The History Press [new releases]

Navigate the often-overlooked history of the resolute defense of the Texas coast during the Civil War.

With volumes written on the Civil War, little attention has been given to the defense of the Texas coast. Most military-aged Texans had been dispatched across the Mississippi, but those left behind resolutely weathered naval bombardments and repulsed invasion attempts. It was only at the end of the conflict that Federal troops were able to make their way into South Texas, as the Confederacy prepared its last stand at Caney Creek and the Brazos River. From famous battles to obscure skirmishes, William Nelson Fox provides an account of the Lone Star State's defensive strategies during the Civil War.

Union victory in the Civil War was far from guaranteed. The Northern war effort depended upon local communities to raise the troops and supplies needed for the battlefield.

The history of Litchfield County highlights the challenges Northern communities faced. Armed confrontation erupted over the flying of secession flags. Supporting the war effort provided women with skills and experiences that would aid in the suffrage movement. Scandal swirled around the local army medical examiner. Family and friends actively supported their loved ones as they transformed from civilians to soldiers.

Author Peter C. Vermilyea uses first-hand accounts-many never published before-to investigate these events and show how the process of preparing for war created a lasting bond between a community and its soldiers.

The place names of Arkansas reflect four centuries of settlement and human response to the state's unique geography. Each new group of settlers brought their own rich memories, heritage and hopes for a better life, all of which manifested in the names of the places they encountered and the towns that grew. Merchants and businessmen (and women), especially railroad officials, eagerly attached their own names to the new stations and towns that sprang up in the late nineteenth century, while bureaucratic bumbles and confused legends led to unique names. And all the while, irrepressible humor combined with local patois to generate names like Greasy Corner, Oil Trough, Pig Eye, and Smackover. Arkansas place names provide a rich treasury for residents and visitors seeking to better know the history and popular culture of the Bear State.

Galveston was the birthplace of Juneteenth.

Issued in Galveston on June 19, 1865, General Orders, No. 3 announced to the people of Texas that all slaves were free. It is one of the Island's most important historical moments. Although Juneteenth has now become the basis for a national holiday, many Americans wonder how and why this date emerged as the basis for the oldest continually celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery. To even begin to answer these questions, it is necessary to return to the historic roots of the event itself. The Galveston Historical Foundation's African American Heritage Committee tracks Emancipation Day observances through previously unknown images and untold stories which are also part of an interactive exhibit experience at Ashton Villa, the site of Galveston's city-wide Juneteenth celebration.

Southern New Jersey was a hotbed of slave fugitives, freedmen and abolitionists in the Civil War era.

The proud 22nd Regiment of the United States Colored Troops included hundreds of Black New Jerseyans ready to fight for emancipation and the Union cause. Abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman, Abigail Goodwin and Benjamin Sheppard operated among key landmarks of the Underground Railroad in South Jersey counties such as Cape May, Cumberland and Salem. Slavery and the rights of Black Americans were at the forefront of the region's attention including stories such as a melee in a Cape May hotel between Black waiters and white patrons, the covert signaling of boats ferrying fugitive slaves across the Delaware River and the daring rescue of a runway slave from the hands of slave catches by local church worshipers.

Author Ellen Alford reveals the history of abolition and the Underground Railroad in South Jersey.

Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

In early summer, 1863 Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia began moving northward. As Lee moved toward Maryland, the Union army followed, taking a parallel path on the opposite side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. From June 9 to the beginning of July the two armies skirmished at various locations along the route. Then, from July 1 through July 3, they clashed in the epic Battle of Gettysburg. Throughout the Gettysburg Campaign, seventy-two men earned the Medal of Honor, the highest honor in the American military. Discover the harrowing narratives of those who served to keep a nation united with the highest valor. Including the story of the unknown soldiers awarded the medal, these profiles showcase some of the most intense moments of the most important battle in the Civil War.

Author James Gindlesperger presents the Medal of Honor at Gettysburg.

Author Mark Neaves guides readers on an incredible tale through the life of one of America's greatest adventurers.

Born into slavery in the Mississippi Delta in 1847, Holt Collier was taught to hunt at an early age, killing his first bear at age 10, the first of 3,000 bears he killed during his lifetime, more than Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone combined. The number sounds impossible, until considered in the context of a life that reads like the stuff of fiction. When war erupted in the South, he remained loyal to the Confederacy, a teenager off to war. By the turn of the century, he'd become such a legendary hunter he was tapped to lead Teddy Roosevelt on a hunt that gave birth to the "Teddy Bear." As a former slave, Confederate soldier, and professional hunting guide, Holt goes down as an American legend.

People enslaved here experienced the same horrors as those held captive in other states, and their stories of courage and perseverance are amazing. Priscilla Baltimore purchased her own emancipation and founded a freedom village. Caroline Quarlls escaped to Canada. Many who fled for their lives spent time bunkered in the basement of Hanson House. The region's Congregationalists brought a fiery. brand of abolitionism. And Prairie Park still holds the faded "haint" blue paint traditionally used on slave dwellings. Author Julia Nicolai details these and other adjective stories.

This book reveals the battles and events that shaped the history of 'The Heart of Dixie' during the Civil War.

Alabama's role in the Civil War cannot be understated. Union raids into northern Alabama, the huge manufacturing infrastructure in central Alabama and the Battle of Mobile Bay all played significant parts. A number of important Civil War figures also called Alabama home. Major General Joseph Wheeler was one of the most remarkable Confederate cavalry commanders in the west. John ""the Gallant"" Pelham earned the nickname for his bravery during the Battle of Fredericksburg. John Semmes commanded two of the most famous commerce raiders of the war--the CSS Sumter and the CSS Alabama. Author Robert C. Jones examines the people and places in Alabama that shaped the Civil War.

Lamar advertises itself as the city "where legends begin," and the city of four thousand lives up to that slogan. It was the place where frontier lawman Wyatt Earp first wore a star and where President Harry S Truman was born. When Truman successfully brought World War II to an end, the submarine fleets in the Atlantic and Pacific were commanded by Lamar High School graduates. Lamar's legends, however, are not limited to those who found fame after they left the city. Lamar was home to the longest-serving mayor in Missouri history, a legendary newspaperman, a football team that captured seven straight state championships and an infamous killer whose life was ended by a lynch mob. Author Randy Turner details these stories and much more.

The Battle of Piedmont has long been considered a small battle with massive consequences. A must-have for Shenandoah Valley and Civil War enthusiasts.

In 1864, General Grant tasked General David Hunter with raiding the breadbasket of the Shenandoah Valley and destroying the Confederate factories and supply lines. General Lee dispatched General William E. ""Grumble"" Jones, and the forces collided up the fertile fields of eastern Augusta County. It was a bloody day--the Battle of Piedmont saw more men killed and wounded than in any of Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Valley encounters. Sweeping on to victory, Federal forces then occupied Staunton and laid waste to the railroad and Confederate workshops.

Join Civil War historian Scott C. Patchan, a leading authority on the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign and sitting member of Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation's Resource Protection Committee, as he chronicles the campaign and sheds light on its place in the war.

Told through a collection of first-person soldier accounts, the history of this Civil War battle and how the South's dubious chances of victory were overcome with grit and determination.