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The Confederate Resurgence of 1864

The Confederate Resurgence of 1864 PDF Author: William Marvel
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807183040
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
William Marvel’s The Confederate Resurgence of 1864 examines a dozen understudied Confederate and Union military operations carried out during the spring of 1864 that, taken cumulatively, greatly revived white southerners’ hopes for independence. Among the pivotal moments during this period were the sinking of the USS Housatonic by the CSS Hunley; Nathan Bedford Forrest’s defeat of William Sooy Smith’s cavalry raid; and the Confederate army’s victory at Olustee, Florida. The repulse of Union advances on Dalton, Georgia; botched Union raids on Richmond; and the capture of the Union garrison in Plymouth, North Carolina, likewise suggested that the tide of fighting had turned toward the Confederate cause. These events boosted the morale of southern troops and citizens, and caused grave concerns about the war effort in the North and in the mind of Abraham Lincoln. In late 1863 and early 1864, dejection and despair prevailed in the South: Union soldiers had vanquished Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg, the Confederate nation had been cut in two, Tennessee was lost, and Braxton Bragg’s army had been utterly routed at Chattanooga. Defeatism loomed in the South during the first weeks of 1864, and the ease with which William T. Sherman rampaged across Mississippi illustrated the dominance of Union forces, while Confederates’ ineffectual assault on New Bern accentuated their weakness. Yet between February 20 and April 30, southern troops enjoyed an unbroken string of successes that included turning back a concerted Union offensive during the Red River campaign as well as Forrest’s triumphant incursions into Union City, Paducah, and Fort Pillow. Aided by flawed strategy implemented by Union army officers, the achievements of Confederate forces restored hope and confidence in camp and on the southern home front. The Confederacy’s battlefield successes during the early months of 1864 remained almost unnoticed by Civil War scholars until recently and have never been investigated in detail until now. The victories invigorated southern combatants, demonstrating how abruptly the most dismal military prospects could be reversed. Without that experience, Marvel argues, the Confederates who faced Sherman and Grant in the spring of that year would certainly have displayed less ferocity and likely would have succumbed more quickly to the demoralization that ultimately led to the collapse of Confederate resistance.

The Confederate Resurgence of 1864

The Confederate Resurgence of 1864 PDF Author: William Marvel
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807183040
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
William Marvel’s The Confederate Resurgence of 1864 examines a dozen understudied Confederate and Union military operations carried out during the spring of 1864 that, taken cumulatively, greatly revived white southerners’ hopes for independence. Among the pivotal moments during this period were the sinking of the USS Housatonic by the CSS Hunley; Nathan Bedford Forrest’s defeat of William Sooy Smith’s cavalry raid; and the Confederate army’s victory at Olustee, Florida. The repulse of Union advances on Dalton, Georgia; botched Union raids on Richmond; and the capture of the Union garrison in Plymouth, North Carolina, likewise suggested that the tide of fighting had turned toward the Confederate cause. These events boosted the morale of southern troops and citizens, and caused grave concerns about the war effort in the North and in the mind of Abraham Lincoln. In late 1863 and early 1864, dejection and despair prevailed in the South: Union soldiers had vanquished Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg, the Confederate nation had been cut in two, Tennessee was lost, and Braxton Bragg’s army had been utterly routed at Chattanooga. Defeatism loomed in the South during the first weeks of 1864, and the ease with which William T. Sherman rampaged across Mississippi illustrated the dominance of Union forces, while Confederates’ ineffectual assault on New Bern accentuated their weakness. Yet between February 20 and April 30, southern troops enjoyed an unbroken string of successes that included turning back a concerted Union offensive during the Red River campaign as well as Forrest’s triumphant incursions into Union City, Paducah, and Fort Pillow. Aided by flawed strategy implemented by Union army officers, the achievements of Confederate forces restored hope and confidence in camp and on the southern home front. The Confederacy’s battlefield successes during the early months of 1864 remained almost unnoticed by Civil War scholars until recently and have never been investigated in detail until now. The victories invigorated southern combatants, demonstrating how abruptly the most dismal military prospects could be reversed. Without that experience, Marvel argues, the Confederates who faced Sherman and Grant in the spring of that year would certainly have displayed less ferocity and likely would have succumbed more quickly to the demoralization that ultimately led to the collapse of Confederate resistance.

