The History Press

Born Free & Equal

The 1st Michigan Colored Regiment was the state’s first and only African American regiment during the Civil War. Courageously enlisting amid societal turmoil, these determined men fought valiantly, on the battlefield and off, in the struggle for liberty and equality. Many hundreds of them were born in the South, yet they returned there to fight for the freedom of others. Embracing the call to duty, they defied prejudice, and their collective sacrifice not only helped to preserve the Union but also paved the way for future generations.

Weaving together personal accounts and historical context, author Maurice Imhoff vividly recounts the extraordinary journey of this unit and honors the legacy of those who stood firm in the face of adversity.

While Antietam remains one the most famous engagements of the Civil War, history largely overlooks the lower end of the battlefield.

Only here did the Confederates use Antietam Creek as a barrier, so it was the only place where Union troops had to force their way across. Here the Union army waged its final attack, and the Confederates launched their last counterattack led by A.P. Hill’s division. It might as well have been a different battle entirely from the more famed northern field.

Using dozens of journals, diaries, newspaper accounts and reports, author Robert M. Dunkerly examines the action in detail and explores the gradual preservation of this oft-neglected portion of America’s bloodiest battle.

Searing Heat and Torrents of Rain

As the nation’s future hung in the balance, the Weather Gods delivered a wrath of fury on Union and Confederate forces throughout the Gettysburg Campaign. First, record-breaking heat and humidity wore down the warring armies during ungodly forced marches. Next, relentless storms plagued the soldiers with resultant muddy slogs on nearly impassable roads. As the armies met in mortal combat, soul-crushing heat turned the bucolic fields of Gettysburg into a sanguinary and barren expanse. Finally, torrential rains haunted the Confederate retreat and narrow escape across a swollen Potomac River. Authors Jeffrey J. Harding and Jon M. Nese present firsthand accounts, harrowing narratives and groundbreaking meteorological research that reshapes how we view the Civil War’s Gettysburg Campaign.

A Tumultuous Time in Kansas

Both before and during the American Civil War, ragtag groups of Kansas militants patrolled the Kansas-Missouri border. Known as “Jayhawkers” and later “Red Legs,” they raided anyone they believed sympathetic to secession. For many in the state, these irregular warriors were heroes fighting for a Free Kansas and preservation of the Union; for their victims, these men were little more than opportunistic thieves. James Montgomery teamed up with Harriet Tubman to lead the Combahee River Raid, an audacious mission in South Carolina that liberated more than 750 slaves. George H. Hoyt, who once defended famed abolitionist John Brown, became a leader of a contentious group of pro-Union partisans known as the “Red Legs.” Authors Paul A. Thomas and Matt M. Matthews seek to answer the question of who these men were.

Forgotten Fighters and Unknown Exploits

More than twenty thousand Hispanic Americans served in the Civil War. When Cuban-born Loreta Janeta Velázquez’s husband would not allow her to join him on the battlefield, she assumed the role of First Lieutenant Harry T. Buford to be near him. Philip Bazaar, born in Chile, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courageous exploits during the assault of Fort Fisher. The spying efforts of Floridian Maria Dolores “Lola” Sánchez and her two sisters led to a Union defeat at the Battle of Horse Landing. Union Admiral David Farragut, of Spanish descent, was not only the navy’s first admiral, but he was also the man who uttered the famous phrase, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”

Delving into the lives of these figures and more, A.J. Schenkman uncovers this often-overlooked aspect of Civil War history.

True Blue for Union

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Cape May County was an isolated and lightly populated peninsula at the southernmost tip of New Jersey. Nevertheless, its citizens answered the call for the Union effort during the Civil War. The 7th U.S. Infantry regiment recruited substantially from the region, and the entire community came out to usher the gallant troops to war, departing from Cape Island. On the homefront, supporting rallies were staged, food drives enacted and medical supplies shipped to the front. Railroad tycoons eyeing the underdeveloped beaches of Cape May began developing the county’s resorts beyond Cape Island even before troops returned home. Author Ray Rebmann presents the valiant efforts and changing times of Cape May County in the Civil War era.

Meet the men from Southwestern Illinois who served in the Civil War. Learn about their lives prior to enlistment, follow them into battle, and bear witness to their legacy.

