-
The author explores the personality of this iron-willed commander & brilliant tactician & gives us colorful profiles of the men who served under him. This is the most complete & compelling account to date of the fighting unit so hated by Grant that he ordered any captured Ranger to be summarily executed without trail.
-
Hero? Traitor? It all depends on which side of the fence you were standing. Col. Don Steenburn, U.S.Army retired, has put together a fascinating study of one of the most controversial characters in Madison County and Northern Alabama history- determined and gutsy Frank Ballou Gurley of the 4th Alabama, Confederate States of America.
-
In late November 1864, the Army of Tennessee started out from northern Alabama with dreams of capturing Nashville and marching on to the Ohio River. In a desperate attempt to smash John Schofield's line at Franklin, Hood threw most of his men against the Union works and lost 30 percent of his attacking force in one afternoon. Local historian James R. Knight paints a vivid picture of this gruesome conflict.
-
On February 21, 1864, Confederate and Union forces faced off over the banks of the Chuquatonchee Creek on Ellis Bridge in West Point, Mississippi. This three-hour battle pitted Nathan Bedford Forrest with his small but mighty cavalry against William Sooy Smith and his dogged Federal troops as they attempted to push through the prairie and destroy the railroad junction in Meridian. Smith's men did not succeed in their mission and suffered heavy casualties at the hands of Forrest in a precursor to the Battle of Okolona. Author John McBryde details the nuances of the battle that initiated Rebel opposition to the Meridian Campaign, including accounts from West Point locals of the time.
-
The Battle of Fort Donelson was the first major victory for Federal forces and the first decisive battle in the vital area from the Appalachians to the Mississippi. It gave the Federals control of both the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers; led directly to the fall of the first Confederate capital at Nashville and the Battle of Shiloh, and was the beginning of the fame and/or infamy of several Civil War generals, including U.S. Grant, N. B. Forrest, Gideon Pillow and John B. Floyd. It also resulted in the first surrender of an army by a Confederate general, and the largest capture of enemy troops in American history, up to that time.
-
The Chancellorsville Campaign was the true high water mark for both the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac. The campaign would be the Confederates' greatest battle, though it came at the cost of losing General Stonewall Jackson. Although the Confederacy prevailed at Chancellorsville, Hooker used the defeat to institute a multitude of reforms, which paved the way for the hard-fought victory at Gettysburg.