“The Civil War: The Final Year by Those Who Lived It”

It’s last of the four volumes of Civil War, told in the words of people who lived it. The Civil War: The Final Year covers the year from March of 1864 through June of 1865, and it’s every bit as somber and thought-provoking as its three predecessors. 

The volume is edited by Aaron Sheehan-Dean, Fred C. Frey Professor and History Department Chair at Louisiana State University. The Final Year covers some of the final major battles of the war, including Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Atlanta, and Petersburg, as well as Ulysses S. Grant taking control of the Union army and William Sherman’s march across Georgia to the sea. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

Civil War Trails: New Designation for Church Destroyed by Civil War – Drew Gruber at Emerging Civil War.

 

Saved by the Bell – The Signal Corps at the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion – Richard Heisler at Emerging Civil War.

"The Civil War: The First Year by Those Who Lived It"

The refusal of Fort Sumter to surrender and the subsequent shelling by South Carolinian authorities might have been the immediate cause of the American Civil War, but it had been a long time coming. In retrospect, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Mexican War of the mid 1840s, which opened up vast new tracts of land for settlement; the Compromise of 1850; the Kansas-Nebraska Act; the Dred Scott decision in 1857; and John Brown’s Raid in 1859 all edged, pushed, or shoved the nation towards an internal military war. The spark that lit the fuse was the election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860, followed by the secession of several Southern states.  

Documentation abounds. Few things occupied American minds in the 19^th century like slavery. And Americans expressed their thoughts and deeds in diaries, letters, journals, newspapers, speeches, laws, and court decisions. Under the auspices of The Library of America, that documentation has been curated and published in four volumes collectively called The Civil War, edited by Brooks Simpson, Stephen Sears, and Aaron Sheehan-Dean. Each volume is devoted to a specific year; volume 1 is The Civil War: The First Year by Those Who Lived It.

To continue reading, please see my post at Dancing Priest.

Some Additional Readings

 

Echoes of Reconstruction: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in Defense of the 14^th Amendment – Patrick Young at Emerging Civil War. 

 

Commanding the Regiment: Galusha Pennypacker, the Civil War’s Youngest General – Meg Groeling at Emerging Civil War.