Books for the Civil War Buff in Your Life

The true story of one man's reluctant but relentless war against the invaders of his country.

Winner of the General Nathan Bedford Forrest Southern History Award 

Finalist, History, National Best Books Awards, USA Book News

Jack Hinson never planned to become a deadly sniper.

A quiet, wealthy plantation owner, Jack Hinson watched the start of the Civil War with disinterest. Opposed to secession and a friend to Union and Confederate commanders alike, he did not want a war. After Union soldiers seized and murdered his sons, placing their decapitated heads on the gateposts of his estate, Hinson could remain indifferent no longer. He commissioned a special rifle for long-range accuracy, he took to the woods, and he set out for revenge.

This remarkable biography presents the story of Jack Hinson, a lone Confederate sniper who, at the age of 57, waged a personal war on Grant's army and navy. By the end of the Civil War, the Union had committed infantry and cavalry from nine regiments and a specially equipped amphibious task force of marines to capture Hinson, who was by that time nearly sixty years old. They never caught him. Since then, the story of Jack Hinson has evaded astute historians, and until now, he has remained invisible in the history of sniper warfare.

The result of 15 years of scholarship, this meticulously researched and beautifully written work is the only account of Hinson's life ever recorded and involves an unbelievable cast of characters, including the Earp brothers, Jesse James, and Nathan Bedford Forrest.

In this unprecedented and incredible biography, Lt. Col. Tom C. McKenney masterfully recounts Hinson’s extraordinary feats as a lone Confederate sniper.

Many heroic actions were taken by Hispanic soldiers who have not gotten much recognition for their efforts.

On April 27, 1865, the Sultana, a 260-foot, wooden-hulled steamboat, exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee. More than 1,800 men died.

The definitive companion volume now in color!

This classic guide by Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr. has been updated with 20 additional flags and given a fresh wash of color by noted Civil War artist and historian Alan H. Archambault. Exploring the history and development of flags in the United States leading up to and during the Civil War, his research picks up where Cannon left off. The Wall Street Journal called Cannon’s companion volume, The Flags of the Confederacy: An Illustrated History, “the last word on the flags of the lost cause.” This volume continues that tradition.

Freed slaves who headed West to start careers in the army after the Civil War were nicknamed buffalo soldiers by the Cheyenne Indians because of their hair and their displays of strength. A buffalo soldier�s account of the bravery and courage of the Tenth Calvary during the Indian wars and the Spanish-American War.

Much has been written about the horrors of Southern Civil War prisons, but very little has been written about the deplorable conditions inside Northern prisons. While deprivation affected even the civilian population of the South, the North used it as a tool to punish their prisoners. Twenty-five years after the war, a nationally prominent physician and medical researcher who had been incarcerated at Indiana's Camp Morton leveled accusations against that prison, making clear for the first time that it was as inhumane as Andersonville. This book details the cover up and denials by prominent Den of Misery: Indiana's Civil War Prison details the cover-ups and denials as well as the cruel realities of the prison camp and chronicles the efforts by Confederate veterans to make known the truth about their experiences. The author includes a full list of prisoners who died at Camp Morton and are buried in a mass grave in Indianapolis.
Union politicians and military officials, and includes a complete prisoner list.