Inglorious Passages

Inglorious Passages PDF Author: Brian Steel Wills
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700625089
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Book Description
Of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who died in the Civil War, two-thirds, by some estimates, were felled by disease; untold others were lost to accidents, murder, suicide, sunstroke, and drowning. Meanwhile thousands of civilians in both the north and south perished—in factories, while caught up in battles near their homes, and in other circumstances associated with wartime production and supply. These “inglorious passages,” no less than the deaths of soldiers in combat, devastated the armies in the field and families and communities at home. Inglorious Passages for the first time gives these noncombat deaths due consideration. In letters, diaries, obituaries, and other accounts, eminent Civil War historian Brian Steel Wills finds the powerful and poignant stories of fatal accidents and encounters and collateral civilian deaths that occurred in the factories and fields of the Union and the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865. Wills retrieves these stories from obscurity and the cold calculations of statistics to reveal the grave toll these losses exacted on soldiers and civilians, families and society. In its intimate details and its broad scope, his book demonstrates that for those who served and those who supported them, noncombat fatalities were as significant as battle deaths in impressing the full force of the American Civil War on the people called upon to live through it. With the publication of Inglorious Passages, those who paid the supreme sacrifice, regardless of situation or circumstance, will at last be included in the final tabulation of the nation’s bloodiest conflict.

Tarnished Victory

Tarnished Victory PDF Author: William Marvel
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547607792
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 517

Book Description
A “full and insightful” account of the Civil War’s final year from the award-winning author of Lee’s Last Retreat (Publishers Weekly). Beginning with the Virginia and Atlanta campaigns of May 1864 and closing with the final surrender of Confederate forces in June 1865, Tarnished Victory follows the course of the Civil War’s final year. As the death toll rises with each bloody battle, the home front is devastated and the nation suffers incredible losses on both sides of the political divide. Victory in the North required great sacrifice, and here, “first-rate scholar,” William Marvel considers what that sacrifice was worth in the aftermath of 1865, as Abraham Lincoln’s political heirs failed to carry through on the occupation of the South, resulting in a tarnished victory (Booklist). Just as he did in Mr. Lincoln Goes to War, Lincoln’s Darkest Year, and The Great Task Remaining, the prize-winning historian has drawn on personal letters, newspaper articles of the time, and official documents and records to create an illuminating work of revisionist history that ultimately considers the true cost of Lincoln’s war.

McClellan's War

McClellan's War PDF Author: Ethan S. Rafuse
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253006147
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

Book Description
“An important book that rescues George B. McClellan’s military reputation.” —Chronicles Bold, brash, and full of ambition, George Brinton McClellan seemed destined for greatness when he assumed command of all the Union armies before he was 35. It was not to be. Ultimately deemed a failure on the battlefield by Abraham Lincoln, he was finally dismissed from command following the bloody battle of Antietam. To better understand this fascinating, however flawed, character, Ethan S. Rafuse considers the broad and complicated political climate of the earlier 19th Century. Rather than blaming McClellan for the Union’s military losses, Rafuse attempts to understand his political thinking as it affected his wartime strategy. As a result, Rafuse sheds light not only on McClellan’s conduct on the battlefields of 1861-62 but also on United States politics and culture in the years leading up to the Civil War. “Any historian seriously interested in the period will come away from the book with useful material and a better understanding of George B. McClellan.” —Journal of Southern History “Exhaustively researched and lucidly written, Rafuse has done an excellent job in giving us a different perspective on ‘Little Mac.’” —Civil War History “Rafuse’s thoughtful study of Little Mac shows just how enthralling this complex and flawed individual continues to be.” —Blue & Gray magazine

Rites of Retaliation

Rites of Retaliation PDF Author: Lorien Foote
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 146966528X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Book Description
During the Civil War, Union and Confederate politicians, military commanders, everyday soldiers, and civilians claimed their approach to the conflict was civilized, in keeping with centuries of military tradition meant to restrain violence and preserve national honor. One hallmark of civilized warfare was a highly ritualized approach to retaliation. This ritual provided a forum to accuse the enemy of excessive behavior, to negotiate redress according to the laws of war, and to appeal to the judgment of other civilized nations. As the war progressed, Northerners and Southerners feared they were losing their essential identity as civilized, and the attention to retaliation grew more intense. When Black soldiers joined the Union army in campaigns in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, raiding plantations and liberating enslaved people, Confederates argued the war had become a servile insurrection. And when Confederates massacred Black troops after battle, killed white Union foragers after capture, and used prisoners of war as human shields, Federals thought their enemy raised the black flag and embraced savagery. Blending military and cultural history, Lorien Foote's rich and insightful book sheds light on how Americans fought over what it meant to be civilized and who should be extended the protections of a civilized world.

