There have been thousands of books put out about the Civil War, but none by a Civil War Buff, so I wrote one. This book was a produce of five years' work and puts the war in a way that casual fans of the war will be surprised at what took place. This book is in three parts: Civil War Timeline: the events, battles, politics, and personal observations of those who were a part of the war. Things that any good soldier of the Civil War should know: the weapons, uniforms, food, duties, marching,...

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Bruce Catton's acclaimed two-book biography of complex and controversial Union commander Ulysses S. Grant.New York Times BestsellersIn these two comprehensive and engaging volumes, preeminent Civil War historian Bruce Catton follows the wartime movements of Ulysses S. Grant, detailing the Union commander's bold tactics and his relentless dedication to achieving the North's victory ...

"You would be surprised to see what men we have in the ranks," Virginia cavalryman Thomas Rowland informed his mother in May 1861, just after joining the Army of Northern Virginia. His army -- General Robert E. Lee's army -- was a surprise to almost everyone: With daring early victories and an invasion into the North, they nearly managed to convince the North to give up the fight. Even in 1865, facing certain defeat after the loss of 30,000 men, a Louisiana private fightin...

Despite the abundance of books on the Civil War, not one has focused exclusively on what was in fact the determining factor in the outcome of the conflict: differences in Union and Southern strategy. In The Grand Design, Donald Stoker provides for the first time a comprehensive and often surprising account of strategy as it evolved between Fort Sumter and Appomattox. Reminding us that strategy is different from tactics (battlefield deployments) and operations (campaigns conducted ...

"The best account of the Battle of Antietam" from t he award-winning, national bestselling author of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville ( The New York Times Book Review ).The Civil War battle waged on September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek, Maryland, was one of the bloodiest in the nation's history: in this single day, the war claimed nearly 23,000 casualties. In Landscape Turned Red,...

Civil War buffs, be warned: Webb Garrison's Curiosities of the Civil War may catch you off guard.Packed with obscurities and bizarre anecdotes, it spills over with specifics you've likely never heard. Debated, reenacted, and analyzed, the Civil War has been the subject of countless books, films, and scholarly research—many of them quite repetitious. This nuanced perspective on the war provides a glimpse beyond the bloody battles, casualties, and political conflict. You'll ...

Composed almost entirely of Midwesterners and molded into a lean, skilled fighting machine by Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, the Army of the Tennessee marched directly into the heart of the Confederacy and won major victories at Shiloh and at the rebel strongholds of Vicksburg and Atlanta.Acclaimed historian Steven Woodworth has produced the first full consideration of this remarkable unit that has received less prestige than the famed Army of the Potomac but was responsibl...

Two great, untested armies were readying for the first—and what many believed would be the last—major conflict between North and South. On the eve of July 21, 1861, one Northerner wrote: “The sky is perfectly clear, the moon is full and bright, and the air was still as if it were not within a few hours to be disturbed by the roar of cannon and the shouts of contending men.” So optimistic were the people in Washington that a crowd of civilians came from the city with picnic hampers to witne...

The Pulitzer Prize–winning historian's New York Times –bestselling biography of Ulysses S. Grant and his leadership during the Civil War."Lively and absorbing." — The New York Times Book ReviewThis conclusion to Bruce Catton's acclaimed history of General Grant begins in the summer of 1863. After Grant's bold and decisive triumph over the Confederate Army at Vicksburg, Pr...

Ulysses S. Grant is often accused of being a cold-hearted butcher of his troops. In Ulysses S. Grant: A Victor, Not a Butcher, historian Edward H. Bonekemper III proves that Grant's casualty rates actually compared favorably with those of other Civil War generals. His perseverance, decisiveness, moral courage, and political acumen place him among the greatest generals of the Civil War; indeed, of all military history. Bonekemper proves that it was no historical accident that Grant...

A riveting, indispensable history of the Civil War, told chronologically—from the first shots fired at Fort Sumter to the surrender in the summer of 1865—a conflict that James McPherson in the Foreword calls "the most dramatic, violent, and fateful experience in American history."In this compelling account of the American Civil War, noted historian David Eicher gives us an authoritative history of battle from the first shots at Fort Sumter to Lee's surrender at App...

The Mississippi battle between Grant's and Pemberton's forces that sealed Vicksburg's fate.The Battle of Champion Hill was the decisive land engagement of the Vicksburg Campaign. The fighting on May 16, 1863, took place just twenty miles east of the river city, where the advance of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Federal army attacked Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's hastily gathered Confederates.The bloody fighting seesawed back and forth until superior Union leadersh...