and enthusiasts.

The Weary Boys

The Weary Boys PDF Author: Thomas E. Pope
Publisher: Kent State University Press
ISBN: 9780873387293
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Milroy's Weary Boys was the derisive nickname Maj.Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock gave to the survivors of the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry after the Second Battle of Winchester. Author John E. Pope reconsiders the men of this infantry and their contributuion to the Army of Potomac.

Mennonites, Amish, and the American Civil War

Mennonites, Amish, and the American Civil War PDF Author: James O. Lehman
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801886720
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Explores the moral dilemmas faced by various religious sects and how these groups struggled to come to terms with the effects of wartime Americanization-- without sacrificing their religious beliefs and values.

The Union Sixth Corps in the Shenandoah Valley, June-October 1864

The Union Sixth Corps in the Shenandoah Valley, June-October 1864 PDF Author: Jack H. Lepa
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476666296
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
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.

While God is Marching on

While God is Marching on PDF Author: Steven E. Woodworth
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
The American Civil War not only pitted brother against brother but Christian against Christian. This is a study of soldiers' religious beliefs and how they influenced the course of that tragic conflict. It shows how Christian teaching and practice shaped the worldview of soldiers on both sides.

Beleaguered Winchester

Beleaguered Winchester PDF Author: Richard R. Duncan
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807135798
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
During the Civil War, the strategically located town of Winchester, Virginia, suffered from the constant turmoil of military campaigning perhaps more than any other town. Occupied dozens of times by alternating Union and Confederate forces, Winchester suffered through three major battles, including some seventy smaller skirmishes. In his voluminous community study of the town over the course of four tumultuous years, Richard R. Duncan shows that in many ways Winchester's history provides a paradigm of the changing nature of the war. Indeed, Duncan reveals how the town offers a microcosm of the war: slavery collapsed, women assumed control in the absence of men, and civilians vied for authority alongside an assortment of revolving military commanders. Control over Winchester was vital for both the North and the South. Confederates used it as a base to strike the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and conduct raids into western Maryland and Pennsylvania, and when Federal forces occupied the town, they threatened Staunton -- Lee's breadbasket -- and the Virginia Central Railroad. At various times during the war, generals "Stonewall" Jackson, Nathaniel Banks, Robert Milroy, Richard Ewell, Jubal Early, and Philip Sheridan each controlled the town. Guerrilla activity further compounded the region's strife as insecurity became the norm for its civilian population. In this first scholarly treatment of occupied Winchester, Duncan has compiled a narrative of voices from the entire community, including those of groups often omitted from such studies, such as slaves, women, and Confederate dissenters. He shows how Federal occupation meant an early end to slavery in Winchester and how the paucity of men left women to serve as the major cohesive force in the community, making them a bulwark of Confederate support. He also explores the tensions between civilians and military personnel that inevitably arose as each group sought to protect its interests. The war, Duncan explains, left Winchester a landscape of wreckage and economic loss. A fascinating case study of civilian survival amid the turmoil of war, Beleaguered Winchester will appeal to Civil War scholars and enthusiasts alike.