Civil War Memoirs

Gettysburg Rebels is the gripping true story of five young men who grew up in Gettysburg, moved south to Virginia in the 1850s, joined the Confederate army - and returned "home" as foreign invaders for the great battle in July 1863. Drawing on rarely seen documents and family histories, as well as military service records and contemporary accounts, Tom McMillan delves into the backgrounds of Wesley Culp, Henry Wentz, and the three Hoffman brothers in a riveting tale of Civil War drama and intrigue.

"The real war will never get in the books," Walt Whitman wrote in this diary he kept during the Civil War. Whitman chronicled his visits to Washington, D.C. hospitals where he comforted wounded men and assisted nurses and doctors. This journal, written by one of America's greatest poets and writers, captures the details and ironies of war.

Americans had few things to celebrate during the Barbary Wars or the War of 1812, but one of them was the growing prestige of the US Navy, and among those who were instrumental in its development, few were as influential as Stephen Decatur, Jr. Decatur had an impact on nearly every war America fought in between the 1780s until his death in 1820, and his stardom ensured that he was a fixture among Washington, DC's elite in his own lifetime.

The literature of the Gettysburg Address tends to fall into one of two extremes. At one end are those books that maintain that Lincoln wrote his speech hastily, even on a scrap of paper on the train en route from Washington to Gettysburg. In this version, Lincoln delivered his remarks to an uncomprehending public, which applauded politely, failing to appreciate his genius. Many of the books that argued this point of view are out of print today, but the myths and legends live on.

Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever. The Other Side of the War reveals the war as experienced by the thousands of women volunteered to work in hospitals and for the Sanitary Commission, the organization that advocated better practices and lobbied for increased supplies. Katharine Prescott Wormeley was one of those volunteers, an American nurse in the Civil War, as well as author, editor, and and one of America’s best-known translators of French language literary works.

A Woman's War Record by Septima M. Collis, narrated by Julie Ann Mara, offers a rare and compelling first-person account of life during the American Civil War from a woman’s perspective. Collis, the wife of a Union army officer, shares her experiences witnessing the war up close, detailing the struggles, bravery, and resilience of both soldiers and civilians. Her narrative provides an intimate glimpse into the daily challenges and hardships faced by those involved in one of the most defining conflicts in American history.

During the Civil War, one of the tales that was often told among Confederate soldiers was that Joseph E. Johnston was a crack shot who was a better bird hunter than just about everyone else in the South. However, as the story went, Johnston would never take the shot when asked to, complaining that something was wrong with the situation that prevented him from being able to shoot the bird when it was time.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act eliminated the Missouri Compromise line of 1820, which the Compromise of 1850 had maintained. Settlers could now vote whether they wanted their state to be slave-free. The primary result was that thousands of zealous pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates moved to Kansas to influence the vote, creating a dangerous and ultimately deadly mix. The most famous and infamous of them all was John Brown, one of the most controversial men in American history.

Despite the fact that the Civil War was fought nearly 150 years ago, it remains a polarizing topic for the country to this day, and Americans continue to debate who the greatest generals of the war were, arguing the pros and cons and battle records of the men who fought. Although Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and JEB Stuart have long been the most celebrated men of the South, in April 1861, the man of the hour was P.G.T. Beauregard, the South’s hero of Fort Sumter.

Slavery is a dark spot in the history of the United States, a time when the rights of African Americans were non-existent. Slaves were beaten, mutilated, raped, and killed with impunity. Their lives were a living hell from which death was the only escape they could dare to hope for. From this darkness, many heroes emerged, one of which was a man named Frederick Douglass. Born a slave in Maryland, Douglass believed he had found the key to the power of the white man - education. He taught himself to read and write, and then he proceeded to teach other slaves to read and write as well.

With the possible exception of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., no African American has been more instrumental in the fight for minorities' civil rights in the United States than Frederick Douglass (1818 - 1895), an American social reformer, orator, writer, and statesman. His list of accomplishments would be impressive enough even without taking into account the fact that he was born into slavery.

Mosby, the "Gray Ghost" of the Confederate lore that celebrates the Lost Cause, has an image that has proven nearly impossible to corrupt or change, and time has done little good against it. Unlike the vanished 19th century code of honor that he represented, Mosby has retained the image and all its connotations. But that image, which he helped fashion, was mostly an invention

Esta fascinante guía cuenta la historia de la campaña de Gettysburg, desde la decisión de Lee de invadir hasta su retirada del campo de batalla. En estas páginas, leerá sobre actos de heroísmo, tácticas brillantes en el campo de batalla y decisiones horribles que cambiaron el rumbo de la guerra.

Porter Alexander spent 1861 as an intelligence officer, and he served as part of a signal guard, but he soon became chief of ordnance for Joseph Johnston's army near Richmond. Half a year later, Johnston would be injured during the Peninsula Campaign at the Battle of Seven Pines, after which he was replaced by Robert E. Lee. Over the course of 1862, Porter Alexander took on more roles in the Army of Northern Virginia's artillery branch, particularly under James Longstreet's 1st Corps.

Of all the eccentric and enigmatic men who led during the Civil War, perhaps none had as mixed a record as Confederate Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill, better known as A.P. Hill. Hill was a well known and highly respected general on both sides, particularly for his command of "Hill's Light Division" under Stonewall Jackson, which arrived just in time to save Lee's army during the Battle of Antietam.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) is one of the most famous Americans in history and one of the country's most revered presidents. Schoolchildren can recite the life story of Lincoln, the "Westerner" who educated himself and became a self-made man, rising from lawyer to leader of the new Republican Party before becoming the 16th President of the United States.

Today Albert Sidney Johnston is one of the most overlooked generals of the Civil War, but in April 1862 he was widely considered the Confederacy's best general. After graduating from West Point, Johnston had a distinguished military career that ensured he would play a principal role in the Civil War. Near the beginning of the war Johnston was given command of the Western Department, which basically comprised the entire Western theater at the time.

One of the most important, and controversial, Confederate generals during the Civil War was Lieutenant General James Longstreet, the man Robert E. Lee called his "old war horse". Longstreet was Lee's principal subordinate for most of the war, ably managing a corps in the Army of Northern Virginia and being instrumental in Confederate victories at Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chickamauga. Longstreet was also effective at Antietam and the Battle of the Wilderness, where he was nearly killed by a shot through the neck.

A stirring collection of first-hand accounts from Privates on up to the commanding Generals at the Battle of Gettysburg woven into a dramatic and compelling narrative. The reader is transported back to the chaos and uncertainty of the sweltering first three days of July 1863 when Lee's Army of Northern Virginia invaded the North threatening Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington itself.