Southern Invincibility
Southern Invincibility

Author: Wiley Sword

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2007-04-01

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13: 1429981407

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Southern pride-the notion that the South's character distinguishes it from the rest of the country-had a profound impact on how and why Confederates fought the Civil War, and continued to mold their psyche after they had been defeated. In Southern Invincibility, award-winning historian Wiley Sword traces the roots of the South's belief in its own superiority and examines the ways in which that conviction contributed to the war effort, even when it became clear that the South would not win. Informed by thorough research, Southern Invincibility is the historical investigation of a psychology that continues to define the South.

Conquered
Conquered

Author: Larry J. Daniel

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2019-03-05

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 1469649519

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Operating in the vast and varied trans-Appalachian west, the Army of Tennessee was crucially important to the military fate of the Confederacy. But under the principal leadership of generals such as Braxton Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston, and John Bell Hood, it won few major battles, and many regard its inability to halt steady Union advances into the Confederate heartland as a matter of failed leadership. Here, esteemed military historian Larry J. Daniel offers a far richer interpretation. Surpassing previous work that has focused on questions of command structure and the force's fate on the fields of battle, Daniel provides the clearest view to date of the army's inner workings, from top-level command and unit cohesion to the varied experiences of common soldiers and their connections to the home front. Drawing from his mastery of the relevant sources, Daniel's book is a thought-provoking reassessment of an army's fate, with important implications for Civil War history and military history writ large.

Confederate Rage, Yankee Wrath
Confederate Rage, Yankee Wrath

Author: George S Burkhardt

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 2013-01-16

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0809389541

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This provocative study proves the existence of a de facto Confederate policy of giving no quarter to captured black combatants during the Civil War—killing them instead of treating them as prisoners of war. Rather than looking at the massacres as a series of discrete and random events, this work examines each as part of a ruthless but standard practice. Author George S. Burkhardt details a fascinating case that the Confederates followed a consistent pattern of murder against the black soldiers who served in Northern armies after Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. He shows subsequent retaliation by black soldiers and further escalation by the Confederates, including the execution of some captured white Federal soldiers, those proscribed as cavalry raiders, foragers, or house-burners, and even some captured in traditional battles. Further disproving the notion of Confederates as victims who were merely trying to defend their homes, Burkhardt explores the motivations behind the soldiers’ actions and shows the Confederates’ rage at the sight of former slaves—still considered property, not men—fighting them as equals on the battlefield. Burkhardt’s narrative approach recovers important dimensions of the war that until now have not been fully explored by historians, effectively describing the systemic pattern that pushed the conflict toward a black flag, take-no-prisoners struggle.

The Confederate Heartland
The Confederate Heartland

Author: Bradley R. Clampitt

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2011-12-12

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0807139955

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Bradley R. Clampitt's The Confederate Heartland examines morale in the Civil War's western theater -- the region that witnessed the most consistent Union success and Confederate failure, and the battleground where many historians contend that the war was won and lost. Clampitt's western focus provides a glimpse into the hearts and minds of Confederates who routinely witnessed the defeat of their primary defenders, the Army of Tennessee. This book tracks morale through highs and lows related to events on and off the battlefield, and addresses the lingering questions of when and why western Confederates recognized and admitted defeat. Clampitt digs beneath the surface to illustrate the intimate connections between battlefield and home front, and demonstrates a persistent dedication to southern independence among residents of the Confederate heartland until that spirit was broken on the battlefields of Middle Tennessee in late 1864. The western Confederates examined in this study possessed a strong sense of collective identity that endured long past the point when defeat on the battlefield was all but certain. Ultimately, by authoring a sweeping vision of the Confederate heartland and by addressing questions related to morale, nationalism, and Confederate identity within a western context, Clampitt helps to fashion a more balanced historical landscape for Civil War studies.

Southern Families at War
Southern Families at War

Author: Catherine Clinton

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2000-08-10

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 0199923760

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Whether it was planter patriarchs struggling to maintain authority, or Jewish families coerced by Christian evangelicalism, or wives and mothers left behind to care for slaves and children, the Civil War took a terrible toll. From the bustling sidewalks of Richmond to the parched plains of the Texas frontier, from the rich Alabama black belt to the Tennessee woodlands, no corner of the South went unscathed. Through the prism of the southern family, this volume of twelve original essays provides fresh insights into this watershed in American history.

