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The Pennsylvania border county of York and its people stood smack in the middle of things - where South met North - in the American Civil War. That war roiled York County from its tip near the capital of Harrisburg to its 40-mile base at the Mason-Dixon Line. Union soldiers moved to the South after seasoning and staging on county soil. Train cars dripping with blood carried many wounded and diseased soldiers back to a mammoth U.S. military hospital on York parkland. Thousands of York County residents donned blue uniforms, and untold scores died. The war marched onto county soil in those terrible days before the Battle of Gettysburg. The four-day Confederate visit drained money, food, supplie...
An award-winning biography of one of the Confederacy’s most colorful and controversial generals. Winner of the 2013 Nathan Bedford Forrest History Book Award for Southern History Nominated for the 2014 Virginia Book Award for Nonfiction Despite a life full of drama, politics, and adventure, little has been written about William “Extra Billy” Smith—aside from a rather biased account by his brother-in-law back in the nineteenth century. As the oldest and one of the most controversial Confederate generals on the field at Gettysburg, Smith was also one of the most charismatic characters of the Civil War and the antebellum Old South. Known nationally as “Extra Billy” because of his pr...
The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign, June -- July 1863, is the definitive account of General Harry T. Hays's remarkable brigade during the critical summer of 1863. While previous studies of the "Louisiana Tigers" have examined the brigade, or its regiments, or its leaders over the course of the American Civil War; and others have concentrated on its one-day role defending East Cemetery Hill on July 2, 1863, The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign is the first account to focus exclusively and comprehensively on the role the "Louisiana Tigers" played during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign in its entirety.
A comprehensive, deeply researched history of the pivotal 1863 American Civil War battle fought in northern Virginia. June 1863. The Gettysburg Campaign is underway. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia pushes west into the Shenandoah Valley and then north toward the Potomac River. Only one significant force stands in its way: Maj. Gen. Robert H. Milroy’s Union division of the Eighth Army Corps in the vicinity of Winchester and Berryville, Virginia. What happens next is the subject of this provocative new book. Milroy, a veteran Indiana politician-turned-soldier, was convinced the approaching enemy consisted of nothing more than cavalry or was merely a feint, and so defied repeated ...
“Emphasize[s] the role of Winfield Scott Hancock . . . [and] the Second Corps in plugging the gap and saving the day for the Union.” —Gettysburg Magazine On the afternoon of July 2, 1863, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet struck the Union left flank with a massive blow that collapsed Dan Sickles’ advanced position in the Peach Orchard and rolled northward, tearing open a large gap in the center of the Federal line on Cemetery Ridge. Fresh Confederates from A. P. Hill’s Corps advanced toward the mile-wide breach, where Southern success would split the Army of the Potomac in two. The fate of the Battle of Gettysburg hung in the balance. Despite the importance of the position, surprisingly fe...
The Civil War was the first conflict in which railroads played a major role. The Cumberland Valley Railroad's location enhanced its importance during some of the Civil War's most critical campaigns. The primary sources, combined with the expertise of the authors, bring this largely untold story to life.
Scott L. Mingus Sr. and Eric J. Wittenberg, the authors of more than forty Civil War books, have once again teamed up to present a history of the opening moves of the Gettysburg Campaign in the two-volume study “If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania”: The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg. This compelling study is one of the first to integrate the military, media, political, social, economic, and civilian perspectives with rank-and-file accounts from the soldiers of both armies as they inexorably march toward their destiny at Gettysburg. This first installment covers June 3–21, 1863, while the second, spanning June 22–30, completes the march and ...
In June 1863, Harrisburg braced for an invasion as the Confederate troops of Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell steadily moved toward the Pennsylvania capital. Capturing Carlisle en route, Ewell sent forth a brigade of cavalry under Brigadier General Albert Gallatin Jenkins. After occupying Mechanicsburg for two days, Jenkins's troops skirmished with Union militia near Harrisburg. Jenkins then reported back to Ewell that Harrisburg was vulnerable. Ewell, however, received orders from army commander Lee to concentrate southward--toward Gettysburg--immediately. Left in front of Harrisburg, Jenkins had to fight his way out at the Battle of Sporting Hill. The following day, Jeb Stuart's Confederate cavalry made its way to Carlisle and began the infamous shelling of its Union defenders and civilian population. Running out of ammunition and finally making contact with Lee, Stuart also retired south toward Gettysburg. Author Cooper H. Wingert traces the Confederates to the gates of Harrisburg in these northernmost actions of the Gettysburg Campaign.
The Civil War was perhaps the defining moment in American history, with about 700,000 lives lost and hundreds of thousands more left maimed or suffering in pain the rest of their lives. Yet, despite the horrors of the battlefield, the vast majority of a soldier's daily life was spent either in camp or on campaign. During and after the war, many men, as well as civilians, left written accounts of their activities. Some of these are humorous, some are ironic; some are tragic. Historians Scott L. Mingus and Dr. Thomas M. Mingus have culled through hundreds of these accounts to select some of the very best human interest stories, rewording and condensing them for the modern reader.