Includes a selection of Higginson's wartime letters, this volume offers a picture of the radical interracial solidarity brought about by the transformative experience of the army camp and of American Civil War life.
During the Civil War, from 1862-1865, Walt Whitman spent much of his time with wounded soldiers, both in the field and in the hospitals. The 40 notebooks he filled became the basis for the extraordinary diary of a medic in the Civil War.
“My greatest aim has been to advance the art of photography and to make it what I think I have, a great and truthful medium of history.” —Mathew Brady Mathew Brady and his team of assistants risked their lives to capture up-close images of the fury of the American Civil War and its aftermath. Brady actually got so close to the action during the First Battle of Bull Run that he only narrowly avoided capture. Brady's Civil War Journal chronicles the events of the war by showcasing a selection of Brady's moving, one-of-a-kind images and describing each in terms of its significance. Brady’s team not only captured thousands of portraits of the combatants, the generals, the fighting men, the sick, the dead, and the dying, but also documented the infrastructure of the war machine itself, recording images of artillery pieces, the early railroads, and extraordinary engineering feats. The text by Theodore P. Savas, an expert on the Civil War, adds context to Brady's memorable photographs, creating an unrivaled visual account of the most costly conflict in American history as it unfolded. His unique record of the war gives modern readers a fascinating insight into the terrible maelstrom that shaped our nation.
William J. Bolton's Civil War journal is especially valuable since he served throughout most of the Civil War, steadily rising through the ranks from captain to colonel with the 51st Pennsylvania. Bolton's commander throughout most of the war was John F. Hartranft, an influential figure who later became governor of Pennsylvania. William J. Bolton was lucky to have his brother John serving in the same unit, so he could draw on his recollections for the two periods when he himself was out of action due to wounds.The 51st Pennsylvania was largely drawn from Norristown, Pennsylvania, a prosperous county seat. The 51st served throughout the war in the IX Corps under Ambrose Burnside, and thus was involved in a wide variety of actions in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee and Mississippi.Bolton was wounded twice during the war, at Antietam and Petersburg, and experienced all levels of command and virtually every type of combat and campaign situation. Bolton reworked his Civil War journal some time after the war, drawing on the Official Records and other sources to supplement his own experiences. Dr. Richard Sauer is extremely knowledgeable about Civil War sources, and clearly indicates where Bolton drew on other sources or where his recollections or information were in error in this carefully edited work.
Cornelia Henrys three journals, written between 1860 and 1868, offer an excellent source for daily information on western North Carolina during the Civil War period.
The diaries of a man from Michigan as he served in the Union army from 1861 to 1864. Haydon fought at both Battles of Bull Run; in the Peninsula campaign; at Fredericksburg; Vicksburg; and Knoxville. He died of pneumonia while on leave in 1864.
During the Civil War, humans impacted plants and animals on an unprecedented scale as soldiers on both sides waged the most environmentally destructive war ever on American soil. In Flora and Fauna of the Civil War, Kelby Ouchley blends traditional and natural history to create a unique text that explores both the impact of the Civil War on the surrounding environment and the reciprocal influence of plants and animals on the war effort. After discussing the physical setting of the war and exploring humans' attitudes toward nature during the Civil War period, Ouchley presents the flora and fauna by individual species or closely related group in the words of the participants themselves. Collectively, no better sources exist to reveal human attitudes toward the environment in the Civil War era.