The men of southwestern Illinois, both white and Black, rallied to the Union banner when the Civil War broke out. Lewis Martin, an escaped slave, enlisted in the Union army and suffered horrendous injuries at the Battle of the Crater. Shurtleff College’s entire 1864 class joined up, and so many men from McKendree College served in the Illinois 117th that it became known as the “McKendree Brigade.” Some of the volunteers came from pioneer American stock, like Franklin Moore, whose forefathers fought in the War of 1812 and the Revolution. Others, such as Swiss-born John Kuhn, were immigrants. Author John J. Dunphy follows the men from southwestern Illinois who risked their lives to end the Southern rebellion.

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.

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.

Author Phillip Thomas Tucker reveals the triumph and tragedy of the greatest sacrifice of life of any battleground in America.

On September 17, 1862, the forces of Major General George B. McClellan and his Union Army of the Potomac confronted Robert E. Lee's entire Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of Antietam in Sharpsburg, Maryland. The Union forces mounted a powerful assault on Lee's left flank in the idyllic Miller Cornfield. It was the single bloodiest day in the history of the Civil War. The elite combat units of the Union's Iron Brigade and the Confederate Texas Brigade held a dramatic showdown and suffered immense losses through vicious attacks and counterattacks sweeping through the cornstalks.

Experience the history of the antislavery movement in South Central Pennsylvania, a hotspot for both slave catchers and abolitionists alike.

Author Cooper Wingert reveals the history of the antislavery movement in South Central Pennsylvania. Influenced by religion and empathy, local abolitionists risked their reputations, fortunes and lives in the pursuit of what they believed was right. The sister of Benjamin Lundy, one of America's most famous abolitionists, married into an Adams County family and spent decades helping runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. National figures such as Frederick Douglass toured the region, delivering antislavery orations to mixed receptions. In 1859, John Brown planned his Harpers Ferry raid from Chambersburg while local abolitionists concealed his identity.

In June 1863, Harrisburg braced for an invasion as the Confederate troops of Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell steadily moved toward the Pennsylvania capital.

Capturing Carlisle en route, Ewell sent forth a brigade of cavalry under Brigadier General Albert Gallatin Jenkins. After occupying Mechanicsburg for two days, Jenkins's troops skirmished with Union militia near Harrisburg. Jenkins then reported back to Ewell that Harrisburg was vulnerable. Ewell, however, received orders from army commander Lee to concentrate southward--toward Gettysburg--immediately. Left in front of Harrisburg, Jenkins had to fight his way out at the Battle of Sporting Hill. The following day, Jeb Stuart's Confederate cavalry made its way to Carlisle and began the infamous shelling of its Union defenders and civilian population. Running out of ammunition and finally making contact with Lee, Stuart also retired south toward Gettysburg. Author Cooper H. Wingert traces the Confederates to the gates of Harrisburg in these northernmost actions of the Gettysburg Campaign.

The coast of South Carolina was a hotspot for the Civil War since its beginning. Some of the stories have not been told until now.

In Defending South Carolina's Coast: The Civil War from Georgetown to Little River, area native Rick Simmons relates the often overlooked stories of the upper South Carolina coast during the Civil War. As a base of operations for more than three thousand troops early in the war and the site of more than a dozen forts, almost every inch of the coast was affected by and hotly contested during the Civil War. From the skirmishes at Fort Randall in Little River and the repeated Union naval bombardments of Murrells Inlet to the unrealized potential of the massive fortifications at Battery White and the sinking of the USS Harvest Moon in Winyah Bay, the region's colorful Civil War history is unfolded here at last.

If you were a Confederate prisoner during the Civil War, you might have ended up in this infamous military prison in Chicago.

More Confederate soldiers died in Chicago's Camp Douglas than on any Civil War battlefield. Originally constructed in 1861 to train forty thousand Union soldiers from the northern third of Illinois, it was converted to a prison camp in 1862. Nearly thirty thousand Confederate prisoners were housed there until it was shut down in 1865. Today, the history of the camp ranges from unknown to deeply misunderstood. David Keller offers a modern perspective of Camp Douglas and a key piece of scholarship in reckoning with the legacy of other military prisons.

Join historian John Hoptak as he narrates the critical Battle of South Mountain, long overshadowed by the Battle of Antietam.

In September 1862, Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia north of the Potomac River for the time as part of his Northern invasion, seeking a quick end to the war. Lee divided his army in three, sending General James Longstreet north to Hagerstown and Stonewall Jackson south to Harper's Ferry. It was at three mountain passes, referred to as South Mountain, that Lee's army met the Federal forces commanded by General George B. McClellan on September 14. In a fierce day-long battle spread out across miles of rugged, mountainous terrain, McClellan defeated Lee but the Confederates did tie up the Federals long enough to allow Jackson's conquest of Harper's Ferry.

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.