The Papers of Jefferson Davis
The Papers of Jefferson Davis

Author: Jefferson Davis

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 1999-12-01

Total Pages: 808

ISBN-13: 9780807124123

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Kenneth H. Williams, Associate Editor Peggy L. Dillard, Editorial Associate The autumn of 1863 was a trying time for Jefferson Davis. Even as he expressed unwavering confidence about the eventual success of the Confederate movement, he had to realize that mounting economic problems, low morale, and rotating army leadership were threatening the welfare of the new nation. Less than a year after the October 1863 Confederate victory at Chickamauga, the South relinquished Atlanta to Sherman. During the tumultuous eleven months chronicled in Volume 10, Davis retained his fervor for southern nationalism as he struggled furiously to command a war and maintain a government. As the letters contained here illustrate, he soldiered bravely on.

The True Image
The True Image

Author: Daniel W. Patterson

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2012-10-08

Total Pages: 496

ISBN-13: 0807837539

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A thousand unique gravestones cluster around old Presbyterian churches in the piedmont of the two Carolinas and in central Pennsylvania. Most are the vulnerable legacy of three generations of the Bigham family, Scotch Irish stonecutters whose workshop near Charlotte created the earliest surviving art of British settlers in the region. In The True Image, Daniel Patterson documents the craftsmanship of this group and the current appearance of the stones. In two hundred of his photographs, he records these stones for future generations and compares their iconography and inscriptions with those of other early monuments in the United States, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Combining his reading of the stones with historical records, previous scholarship, and rich oral lore, Patterson throws new light on the complex culture and experience of the Scotch Irish in America. In so doing, he explores the bright and the dark sides of how they coped with challenges such as backwoods conditions, religious upheavals, war, political conflicts, slavery, and land speculation. He shows that headstones, resting quietly in old graveyards, can reveal fresh insights into the character and history of an influential immigrant group.

Heaven in the American Imagination
Heaven in the American Imagination

Author: Gary Scott Smith

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-06-01

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 0199830703

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Does heaven exist? If so, what is it like? And how does one get in? Throughout history, painters, poets, philosophers, pastors, and many ordinary people have pondered these questions. Perhaps no other topic captures the popular imagination quite like heaven. Gary Scott Smith examines how Americans from the Puritans to the present have imagined heaven. He argues that whether Americans have perceived heaven as reality or fantasy, as God's home or a human invention, as a source of inspiration and comfort or an opiate that distracts from earthly life, or as a place of worship or a perpetual playground has varied largely according to the spirit of the age. In the colonial era, conceptions of heaven focused primarily on the glory of God. For the Victorians, heaven was a warm, comfortable home where people would live forever with their family and friends. Today, heaven is often less distinctively Christian and more of a celestial entertainment center or a paradise where everyone can reach his full potential. Drawing on an astounding array of sources, including works of art, music, sociology, psychology, folklore, liturgy, sermons, poetry, fiction, jokes, and devotional books, Smith paints a sweeping, provocative portrait of what Americans-from Jonathan Edwards to Mitch Albom-have thought about heaven.

Campbell Brown's Civil War
Campbell Brown's Civil War

Author: Terry L. Jones

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2001-10-01

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 0807167347

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The Civil War writings of G. Campbell Brown—cousin, stepson, and staff officer of famed Confederate General Richard S. Ewell—provide a comprehensive account of the major campaigns in the north Virginia theater. Terry L. Jones has performed an invaluable service by gathering these widely scattered but oft-cited primary sources into a deftly edited volume. Brown’s memoir details his service under Ewell during the campaigns of First Manassas, the Shenandoah Valley, the Seven Days, Second Manassas, and Gettysburg, and under Joseph E. Johnston at Vicksburg. His correspondence and memoranda form a suspenseful recounting of the Overland Campaign, the siege of Richmond, and a harrowing retreat that ended with the capture of Brown and Ewell at Sayler’s Creek just three days before Robert E. Lee’s surrender. Their subsequent three-month captivity in Fort Warren, Massachusetts, is documented in Brown’s letters. Leaders such as Ewell, Johnston, Lee (whose daughter Brown tried to marry), “Stonewall” Jackson, and Jubal A. Early come to life in rich anecdotes and occasional critiques of their wartime actions. A southern aristocrat from Tennessee, Brown exhibits a grasp of the nuances of military protocol that is as compelling as his descriptions of battlefield horrors. Brown’s eagerness to report all he sees—from the quotidian to the bloodcurdling—makes his writings among the finest to come out of the Civil War. Scholars will want copies of this volume at close hand for ready reference, and buffs will treasure the play of a nimble mind over a dire and fascinating time.