Remembering the Civil War: The Conflict as Told by Those Who Lived It

by Michael Barton, Charles Kupfer

Overview

In the years following the American Civil War, many participants-generals, politicians, journalists, and soldiers-authored first-hand accounts of their unique experiences. As Alfred E. Smith of the Library of Congress wrote in 1998, "No chapter of American history has been so voluminously recorded." While the quality and reliability of the memoirs vary, a large number provide important perspectives that, taken together, offer vivid descriptions of major battles, political developments, and other momentous events from Fort Sumter to Appomattox.

In Remembering the Civil War, historians Michael Barton and Charles Kupfer carefully select excerpts from the memoirs of key participants and weave them together to tell the story of the war in a single volume. Contributors include Union generals Ulysses Grant, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, W.T. Sherman, Abner Doubleday, and Philip Sheridan. Confederate authors include Robert E. Lee, Gen. James Longstreet, Cpl. Sam Watkins, Lt. John W. Worsham, Col. Edward Porter Alexander, Capt. John Wilkinson, and Jefferson Davies. Personal documents provide soldiers' perspectives of what fighting was like on the ground, as well as hospital and prison life. A comprehensive introduction and headnote for each excerpt provide background information and context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493059331
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2021
Pages:	488
Sales rank:	1,079,576
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Michael L.Barton is professor emeritus of American Studies at Penn State Harrisburg. His Civil War books include Goodmen: The Character of Civil War Soldiers; The Civil War Soldier: A Historical Reader; and The Civil War Veteran: A Historical Reader. Charles D. Kupfer is associate professor of American Studies, School of Humanities, and Director, Center for Holocaust and Jewish Studies, at Penn State Harrisburg. He is the author of two books on military history: We Felt the Flames: Hitler's Blitzkrieg, America's Story and Indomitable Will: Turning Defeat into Victory from Pearl Harbor to Midway.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Welcome Back to the Fight x

Prologue to War 1

Alexis de Tocqueville, "The Present and Probable Future Condition of the Three Races That Inhabit the Territory of the United States" 2

Rev. Samuel Vanderlip Leech, USA, The Raid of John Brown at Harper's Ferry as I Saw It 5

"A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union" 19

Alexander H. Stephens, CSA, "The Corner-Stone Speech" 22

1861 29

The Attack on Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861

Brig. Gen. Abner Doubleday, USA, "The Bombardment" 31

Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, July 21, 1861

Charles Carleton Coffin, USA, "The Battle of Bull Run" 39

Everyday Life in Camp and Field 57

Pvt. Carlton McCarthy, CSA, "Cooking and Eating" 59

Cpl. Sam R. Watkins, CSA, "Please Pass the Butter" 69

John Billings, USA, "Life in Tents" 71

Pvt. Carlton McCarthy, CSA, "On the March" 80

Alf Burnett, USA, "Sports in Camp" 87

1862 89

Battle of Pea Ridge, March 7-8, 1862

Col. Eugene A. Carr, USA, "Report on the Battle of Pea Ridge" 90

The Monitor vs. the Merrimack, March 9, 1862

Lt. Samuel Dana Green, USN, Letter to His Mother 100

Battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, April 6-7, 1862

Lt. Ambrose Bierce, USA, "What I Saw of Shiloh" 107

Battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks, May 31-June 1, 1862

Brig. Gen. Henry Naglee, USA, "The Battle of Seven Pines" 127

The Seven Days Battles of the Peninsula Campaign, June 25-July 1, 1862

Lt. Augustus A. Dean, CSA, "The Seven Days Battles" 137

Gaines's Mill June 27, 1862

Theo V. Brown, USA, "Gaines's Mill" 142

Battle of Booneville, July 1, 1862

Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, USA, "Battle of Booneville" 149

Battle of Second Manassas, or Second Bull Run, August 29-30, 1862

Lt. John H. Worsham, CSA, "Second Manassas" 158

Battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg, September 17, 1862

Gen. James Longstreet, CSA, "Battle of Antietam" 171

Battle of Fredericksburg, December 11-15, 1862

Gen. James Longstreet, CSA, "Battle of Fredericksburg" 177

Battle of Stones River, or Murfreesboro, December 31, 1862-January 2, 1863

Sgt. Christian Lenker, USA, "Dr. C. Lenker Describes Battle of Stones River" 185

Everyday Life in the Hospital 193

Walt Whitman, USA, "The Great Army of the Wounded" 196

Louisa May Alcott, USA, from Hospital Sketches 203

Pvt. William Fletcher, CSA, "Wounded at Chickamauga" 206

Lt. Col. Gilbert C. Kniffin, USA, "The Third Day at Stones River" 215

1863 217

Battle of Chancellorsville, May 1-4, 1863

Brig. Gen. Abner Doubleday, USA, "Chancellorsville" 219

The Siege of Vicksburg, May 18-July 4, 1863

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA, "Siege of Vicksburg" 223

Mary Ann Loughborough, CSA, "Fall of a Shell at the Corner of My Cave" 235

Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863

Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA, "Report of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gettysburg, July 4, 1863" 239

Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain, USA, "Report of Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain, Gettysburg, July 6, 1863" 243

Gen. James Longstreet, CSA, "Gettysburg: Third Day" 251

Battle of Chickamauga, September 19-20, 1863

Lt. Ambrose Bierce, USA, "A Little of Chickamauga" 267

Battle of Missionary Ridge, November 25, 1863

Capt. Bradford R. Wood Jr., USA, from Chattanooga or Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge from Moccasin Point 273

The Variety of Warriors 279

Capt. John Wilkinson, CSN, from Narrative of a Blockade-Runner 283

Pvt. John McCorkle, CSA, "Quantrill's Raiders" 287

S. Emma E. Edmonds, USA, "Disguised as a Contraband" 289

Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, USA, "The Negro as a Soldier" 295

1864 311

The Wilderness, May 5-7, 1864

Gen. James Longstreet, CSA, "Battle of the Wilderness" 312

Spotsylvania Court House, May 8-21, 1864

Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, USA, "Spotsylvania and the Death of Jeb Stuart" 319

Atlanta, May 27, 1864

Lt. Ambrose Bierce, USA, "The Crime at Pickett's Mill; The Atlanta Campaign" 328

Battles of Cold Harbor and Petersburg, May 31-June 18, 1864

Pvt. William A. Canfield, USA, "Cold Harbor and Petersburg" 338

Battle of Dead Angle and Kennesaw Mountain, June 27, 1864

Cpl. Sam R. Watkins, CSA, "Dead Angle and Kennesaw Mountain" 343

Battle of the Crater, July 30, 1864

Capt. Sumner Shearman, USA, from Battle of the Crater 351

The Shenandoah Campaign, September 19, 1864

Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, USA, "Miss Rebecca Wright" 357

The March to the Sea, November 15-December 21, 1864

Gen. William T. Sherman, USA, "The March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah" 363

Dolly Sumner Lunt, CSA, from A Woman's Wartime Journal, An Account of the Passage Over a Georgia Plantation of Sherman's Army on the March to the Sea 370

The Variety of Civil War Experience 377

Capt. Sumner Shearman, USA, "Experiences of Prison Life" 379

Cpl. Sam R. Watkins, CSA, "Presentment of the Wing of the Angel of Death" 391

D. W. Gooch, USA, "Fort Pillow Massacre" 394

Capt. D. P. Conyngham, USA, "Battlefield Tragedy, 1862" 402

1865 405

Battle of the Five Forks, April 1, 1865

Gen. Horace Porter, USA, "Battle of the Five Forks" 406

Petersburg, April 2, 1865

Gen. Horace Porter, USA, "Storming the Petersburg Works" 415

Appomattox, April 9, 1865

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA, "Negotiations at Appomattox" 423

Assassination, April 15, 1865

Charles A. Leale, MD, USA, "Lincoln's Last Hours" 429

Reflecting on the War 443

Abraham Lincoln, USA, "Second Inaugural Address" 447

Herman Melville, USA, "The Martyr" 449

Charles Francis Adams, USA, "'The Foot-ball of Passion and Accident': Charles Francis Adams Ponders the Future of Freed Slaves" 451

S. A. Cunningham, CSA, "Tie Rebel Yell Remembered" 457

Brig. Gen. Edward Porter Alexander, CSA, "The Point of View" 461

Frederick Douglass, USA, Speech Delivered in Madison Square, New York, Decoration Day, 1878 465

Pvt. Edward Mott Robbins, USA, "Don't Belittle the Civil War" 468

Editorial Reviews

"For those who prefer their Civil War history 'straight from the horse’s mouth,' this is the book for them. Michael Barton and Charles Kupfer have raided the vast cache of memoirs, journals, documents, and first-hand action reports, and for us, picked the choicest morsels from the major events of the war. This is an 'I was there' book that vividly brings back those times and sits us in a front row seat. It is a most worthy addition to Civil War literature." —John C. Waugh, author of The Class of 1846: From West Point to Appomattox—Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan and Their Brothers "The volunteer Union army nurse Walt Whitman said that 'the real war will never get in the books.' That may have been an accurate prediction for many Civil War books, but much of the real war does get into this anthology of excerpts from letters and memoirs written by those who actually participated in the conflict, including Whitman. To read these descriptions of camp life, marches, battles, hospitals, and much else is the next thing to being there." —James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

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