The Great Task Remaining

The Great Task Remaining PDF Author: William Marvel
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547487142
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 467

Book Description
Focusing on the dramatic events of 1863, this is “a well-researched and well-written study that will be a fine addition to Civil War collections” (Booklist). The Great Task Remaining is a striking, often poignant portrait of people in conflict—not only in battles between North and South, but within and among themselves as the cost of the ongoing carnage sometimes seemed too much to bear. As 1863 unfolds, we see draft riots in New York, the disaster at Chancellorsville, the battle of Gettysburg, and the end of the siege of Vicksburg. Then, astonishingly, the Confederacy springs vigorously back to life after the Union summer triumphs, setting the stage for Lincoln’s now famous speech on the Pennsylvania battlefield. Without abandoning the underlying sympathy for Lincoln, William Marvel makes a convincing argument for the Gettysburg Address as being less of a paean to liberty than an appeal to stay the course in the face of rampant antiwar sentiment. This book offers a provocative history of a dramatic year—a year that saw victory and defeat, doubt and riot—as well as a compelling story of a people who clung to the promise of a much-longed-for end. “By 1863 Northern citizens and soldiers were increasingly and openly wondering whether preserving the union and ending slavery were worth the cost of Mr. Lincoln’s war. Disillusion and war-weariness had set in: the war’s only fruits seemed to be moral and political degradation, dangerous constitutional precedents, tens of thousands dead and maimed. The Battle of Chickamauga appeared to have restored the stalemate. Marvel particularly conveys the looming crisis of the impending expiration of the three-year enlistments that were the Union army’s norm. That, combined with the increasing reluctance of Northern men to volunteer or send their sons, could have ended the war by default. Romance and adventure or misery and peril—which emotions would prevail? As Marvel conclusively demonstrates, the coin remained in the air as 1863 came to an end.” —Publishers Weekly

Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac PDF Author: Russel H. Beatie
Publisher: Savas Beatie
ISBN: 1611210216
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 757

Book Description
The third volume of this masterful Civil War history series covers the pivotal early months of General George McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign. As he did in his first two volumes of this magisterial series, Russel Beatie tells the story largely through the eyes and from the perspective of high-ranking officers, staff officers, and politicians. This study is based upon extensive firsthand research (including many previously unused and unpublished sources) that rewrites the history of Little Mac’s inaugural effort to push his way up the peninsula and capture Richmond in one bold campaign. In meticulous fashion, Beatie examines many heretofore unknown, ignored, or misunderstood facts and events and uses them to evaluate the campaign in the most balanced historical context to date. Every aspect of these critically important weeks is examined, from how McClellan’s Urbanna plan unraveled and led to the birth of the expedition that debarked at Fort Monroe in March 1862, to the aftermath of Williamsburg. To capture the full flavor of their experiences, Beatie employs the “fog of war” technique, which puts the reader in the position of the men who led the Union army. The Confederate adversaries are always present but often only in shadowy forms that achieve firm reality only when we meet them face-to-face on the battlefield. Well written, judiciously reasoned, and extensively footnoted, McClellan’s First Campaign will be heralded as the seminal work on this topic. Civil War readers may not always agree with Beatie’s conclusions, but they will concur that his account offers an original examination of the Army of the Potomac’s role on the Virginia peninsula. “If you want to understand the war in the east, this series is essential.” —Civil War Books and Authors

The Sword of Lincoln

The Sword of Lincoln PDF Author: Jeffry D. Wert
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9780743225069
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 598

Book Description
With a swiftly moving narrative style and perceptive analysis, The Sword of Lincoln is destined to become the modern account of the army that was so central to the history of the Civil War.

Counter-thrust

Counter-thrust PDF Author: B. Franklin Cooling
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0803215436
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Book Description
Focuses on Union's internal conflict at building a successful military leadership team. This book shows us Lincoln's administration in disarray, with relations between the president and field commander McClellan strained to the breaking point. It gives details about the critical moment in the unfolding of the Civil War.

Invisible Wounds

Invisible Wounds PDF Author: Dillon Carroll
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807176842
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
Dillon J. Carroll’s Invisible Wounds examines the effects of military service, particularly combat, on the psyches and emotional well-being of Civil War soldiers—Black and white, North and South. Soldiers faced harsh military discipline, arduous marches, poor rations, debilitating diseases, and the terror of battle, all of which took a severe psychological toll. While mental collapses sometimes occurred during the war, the emotional damage soldiers incurred more often became apparent in the postwar years, when it manifested itself in disturbing and self-destructive behavior. Carroll explores the dynamic between the families of mentally ill veterans and the superintendents of insane asylums, as well as between those superintendents and doctors in the nascent field of neurology, who increasingly believed the central nervous system or cultural and social factors caused mental illness. Invisible Wounds is a sweeping reevaluation of the mental damage inflicted by the nation’s most tragic conflict.