Cincinnati native William Haines Lytle volunteered for service in the Mexican War in late 1847. A pro-states' rights Democrat with strong family ties to Kentucky, he nevertheless chose to protect and defend the Union upon the outbreak of the Civil War. Lytle's Mexican War service primarily consisted of garrison duty, but during the Civil War he became known for his courage under fire and his devotion to his troops. He saw combat at Carnifex Ferry and Perryville, and was killed at Chickamauga while leading a valiant charge to stop Confederate troops storming through an opening in Union lines.His letters detail the ferocity of action on the western front and offer a glimpse of the interaction between Union officers and Southern civilians in the border states.
" The Battle Rages Higher tells, for the first time, the story of the Fifteenth Kentucky Infantry, a hard-fighting Union regiment raised largely from Louisville and the Knob Creek valley where Abraham Lincoln lived as a child. Although recruited in a slave state where Lincoln received only 0.9 percent of the 1860 presidential vote, the men of the Fifteenth Kentucky fought and died for the Union for over three years, participating in all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, as well as the battles of Perryville, Stones River and Chickamauga. Using primary research, including soldiers’ letters and diaries, hundreds of contemporary newspaper reports, official army records, and postwar memoirs, Kirk C. Jenkins vividly brings the Fifteenth Kentucky Infantry to life. The book also includes an extensive biographical roster summarizing the service record of each soldier in the thousand-member unit. Kirk C. Jenkins, a descendant of the Fifteenth Kentucky's Captain Smith Bayne, is a partner in a Chicago law firm. Click here for Kirk Jenkins' website and more information about the 15th Kentucky Infantry.
Why did eleven slave states secede from the Union in 1860-61? Why did the eighteen free states loyal to the Union deny the legitimacy of secession, and take concrete steps after Fort Sumter to subdue what President Abraham Lincoln deemed treasonous rebellion? At the Precipice seeks to answer these and related questions by focusing on the different ways in which Americans, North and South, black and white, understood their interests, rights, and honor during the late antebellum years. Rather than give a narrative account of the crisis, Shearer Davis Bowman takes readers into the minds of the leading actors, examining the lives and thoughts of such key figures as Abraham Lincoln, James Buchanan, Jefferson Davis, John Tyler, and Martin Van Buren. Bowman also provides an especially vivid glimpse into what less famous men and women in both sections thought about themselves and the political, social, and cultural worlds in which they lived, and how their thoughts informed their actions in the secession period. Intriguingly, secessionists and Unionists alike glorified the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, yet they interpreted those sacred documents in markedly different ways and held very different notions of what constituted "American" values.
Examines the impact that guerrilla warfare had on the Civil War, discussing how Confederate guerrillas' increasing use of plunder and violence led to a decline of support for them among Southerners and was a factor in the final defeat of the South.
This definitive account of Bragg's Kentucky Campaign places the battle squarely in the political and social context of Kentucky's Civil War. Based on new research, the book offers the most accurate depiction of what happened that fateful October day. 46 photos. 13 maps.
A potent fighting force that changed the course of the Civil War, the Army of the Cumberland was the North's second-most-powerful army, surpassed in size only by the Army of the Potomac. The Cumberland army engaged the enemy across five times more territory with one-third to one-half fewer men than the Army of the Potomac, and yet its achievements in the western theater rivaled those of the larger eastern army. In Days of Glory, Larry J. Daniel brings his analytic and descriptive skills to bear on the Cumberlanders as he explores the dynamics of discord, political infighting, and feeble leadership that stymied the army in achieving its full potential. Making extensive use of thousands of letters and diaries, Daniel creates an epic portrayal of the developing Cumberland army, from untrained volunteers to hardened soldiers united in their hatred of the Confederates.
Chickamauga, according to soldier rumor, is a Cherokee word meaning ñRiver of Death.î It certainly lived up to that grim sobriquet in September 1863 when the Union Army of the Cumberland and Confederate Army of Tennessee waged bloody combat along the banks of West Chickamauga Creek. Long considered a two-day affair, award-winning author David Powell embraces a fresh approach that explores Chickamauga as a three-day battle, with September 18 being key to understanding how the fighting developed the next morning. The second largest battle of the Civil War produced 35,000 casualties and one of the last, clear-cut Confederate tactical victoriesa triumph that for a short time reversed a series of Rebel defeats and reinvigorated the hope for Southern independence. At issue was Chattanooga, the important ñgateway to the Southî and logistical springboard into Georgia. Despite its size, importance, and fascinating cast of characters, this epic Western Theater battle has received but scant attention. Powell masterfully rectifies this oversight with The Chickamauga CampaignA Mad Irregular Battle: From the Crossing of the Tennessee River Through the Second Day, August 22 _ September 19, 1863. The first of three installments spanning the entire campaign, A Mad Irregular Battle includes the Tullahoma Campaign in June, which set the stage for Chickamauga, and continues through the second day of fighting on September 19. The second installment finishes the battle from dawn on September 20 and carries both armies through the retreat into Chattanooga and the beginning of the siege. The third and last book of the series includes appendices and essays exploring specific questions about the battle in substantially greater detail. PowellÍs magnificent study fully explores the battle from all perspectives and is based upon fifteen years of intensive study and research that has uncovered nearly 2,000 primary sources from generals to private, all stitched together to relate the remarkable story that was Chickamauga. Here, finally, readers will absorb the thoughts and deeds of hundreds of the battleÍs veterans, many of whom they have never heard of or read about. In addition to archival sources, newspapers, and other firsthand accounts, Powell grounds his conclusions in years of personal study of the terrain itself and regularly leads tours of the battlefield. His prose is as clear and elegant as it is authoritative and definitive. The Chickamauga CampaignA Mad Irregular Battle is PowellÍs magnum opus, a tour-de-force rich in analysis brimming with heretofore untold stories. It will surely be a classic must-have battle study for every serious student of the Civil War.
