-
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.
-
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.
-
An estimated 6,862 Arkansas Confederate soldiers died from battle and disease, while some 1,700 Arkansas men died wearing Union blue. Total casualties represented 12 percent of the white men in the state between the ages of 15 and 62. Bloody, hard-fought battles included Pea Ridge, Helena, Little Rock, and the rare Confederate victory in southwest Arkansas at Jenkins’ Ferry. Following the war, the 1911 United Confederate Veterans Reunion, is presented in picture and word.
-
BACK ORDERED! The War was scarcely over when a group of ladies met in Raleigh and began to plan commemoration for the honored Confederate dead of North Carolina. In 1867, they held their first memorial service. Two years later the first monument to the state's fallen Confederate soldiers was erected. Over the next 14 decades, countless monuments were commissioned across the state.
-
Leonidas Polk is one of the most fascinating figures of the Civil War. Consecrated as a bishop of the Episcopal Church and commissioned as a general into the Confederate army, Polk’s life in both spheres blended into a unique historical composite. Polk was a man with deep religious convictions but equally committed to the Confederate cause. He baptized soldiers on the eve of bloody battles, administered last rites and even presided over officers’ weddings, all while leading his soldiers into battle.
-
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.