This magnificent array of artifacts photographed at the finest collections throughout the United States is sure to appeal to military collectors, wargamers, re-enactors, and history buffs. Superb photography depicts rifles, muskets and handguns; swords and bayonets; artillery pieces and shells; caps, badges of rank, medals, belt buckles and buttons; and uniforms and field gear. The U.S. Army, Confederate Army, and militias are all represented. Descriptions of the military paraphernalia are accompanied by specially commissioned color plates depicting uniformed figures.
With striking visuals from the Library of Congress' unparalleled archive, The Library of Congress Illustrated Timeline of the Civil War is an authoritative and engaging narrative of the domestic conflict that determined the course of American history. A detailed chronological timeline of the war captures the harrowing intensity of 19th-century warfare in firsthand accounts from soldiers, nurses, and front-line journalists. Readers will be enthralled by speech drafts in Lincoln's own hand, quotes from the likes of Frederick Douglass and Robert E. Lee, and portraits of key soldiers and politicians who are not covered in standard textbooks. The Illustrated Timeline's exciting new source material and lucid organization will give Civil War enthusiasts a fresh look at this defining period in our nation's history.
This distinguished addition to the field of Civil War literature is divided into two parts: an illustrated Almanac and an illustrated Encyclopedia. The first is a day-by-day account in which the reader can trace the course of events as they unfold simultaneously on the battlefield, in naval warfare, and in Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia, the respective capitals of Union and Confederate forces. Illustrated by more than 350 maps, photographs, and paintings, the first half of this invaluable reference provides the reader with an overview of the personalities, passions, and events that culminated in America's bloodiest war – a conflict that still reverberates into the present day. Following upon this chronological account is the Encyclopedia, which has more than 1,000 entries, from extended essays to succinct definitions. More than 350 biographies of major Civil War figures, including their strategies and tactics, are described here, along with the weapons, equipment, uniforms, flags and other appurtenances of what has been justifiably called the world's first total war. This section, too, is abundantly illustrated in both color and black and white. General Editor John S. Bowman is a graduate of Harvard University and did his post-graduate work at Trinity College, Cambridge, and the University of Munich. He has edited a number of volumes on American and Civil War history, including The Almanac of American History and The Almanac of the American West. He also played a major role in the compilation of the Cambridge University Press Dictionary of American Biography.