The little-known story of remarkable First Lady Sarah Polk—a brilliant master of the art of high politics and a crucial but unrecognized figure in the history of American feminism. While the Women’s Rights convention was taking place at Seneca Falls in 1848, First Lady Sarah Childress Polk was wielding influence unprecedented for a woman in Washington, D.C. Yet, while history remembers the women of the convention, it has all but forgotten Sarah Polk. Now, in her riveting biography, Amy S. Greenberg brings Sarah’s story into vivid focus. We see Sarah as the daughter of a frontiersman who raised her to discuss politics and business with men; we see the savvy and charm she brandished in order to help her brilliant but unlikeable husband, James K. Polk, ascend to the White House. We watch as she exercises truly extraordinary power as First Lady: quietly manipulating elected officials, shaping foreign policy, and directing a campaign in support of America’s expansionist war against Mexico. And we meet many of the enslaved men and women whose difficult labor made Sarah’s political success possible. Sarah Polk’s life spanned nearly the entirety of the nineteenth-century. But her own legacy, which profoundly transformed the South, continues to endure. Comprehensive, nuanced, and brimming with invaluable insight, Lady First is a revelation of our twelfth First Lady’s complex but essential part in American feminism.
A Dark and Bloody Ground: Sowing the Wind, chronicles the week of October 4 - 7, 1862, when the State of Kentucky lay in the balance as vast foraging armies swept the country side; soldiers from the North and from the South fighting and dying, staining Kentucky's soil with their blood. The reader witnesses these events through the eyes of seven protagonists, four Southern and three Northern. This novel for the first time brings to life such historical figures as George Thomas, Leonidas Polk, Phil Sheridan and Patrick Cleburne, to name but a few. The events of this week changed the lives of these men and the State of Kentucky forever! Kurt Holman, manager of the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site says, "I really like this! It's much more fun than 'The Killer Angels.' It's a real page turner. It puts you right there."
Leading figures pay tribute to an expert in the field Honoring the work of Ruth C. Carter upon her retirement as editor of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, Cataloger, Editor, and Scholar is a unique collection that features 21 articles from experts in the field. Celebrating Dr. Carter’s dedication to technical services, cataloging, history, and management, these essays recall all the important aspects of her life and career. The important compendium also includes an interview with Dr. Carter and a review of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly (CCQ) during her 20 years at its helm. In four parts, this wide-ranging collection includes articles that not only span the length and breadth of Dr. Carter’s professional career, but also present new contributions to the field. The first section of Cataloger, Editor, and Scholar considers Dr. Carter’s personal history and direct influence on CCQ as well as what she sees as key issues in cataloging at the beginning of the 21st century. The studies in part two take an international look at cataloging and bibliographic history while new research in the field is presented in part three. Finally, part four offers papers that consider current trends as well as possible directions for the emerging digital future. Chapters in Cataloger, Editor, and Scholar include: a commemorative biographical sketch of Ruth Carter an interview where she discusses her career as a librarian, archivist, historian, and long-time editor a comprehensive review of the contents of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly from 1990-2006 an analysis of the availability of books and reading materials in Monroe County, Indiana, through 1850 annotation as a lost art in cataloging early twentieth-century British libraries twenty-five years of bibliographic control research at the University of Bradford the Italian cataloging tradition and its relationships with the international tradition technical services and tenure impediments and strategies the “works” phenomenon and best selling books measuring typographical errors’ impact on retrieval in bibliographic databases meeting the needs of special format catalogers copy cataloging for print and video monographs in academic libraries balancing principles, practice, and pragmatics in a changing digital environment the development of knowledge structures on the Internet and may more! A unique compilation of the many issues that appeared in CCQ during Dr. Carter’s 20-year tenure, Cataloger, Editor, and Scholar is an informative resource for librarians, LTS professionals, catalogers, students, educators, and researchers.
