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In February 1864, over seven thousand Union cavalry troops led by Gen. William Sooy Smith started a raid into the Mississippi Prairie to bring destruction to one of the few breadbaskets remaining in the South. Both Smith and Gen. Sherman intended to burn everything in their path. But neither reckoned with Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest's small Confederate cavalry forced defeated Smith in a running battle that stretched from West Point to Okolona and beyond. Forrest's victory prevented Smith from joining Sherman and saved the Prairie from total destruction. -
The commander of the three-hundred-wagon Union supply train never expected a large ragtag group of Texans and Native Americans to attack during the dark of night. But Brigadier Generals Richard Gano and Stand Watie defeated the unsuspecting Federals in the early morning hours of September 19, 1864, at Cabin Creek in the Cherokee nation. The legendary Watie, the only Native American general on either side, planned details of the raid for months. His preparation paid off--the Confederate troops captured wagons with supplies that would be worth more than $75 million today. -
Midway between Memphis and New Orleans along the Mississippi River, Vicksburg was essential to both Confederate and Union campaigns. General Ulysses S. Grant began his campaign on the city in November 1862, but he was forced to abandon the operation in December when the fiery General Earl Van Dorn made a daring raid on Grant’s main supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi. With the help of the CSS Arkansas, Van Dorn’s single day raid on Grant’s supply base saved Vicksburg from Grant’s forces for an entire year. -
An important prison narrative, by a Northern soldier who was imprisoned at Andersonville. He contended that Major Wirz was unjustly lynched and states for the record that the Federal government was largely to blame for the conditions at Andersonville. -
First full-length book on this Northern prison. Illustrated, maps -
A well written and organized study of virtually every Civil War prison, both North and South. The meticulous documentation involves many first hand prisoner accounts - a good read cover to cover. Many excellent illustrations. -
Thousands of Confederate soldiers died in Chicago during the WBTS, not from battle wounds, but from disease, starvation, and torture as POWs in a military prison three miles from the Chicago Loop. Camp Douglas: Chicago’s Civil War Prison explores a long-forgotten chapter of American history, clouded in mystery and largely forgotten. -
Sent to the United States as a war correspondent for the Illustrated London News, Frank Vizetelly quickly found himself in hot water with the Federal secretary of war when his depictions of Bull Run hit the papers. He was forbidden access to the Union army, so he took up with the Confederates instead, covering the Civil War from Charleston to the Mississippi and north to Virginia.His articles and sketches shaped the views of the English regarding the war. -
The Union Is Dissolved chronicles the face-off between professor and student- Robert Anderson and Pierre G.T. Beauregard- and the firing on Fort Sumter, signaling the beginning of the War Between the States. This fascinating volume offers a concise introduction to our nation's greatest struggle. -
During the fateful winter and spring of 1865, thousands of civilians in South Carolina, young and old, black and white, felt the impact of what General William T. Sherman called "the hard hand of war.” This book tells their stories, many of which were corroborated by the testimony of Sherman’s own soldiers and officers, and other eyewitnesses. These historical narratives are taken from letters and diaries of the time, as well as newspaper accounts and memoirs. -
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. -
Originally published in 1863. Clement Vallandigham, a Northern congressman, exposes the despotism of Lincoln and the fanaticism of the Republican Party.