In Their Letters, in Their Words

In Their Letters, in Their Words PDF

Author: Mark Flotow

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press

Published: 2019-10-14

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0809337630

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A vital lifeline to home during the Civil War, the letters of soldiers to their families and friends remain a treasure for those seeking to connect with and understand the most turbulent period of American history. Rather than focus on the experiences of a few witnesses, this impressively researched book documents 165 Illinois Civil War soldiers’ and sailors’ lives through the lens of their personal letters. Editor Mark Flotow chose a variety of letter writers who hailed from counties throughout the state, served in different branches of the military at different ranks, and represented the gamut of social experiences and war outcomes. Flotow provides extensive quotations from the letters. By allowing the soldiers to speak for themselves, he captures what mattered most to them. Illinois soldiers wrote about their reasons for enlisting; the nature of training and duties; necessities like eating, sleeping, marching, and making the best of often harsh and chaotic circumstances; Southern culture; slavery; their opinions of commanding officers and the president; disease, medicine, and hospitals; their prisoner-of-war experiences; and the ways they left the army. Through letters from afar, many soldiers sought to manage their homes and farms, while some single men attempted to woo their sweethearts. Flotow includes brief biographies for each soldier quoted in the book, weaves historical context and analysis with the letters, and organizes them by topic. Thus, intimate details cited in individual letters reveal their significance for those who lived and shaped this tumultuous era. The result is not only insightful history but also compelling reading.

The Union Cavalry Comes of Age

The Union Cavalry Comes of Age PDF

Author: Eric J Wittenberg

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2018-05-14

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 1439660077

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An award-winning cavalry historian shares a myth-busting look at how the Union cavalry surpassed its Confederate counterpart and helped win the Civil War. The Army of the Potomac’s mounted units suffered early in the Civil War at the hands of the horsemen of the South. However, by 1863, the Federal cavalry had evolved into a fearsome fighting machine. Despite the numerous challenges occupying officers and politicians, as well as the harrowing existence of troopers in the field, the Northern cavalry helped turn the tide of war much earlier than is generally acknowledged. In this expertly researched volume, historian Eric J. Wittenberg describes how the Union cavalry became the largest, best-mounted, and best-equipped force of horse soldiers the world had ever seen. The 1863 consolidation of numerous scattered Federal units created a force to be reckoned with—a single corps ten thousand strong. Wittenberg’s research thoroughly debunks the narrative that the Confederate “cavaliers” were the superior force.

A Savage Conflict

A Savage Conflict PDF

Author: Daniel E. Sutherland

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 455

ISBN-13: 0807832774

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Examines the impact that guerrilla warfare had on the Civil War, discussing how Confederate guerrillas' increasing use of plunder and violence led to a decline of support for them among Southerners and was a factor in the final defeat of the South.

Goodmen, the Character of Civil War Soldiers

Goodmen, the Character of Civil War Soldiers PDF

Author: Michael Barton

Publisher: Penn State University Press

Published: 1981

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13:

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"Was Johnny Reb more romantic than Billy Yank, and Billy more repressed? Historians have long debated what essential differences there were between the North and the Old South at the time of the Civil War, but their investigations have relied exclusively on the tools of their own discipline. This book examines the same question through the methods of social science. Rather than conjecturing about the attitudes and values of the period, the author has taken a large sample of primary documents and evaluated their differences by means of content analysis. The sample consists of more than 400 diaries and collections of letters written by officers and enlisted men from all states in the Civil War. Excerpts from these documents provide a fascinating glimpse of the period, but the most important conclusions result from Dr. Barton's statistical analyses, which by turns support and refute commonly held notions of how Northerners and Southerners viewed themselves and each other."--book jacket.

Lincoln's Cavalrymen

Lincoln's Cavalrymen PDF

Author: Edward G. Longacre

Publisher: Stackpole Books

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 508

ISBN-13: 9780811710497

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This modern study focuses solely on the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac and includes all major battles and commanders. Drawing heavily on primary sources, the author has consulted 50 manuscript collections pertaining to general officers of cavalry as well as the unpublished letters and diaries of 200 officers and enlisted men, representing almost every mounted unit in the Army of the Potomac.

Black Jack

Black Jack PDF

Author: James Pickett Jones

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 2016-09-06

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 0809335867

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John A. Logan, called "Black Jack" by the men he led in Civil War battles from the Henry-Donelson campaign to Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and on to Atlanta, was one of the Union Army’s most colorful generals. James Pickett Jones places Logan in his southern Illinois surroundings as he examines the role of the political soldier in the Civil War. When Logan altered his stance on national issues, so did the southern part of the state. Although secession, civil strife, Copperheadism, and the new attitudes created by the war contributed to this change of position in southern Illinois, Logan’s role as political and military leader was important in the region’s swing to strong support of the war against the Confederacy, to the policies of Lincoln, and eventually, to the Republican party.

Yankee Dutchman

Yankee Dutchman PDF

Author: Stephen D. Engle

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2015-12-03

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 0807164895

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Lauded as a hero in his native land for his sensational but ultimately unsuccessful exploits during the 1848 German Revolution, Franz Sigel—who immigrated to the United States in 1852—is among the most misunderstood figures of the American Civil War. He was appointed by Abraham Lincoln as a political general in the Union army, a move that successfully galvanized northern support and provided a huge influx of German recruits who were eager to “fight mit Sigel.” But Sigel proved an inept and ineffectual leader and, unfortunately, is most often remembered for his disappointing failure at the Battle of New Market and his subsequent loss of command. In his insightful biography, Stephen D. Engle provides the first complete portrait of this enigmatic leader and German standard-bearer, showing Sigel to be a disciplined, self-sacrificing idealist who sparked more pride among his fellow èmigrés, aroused more controversy among Americans, and perhaps enjoyed more admiration—despite his military shortcomings—than any other Civil War figure.