Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions

Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions

Author: Eric J. Wittenberg

Publisher: Grub Street Publishers

Published: 2011-10-27

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 1611210712

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An award-winning historical study of the important role played by Union and Confederate horse soldiers on the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg. The Union army’s victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 3, 1863, is widely considered to have been the turning point in America’s War between the States. But the valuable contributions of the mounted troops, both Northern and Rebel, in the decisive three-day conflict have gone largely unrecognized. Acclaimed Civil War historian Eric J. Wittenberg now gives the cavalries their proper due. In Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions, Wittenberg explores three important mounted engagements undertaken during the battle and how they influenced the final outcome. The courageous but doomed response by Brig. Gen. Elon J. Farnsworth’s cavalry brigade in the wake of Pickett’s Charge is recreated in fascinating detail, revealing the fatal flaws in the general’s plan to lead his riders against entrenched Confederate infantry and artillery. The tenacious assault led by Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt on South Cavalry Field is also examined, as is the strategic victory at Fairfield by Southern troops that nearly destroyed the Sixth US Cavalry and left Hagerstown Road open, enabling General Lee’s eventual retreat. Winner of the prestigious Bachelder-Coddington Award for historical works concerning the Battle of Gettysburg, Eric J. Wittenberg’s Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions rights a long-standing wrong by lifting these all-important engagements out of obscurity. A must-read for Civil War buffs everywhere, it completes the story of the battle that changed American history forever.


Three Years in the Federal Cavalry

Three Years in the Federal Cavalry

Author: Willard W. Glazier

Publisher: Good Press

Published: 2019-12-04

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13:

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'Three Years in the Federal Cavalry' by Willard W. Glazier is a memoir that transports the reader to the American frontier of the 19th century. Glazier's first-hand account of serving in the 2nd New York Cavalry is based on his wartime journal and covers the period from the enlistment of the author in the summer of 1861 until his capture during the fall of 1863. This memoir provides an insight into the rise of the Federal cavalry from bumblers to a powerful and well-trained striking force, including details of cavalry training, daily and camp life, and cavalry battles.


Three Years in the Federal Cavalry

Three Years in the Federal Cavalry

Author: Willard W. Glazier

Publisher:

Published: 1873

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13:

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Three years in the federal cavalry chronicles the author's military career in the Civil War up to the time of his capture (1861-1863). It is a true story presenting a picture of what life was like in the cavalry division in the Union Army during the war. Glazier gives an excellent account of his unit's part in Gen. Pope's campaign, the battles of Chancellorsville, Brandy Station, and Gettysburg to name a few.


Three Years in the Federal Cavalry (Civil War Memoir)

Three Years in the Federal Cavalry (Civil War Memoir)

Author: Thomas Coleman Younger

Publisher: e-artnow

Published: 2019-12-18

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13:

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This eBook edition has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Excerpt: "I have for a long time intended the publication of this book, for I thought that such a work would not only be found interesting to the public, but would do justice to the brave men with whom it was my fortune to be associated during the dark hours of the rebellion. My descriptions of battles and skirmishes, in some cases, may seem too brief and unsatisfactory; to which I can only say that scores of engagements, which to the participants appear to be of vast importance, have very little general interest. On the other hand, however, it is to be regretted that where our gallant horsemen have done the most brilliant things, it has been impossible for me, in many instances, to secure reliable and detailed accounts with which to do them full justice."


The Prairie Boys Go to War

The Prairie Boys Go to War

Author: Rhonda M. Kohl

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 2013-01-31

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0809332043

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Cavalry units from Midwestern states remain largely absent from Civil War literature, and what little has been written largely overlooks the individual men who served. The Fifth Illinois Cavalry has thus remained obscure despite participating in some of the most important campaigns in Arkansas and Mississippi. In this pioneering examination of that understudied regiment, Rhonda M. Kohl offers the only modern, comprehensive analysis of a southern Illinois regiment during the Civil War and combines well-documented military history with a cultural analysis of the men who served in the Fifth Illinois. The regiment’s history unfolds around major events in the Western Theater from 1861 to September 1865, including campaigns at Helena, Vicksburg, Jackson, and Meridian, as well as numerous little-known skirmishes. Although they were led almost exclusively by Northern-born Republicans, the majority of the soldiers in the Fifth Illinois remained Democrats. As Kohl demonstrates, politics, economics, education, social values, and racism separated the line officers from the common soldiers, and the internal friction caused by these cultural disparities led to poor leadership, low morale, disciplinary problems, and rampant alcoholism. The narrative pulls the Fifth Illinois out of historical oblivion, elucidating the highs and lows of the soldiers’ service as well as their changing attitudes toward war goals, religion, liberty, commanding generals, Copperheads, and alcoholism. By reconstructing the cultural context of Fifth Illinois soldiers, Prairie Boys Go to War reveals how social and economic traditions can shape the wartime experience.


Tennessee's Union Cavalrymen

Tennessee's Union Cavalrymen

Author: Myers E. Brown, II

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738567471

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Despite officially joining the Confederacy in 1861, Tennessee provided the Union with nearly 32,000 troops during the Civil War. Representing a Southern opposition to secession and loyalty to the Union, many of these Tennesseans served as cavalry or as mounted infantry. Among those serving on horseback were Samuel P. Carter, who temporarily left his post in the U.S. Navy to command a cavalry brigade; Pres. Andrew Johnson's son, Robert Johnson, who served as colonel of the 1st Tennessee Cavalry; and James Brownlow, son of Tennessee's Reconstruction governor, who led his command in a naked charge across the Chattahoochee River. Labeled traitors and renegades by Confederate Tennesseans, these men risked reprisals on their homes and families as they dutifully served the Union cause. This volume draws upon photographs from the collections of the Tennessee State Museum, the Library of Congress, the United States Army Military History Institute, and other public and private collections to tell the story of these loyal cavaliers.