Memoirs of the Stuart Horse Artillery Battalion


Book Description

"Until recently, it has been difficult for anyone with an interest in the Army of Northern Virginia's horse artillery, which served under legendary cavalry commander J. E. B. Stuart, to envision what the men of the battalion endured. With the publication in 2002 of Robert Trout's seminal book, Galloping Thunder: The Stuart Horse Artillery Battalion, the endeavors of the unit were rescued from obscurity." "In Memoirs of the Stuart Horse Artillery Battalion, Trout provides readers with complete versions of three important primary documents written by soldiers of the battalion. Lt. Lewis T. Nunnelee's history of Moorman's Battery is based on a seven-volume diary that Nunnelee kept during the war and features near daily entries of the battery's actions." "The "History of Hart's Battery," as told by Maj. James F. Hart, Dr. Levi C. Stephens, Louis Sherfesee, and Charles H. Schwing, is, as Trout puts it, "a cannon of a different caliber." It recounts in broader terms the battery's history from its inception before the war to its surrender as the last horse artillery in the field. The authors offer rare glimpses into the development of tactics learned from the "school of the battlefield."" "Finally, Louis Sherfesee's "Reminiscences of A Color-Bearer" fleshes out many of the stories in the history that he co-wrote with Hart and his fellow soldiers. Filled with short vignettes, it offers a behind-the-scenes look at the battery in action." "Together, these rich documents provide welcome insights into the day-to-day experiences of the often overlooked Confederate horse artillery, which played an important role in cementing Stuart's reputation as one of the most outstanding cavalry commanders in the Civil War." --Book Jacket.




Galloping Thunder


Book Description

The story of this special battalion is vast and encompasses almost every campaign of the Army of Northern Virginia. From skirmishes in which a couple of rounds were fired to full-scale battles in which the guns went through hundreds of rounds, the horse artillery was engaged from the outskirts of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to the battle at Bentonville, North Carolina. But the history of the battalion was more than just the battles it fought. The men had their own stories to tell.




The Young Lions


Book Description

Focusing on the South’s four major military colleges—the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), the South Carolina Military Academy (later The Citadel), the Georgia Military Institute, and the University of Alabama—The Young Lions is the story of young Confederate military cadets at war. From the opening of VMI in 1839 through the struggles of all the schools to remain open during the war, the death of Stonewall Jackson (a VMI professor), and the Pyrrhic victory of the Battle of New Market to the burning of the University of Alabama in 1865, this book reveals the everyday dramatic actions of cadets on battlefield and beyond.




Manifest Destiny's Underworld


Book Description

This fascinating study sheds new light on antebellum America's notorious "filibusters--the freebooters and adventurers who organized or participated in armed invasions of nations with whom the United States was formally at peace. Offering the first full-scale analysis of the filibustering movement, Robert May relates the often-tragic stories of illegal expeditions into Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and other Latin American countries and details surprising numbers of aborted plots, as well. May investigates why thousands of men joined filibustering expeditions, how they were financed, and why the U.S. government had little success in curtailing them. Surveying antebellum popular media, he shows how the filibustering phenomenon infiltrated the American psyche in newspapers, theater, music, advertising, and literature. Condemned abroad as pirates, frequently in language strikingly similar to modern American denunciations of foreign terrorists, the filibusters were often celebrated at home as heroes who epitomized the spirit of Manifest Destiny. May concludes by exploring the national consequences of filibustering, arguing that the practice inflicted lasting damage on U.S. relations with foreign countries and contributed to the North-South division over slavery that culminated in the Civil War.







Lee's Adjutant


Book Description

The 110 letters compiled in Lee's Adjutant shed light on day-to-day life at Lee's headquarters and on the general himself. Written to Taylor's fiancee and family, these letters recount the Army of Northern Virginia's early triumphs, invasions of the North, defeat at Gettysburg, the bloody struggle in the Wilderness, the siege of Petersburg, and final surrender. In them the young officer testifies to the simplicity of Lee's lifestyle as well as the gentility of his demeanor. He describes the bond that developed between himself and the general, and he discusses the furloughs, reports, dispatches, petitions, and grievances that he handled as Lee's alter ego in administrative matters.




The Papers of Andrew Johnson


Book Description

The correspondence in this volume is related to Johnson's presidency during the Reconstruction Era, including the president's impeachment and the subsequent trial, which resulted in the Senate narrowly voting not to remove him from office.







Thomas Goode Jones


Book Description

Thomas Goode Jones of Alabama is the first comprehensive biography of a key Alabama politician and federal jurist whose life and times embody the conflicts and transformations in the Deep South between the Civil War and World War I.