Northampton State Hospital, established in 1856, was built with the optimistic spirit of humanitarian reform. For many years, it was run by Dr. Pliny Earle, a champion of treatment that combined individualized care with manual labor, religious worship, recreation, and amusement. This vision was overwhelmed as the hospital was called upon to care for ever-larger numbers of people with varying needs. By the mid-20th century, the hospital was an isolated small �city,� with hundreds of employe...

On 4 April 1862, Major General George McClellan marched his 121,500-strong Army of the Potomac from Fort Monroe toward Richmond. Blocking his path were Major General John B. Magruder's Warwick-Yorktown Line fortifications and the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia. Despite outnumbering Magruder almost four to one, McClellan was tricked by Magruder's bluff of strength and halted his advance. Yorktown, the scene of Washington's 1781 victory over Cornwallis, was once again besieged. It was the...

The largest offensive of the Civil War, involving army, navy, and marine forces, the Peninsula Campaign has inspired many history books. No previous work, however, analyzes Union general George B. McClellan's massive assault toward Richmond in the context of current and enduring military doctrine. The Peninsula Campaign of 1862: A Military Analysis fills this void. Background history is provided for continuity, but the heart of this book is military analysis and the astonishing ex...

With hundreds of entries, as well as photographs, drawings, and a handy time line of events, Civil War, A to Z encompasses everything about this historic conflict . . . from Appomattox to Zouaves.This encyclopedic illustrated reference features facts both familiar and engagingly new, organized in an easy-to-follow alphabetical format. Ranging from the basic to the bizarre, from secession to spies to all kinds of swords, Civil War, A to Z creates a complete picture...

A comprehensive collection of Civil War maps and battle plans that brought Union and Confederate forces to the largest battle ever fought on American soil.Thousands of books and articles have been written about Gettysburg—but the military operation itself remains one of the most complex and difficult to understand. Here, Bradley M. Gottfried gives readers a unique and thorough study of the campaign that decided the fate of a nation.Enriched with 144 detaile...

"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,...

The Petersburg Campaign was the last great campaign fought in the eastern theater of the US Civil War and the last to see U.S Grant take on Robert E Lee.In 1864 General Ulysses S. Grant decided to strangle the life out of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia by surrounding the city of Petersburg and cutting off General Robert E. Lee's supply lines. The ensuing siege would carry on for nearly ten months, involve 160,000 soldiers, and see a number of pitched bat...

A dramatic account of Ulysses S Grant's epic victory on the Mississippi, featuring maps and illustrations throughout.The 1863 Vicksburg campaign was to prove decisive to the outcome of the American Civil War. Known as the 'Gibraltar of the West', Vicksburg was the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. In a masterly campaign Grant used riverboats and steamers to land his army south of the city. He then defeated the armies of Generals 'Joe' Johnston a...

Beloved by his soldiers and respected by his enemies, Robert E. Lee is undoubtedly the most popular general in American history to fight on the losing side.This book takes an in-depth look at this southern gentleman as a strategist and a tactician, covering all of his most important victories and defeats. Although courted by Lincoln, Robert E. Lee could not fight against his native Virginia and joined the Confederacy. After assuming command of the Army of Northern ...

A detailed account of the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1862, which saw Confederate forces under “Stonewall” Jackson overwhelm a series of superior Union forces in a 48-day campaign.Major General “Stonewall” Jackson became a legend for his actions in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, in 1862. Marching over 600 miles in 48 days, he, along with his army, won five major battles. His forces, never numbering more than 17,000 men, overcame a combined Union force of 50,000, de...

There was little funny about a war in which 620,000 humans died. But it was finding humor amid devastation that kept Civil War soldiers marching toward the enemy. Union or Confederate, those in command proved adept at making mistakes. Many leaders were drunkards, couldn't speak English, didn't know a cannon's breech from its muzzle. Among the galleries of heroes were: Colonel Edward Baker, who told his Federals to follow the plume of his hat if they wanted to find war—and sent them over a ...

**Winner of the Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military HistoryAn Economist Best Book of the YearA Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year**The Battle of Gettysburg has been written about at length and thoroughly dissected in terms of strategic importance, but never before has a book taken readers so close to the experience of the individual soldier.Two-time Lincoln Prize winner Allen C. Guelzo shows us the face, the sights and the sou...