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From well-known battlefields, such as Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Appomattox, to lesser-known sites, such as Sinking Spring Cemetery and Rude’s Hill, Sedore leads readers on a vivid journey through Virginia’s Confederate history. Tablets, monoliths, courthouses, cemeteries, town squares, battlefields, and more are cataloged in detail and accompanied by photographs and meticulous commentary. Each entry contains descriptions, fascinating historical information, and location, providing a complete portrait of each site. Much more than a visual tapestry or a tourist’s handbook, An Illustrated Guide to Virginia’s Confederate Monuments draws on scholarly and field research to reveal these sites as public efforts to reconcile mourning with Southern postwar ideologies. Sedore analyzes in depth the nature of these attempts to publicly explain Virginia’s sense of grief after the war, delving deep into the psychology of a traumatized area. From commemorations of famous generals to memories of unknown soldiers, the dead speak from the pages of this sweeping companion to history.
"The words of these common soldiers fighting in one of the most notable units in the Army of Northern Virginia will fascinate both civil war buffs and historians.".
In this reexamination of the last two years of Lee's storied military career, Ethan S. Rafuse offers a clear, informative, and insightful account of Lee's ultimately unsuccessful struggle to defend the Confederacy against a relentless and determined foe. This book provides a comprehensive, yet concise and entertaining narrative of the battles and campaigns that highlighted this phase of the war and analyzes the battles and Lee's generalship in the context of the steady deterioration of the Confederacy's prospects for victory.
This fascinating narrative tells the story of a remarkable regiment at the center of Civil War history. The real-life adventure emerges from accounts of scores of soldiers who served in the 4th Michigan Infantry, gleaned from their diaries, letters, and memoirs; the reports of their officers and commanders; the stories by journalists who covered them; and the recollections of the Confederates who fought against them. The book includes tales of life in camp, portraying the Michigan soldiers as everyday people—recounting their practical jokes, illnesses, political views, personality conflicts, comradeship, and courage. The book also tells the true story of what happened to Colonel Harrison Jeffords and the 4th Michigan when the regiment marched into John Rose's wheat field on a sweltering early July evening at Gettysburg. Beyond the myths and romanticized newspaper stories, this account presents the historical evidence of Jeffords's heroic, yet tragic, hand-to-hand struggle for his regiment's U.S. flag.
A guide to the former Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, with “a good deal of historical information, much of it neglected in histories of the war” (The NYMAS Review). “On To Richmond!” cried editors for the New York Tribune in the spring of 1861. Thereafter, that call became the rallying cry for the North’s eastern armies as they marched, maneuvered, and fought their way toward the capital of the Confederacy. Just 100 miles from Washington, DC, Richmond served as a symbol of the rebellion itself. It was home to the Confederate Congress, cabinet, president, and military leadership. And it housed not only the Confederate government but also some of the Confederacy’s most i...
The Human Tradition in the Civil War and Reconstruction brings alive this decisive period in American history by taking the reader beyond the realm of generals, presidents, and the other towering figures of history and introducing fourteen individuals who represent the variety of people who made up the great mass of the nation in the middle of the nineteenth century. Readers will meet women like LaSalle Pickett, whose activities not only reveal a good deal about marriage and gender during the period but also offer a fascinating look at the postwar southern propaganda effort on behalf of the 'Lost Cause.' A chronicle of the home front is offered in the piece on journalist, poet, and novelist ...
Misplaced Blame: Decades of Failing Schools, Their Children and Their Teachers examines the underlying causes of why schools fail. The book describes the challenges that teachers and their pupils encounter in an environment that is dictated by poverty and harsh, unfunded mandates. The volume illustrates that school failure reflects a lack of opportunities—nothing more. The book also discusses the changing role of teachers over the years and teacher-led efforts to improve their students’ circumstances.
What if Douglas instead of Lincoln had won the presidential election of 1860? What if the Confederates had pushed their advantage and advanced on Washington following their victory at Bull Run? What if Lincoln had not been assassinated? Questions like these help historians answer other broader queries such as: Was the Civil War inevitable? Could the South really have won the war? This book examines key events and decisions of the Civil War, giving some of the subject's foremost experts a chance to reflect on the actualities of what could have (and what could not have) happened. Each of the chronologically arranged sections briefly introduces a topic, poses a counter-historical question and presents the responses of several leading scholars, and synthesizes and recaps these often divergent opinions. The work concludes with survey results from the panel of experts regarding several all-encompassing Civil War topics.
Although he never achieved the renown of Ulysses S. Grant or Robert E. Lee, General Alexander Hays was one of the great military men of the Civil War. Born July 8, 1819, in Franklin, Pennsylvania, Hays graduated from West Point and served with distinction during the Mexican War. When the Civil War began a few years later, it was no surprise that Hays immediately volunteered and was given the initial rank of colonel with a later meritorious promotion to general. Hays was also known for his concern for his men, a fact that no doubt contributed to the acclaim which he received after his death on May 5, 1864, at the age of 44. From West Point to the Civil War, this biography takes a look at Hays's life, concentrating--with good cause--on his military career. Personal correspondence and contemporary sources are used to complete the picture of a complex man, devoted husband and father, and gifted and dedicated soldier.
The Spotsylvania Campaign was a crucial period in the protracted confrontation between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee in spring 1864. Approaching the campaign from a variety of perspectives, the contributors to this volume explore questions regarding high command, tactics and strategy, the impact of continuous fighting on officers and soldiers in both armies, and the ways in which some participants chose to remember and interpret the campaign. They offer insight into the decisions and behavior of Lee and of Federal army leaders, the fullest descriptions to date of the horrific fighting at the "Bloody Angle" on May 12, and a revealing look at how Grant used his memoirs to counter Lost Cause interpretations of his actions at Spotsylvania and elsewhere in the Overland Campaign. The contributors are William A. Blair, Peter S. Carmichael, Gary W. Gallagher, Robert E. L. Krick, Robert K. Krick, William D. Matter, Carol Reardon, and Gordon C. Rhea.