Civil War Memoirs

The United States in the mid-1800s boiled with conflict and promise. The bloody Civil War raged. A ruminating President sat in the White House. William Gould Raymond (“W.G.”) was as complicated as the times. His life a mosaic of faith, addiction, health setbacks, his sprawling family, service as a Union Army officer, and then as a Lincoln-appointed hospital chaplain. W.G.’s place in history, though, stands as the initial commanding officer responsible for raising what would become the 1st United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) of the District of Columbia.

When one thinks of true American heroes, many names come to mind. One often overlooked president held the fate of the entire North American continent in his hands. Although Grant was instrumental in winning the war and eventually parlayed his fame into two terms in the White House, his legacy and accomplishments are still the subjects of heavy debate today.

As the Confederacy felt itself slipping beneath the Union juggernaut in late 1864, the South launched a desperate counteroffensive to force a standoff. Its secret weapon? A state-of-the-art raiding ship whose mission was to sink the U.S. merchant fleet. The raider's name was Shenandoah, and her executive officer was Conway Whittle, a 24-year-old warrior.

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman came right through her yard on their march to the sea in 1864, just as they had other plantations. But the widow mistress of Georgia's Burge Plantation was no typical southern belle. She was a Maine-born transplant with 100 slaves. Here, in Dolly Sumner Lunt's own words, is a description of those days as she watched everything she had and believed in being threatened by an army she described as invaders.

Michael Korda brings his acclaimed storytelling talents to the life of Ulysses S. Grant - a man who ended the Civil War, served two terms as president, and wrote one of the most successful military memoirs in American literature. Ulysses S. Grant was the first officer since George Washington to become a four-star general in the US Army, and the only president between Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson to serve eight consecutive years in the White House. In this succinct and vivid biography, Michael Korda offers a dramatic reconsideration of the man, his life, and his presidency.

Many of the first artists in the West were assigned to exploration and geological parties, working as archivists and obedient to demands of cold accuracy. However, a few were driven by an imaginative mix of real events and fantastical visions to whet the appetite of Eastern consumers and preserve their own nostalgia on canvas. Among the most prominent artists depicting the "old" West was Charles Marion Russell, a prolific painter, sculptor, writer, and storyteller based in the heart of the Montana country.

Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War, marveling at the size of the battles, the leadership of the generals, and the courage of the soldiers. The battles have been subjected to endless debate among historians and the generals themselves. David Farragut and David Dixon Porter: The Lives and Careers of the Adoptive Brothers Who Became the U.S. Navy’s First Admirals chronicles their backgrounds, and how they gained the experiences that proved so critical for the Civil War. You will learn about Farragut and Porter like never before.

In this new short biography of Ulysses S. Grant, leading scholars provide an accessible introduction to Grant and his legacy. Grant led Federal forces to victory in the Civil War, was the first modern American president, and authored his memoirs, which would eventually become one of the greatest books of nonfiction by an American author. The authors present a thematic exploration of Grant, providing the necessary insight to appreciate Grant and correct the myths that for too long clouded his true importance.

Donelson: Grant's First Victory outlines the battle of Fort Donelson and explains how it came about. You will quickly meet the main participants, understand Union and Confederate troop movements, and learn how the victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson launched Ulysses S. Grant on his march to Richmond. It's not the complete story, but enough to bring you up to speed, understand the issues of the day, and maybe encourage you to explore more on your own.

In this personal account of the Civil War, William G. Stevenson was impressed into the Confederate Army, serving in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama in the hospital service from mid-1861 until June 1862, when he escaped to the North. This is a "narrative of personal adventures in the infantry, ordnance, cavalry, courier, and hospital services, with an exhibition of the power, purposes, earnestness, military despotism, and demoralization of the South". First published in 1862.

Abraham Lincoln was strangely happy for the first time in years. The war was almost over. He could put the crisis behind him; when this term was over, he could return home to Springfield. Maybe he would go back to his legal practice with William Herndon, or perhaps he would buy a farm along the Sangamon River and become a gentleman farmer. Everyone noticed the change. For John Wilkes Booth, it was exactly the opposite. His world was crumbling all around him.

During the Civil War, the eyes of the nation usually stayed fixed to the Eastern theater, but one of the bright spots in the West for the Confederacy was Irish immigrant Patrick Cleburne, whose successes earned him the nickname "Stonewall of the West". Where so many Confederates were failing, Cleburne's strategic tactics and bold defensive fighting earned him fame and recognition throughout the South, even leading Lee to call him "a meteor shining from a clouded sky."

Over the last 150 years, historians and Americans have endlessly debated over the Civil War, including its causes and the best and worst generals. Nowhere has there been a sharper debate than over the career and legacy of George McClellan, with a majority viewing him as the North's biggest goat and a small but vocal minority insisting that McClellan was a very good general who was made a scapegoat by the Lincoln Administration and its supporters.

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 most famous debates in American history were held over 150 years ago, and today they are remembered and celebrated, mostly because they included future President Abraham Lincoln, one of the nation's most revered men. But in the Fall of 1858, Lincoln was just a one-term Congressman who had to all but beg his US Senate opponent to debate him. That's because his opponent, incumbent US Senator Stephen Douglas, was one of the most famous national politicians of the era.

Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865) was one of the most influential presidents of the USA, uniting the country and abolishing slavery after a terrible civil war. On the 200th anniversary of his birth, his life and works are presented here in an easy introductory form. Through a balance of biography and the key speeches and letters, the man is brought to life, demonstrating his keen intelligence and determination, which was maintained all the way to his tragic death at the hand of an assassin.

Robert E. Lee is remembered today for constantly defeating the Union's Army of the Potomac in the Eastern theater from 1862-1865, considerably frustrating Lincoln and his generals. His leadership of his army led to him being deified after the war by some of his former subordinates, especially Virginians, and he came to personify the lost cause's ideal Southern soldier. His reputation was secured, in the decades after the war, as a general who brilliantly led his men to amazing victories against all odds.

Honor's Voice provides a revealing look at how Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States and one of the greatest men of his time. Douglas Wilson traces the development of this great leader from an insecure country boy full of ambition to schoolboy, storekeeper, riverboat man, and, finally, politician. The author returns to original sources, including friends and acquaintances in the Illinois of the 1830s and '40s and exposes truths about Lincoln never before revealed.

For much of the 20th century, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's life and career remained mostly obscure outside of dedicated scholars of the Battle of Gettysburg and alumni and students of Bowdoin College. Colonel Chamberlain had led the 20th Maine regiment at Gettysburg, holding the extreme left of the Union line on Little Round Top, and he continued to rise up the ranks toward the end of the war until he was commanding a brigade and present at the surrender ceremony of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox.

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 nowhere is this more evident than in the life and legacy of Confederate lieutenant general Nathan Bedford Forrest, the war's most controversial soldier.