Author D. Michael Thomas presents the previously untold story of the Iron Scouts for the first time.

Serving from late 1862 to the war's end, Wade Hampton's Scouts were a key component of the comprehensive intelligence network designed by Generals Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart and Wade Hampton. The Scouts were stationed behind enemy lines on a permanent basis and provided critical military intelligence to their generals. They became proficient in unconventional warfare and emerged unscathed in so many close-combat actions that their foes grudgingly dubbed them Hampton's Iron Scouts.

New Bern was a valuable port city during the Civil War and the Confederates made many attempts to reclaim it.

On March 14, 1862, Federal forces under the command of General Ambrose Burnside overwhelmed Confederate forces in the Battle of New Bern, capturing the town and its important seaport. From that time on, Confederates planned to retake the city. D.H. Hill and James J. Pettigrew made the first attempt but failed miserably. General George Pickett tried in February 1864. He nearly succeeded but called the attack off on the edge of victory. The Confederates made another charge in May led by General Robert Hoke. They had the city surrounded with superior forces when Lee called Hoke back to Richmond and ended the expedition. Author Jim White details the chaotic history of New Bern in the Civil War.

Though removed from the frontlines, Cleveland played an active role in national events before, during, and after the Civil War.

President Lincoln visited this abolitionist hotbed after his 1860 election. Following his assassination five years later, his funeral train made a stop there. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County sent over 9,000 troops to war. More than 1,700 never returned. Born just outside Cleveland, James Garfield emerged from the war to become President of the United States. Most vitally, the economic prosperity of the war years began the transformation of this small but thriving village into a future manufacturing powerhouse.

Author W. Dennis Keating, member and past president of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable, creates a panoramic view of the city through one of the nation's most troubled times.

Remembering Ohio at the battle that changed the Civil War

Among the thousands who fought in the pivotal Battle of Antietam were scores of Ohioans. Sending eleven regiments and two batteries to the fight, the Buckeye State lost hundreds during the Maryland Campaign's first engagement, South Mountain, and hundreds more "gave their last full measure of devotion'? at the Cornfield, the Bloody Lane, and Burnside's Bridge. Many of these brave men are buried in the Antietam National Cemetery. Aged veterans who survived the ferocious contest returned to Antietam in the early 1900s to fight for and preserve the memory of their sacrifices all those years earlier.

Join Kevin Pawlak and Dan Welch as they explore Ohio's role during those crucial hours on September 17, 1862.

Immerse yourself in Kentucky's largest battle, Perryville, with author Christopher Kolakowski. A must-read for Civil War and Kentucky History enthusiasts.

Desperate to seize control of Union-held Kentucky, a border state, the Confederate army launched an invasion into the commonwealth in the fall of 1862. The incursion viciously culminated at an otherwise quiet Bluegrass crossroads and forever altered the landscape of the war.

The Battle of Perryville lasted just one day yet produced nearly eight thousand combined casualties and losses, and some say nary a victor. The Rebel army was forced to retreat, and the United States kept its imperative grasp on Kentucky throughout the war. Famous Confederate diarist Sam Watkins, whose Company Aytch journals were featured as a major narrative thread in Ken Burns' award-winning Civil War documentary series, declared Perryville the hardest fighting that he experienced. Indeed, history would record that Perryville the second bloodiest battle of the Western Theater after Shiloh.

Few know this hallowed ground like Christopher L. Kolakowski, former director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, who draws on letters, reports, memoirs and other primary sources to offer the most accessible and engaging account of the Kentucky Campaign yet, featuring over sixty historic images and maps.

Although war was traditionally the purview of men, the realities of America’s Civil War often brought women into the conflict. They served as nurses, sutlers, and washerwomen. Some even disguised themselves as men and joined the fight on the battlefield. In the border state of Missouri, where Southern sympathies ran deep, women sometimes clashed with occupying Union forces because of illegal, covert activities like spying, smuggling, and delivering mail. When caught and arrested, the women were often imprisoned or banished from the state. In at least a couple of cases, they were even sentenced to death. Join award-winning author Larry Wood as he chronicles the misadventures and ordeals of the lady rebels of Missouri.

Join Matthew Borders and Joseph Stahl as they share their expertise and grant glimpses into the lives of those who fought to preserve the Union.

The Battle of Antietam, fought near Sharpsburg, Maryland, was the bloodiest day in American history, with more than twenty-three thousand dead, wounded and missing. This book invites the reader to walk the routes of some of the units on the field through the stories of thirty-six individual soldiers who fought on that day. The images of the soldiers in this work, many of which have never been published before, give faces to the fighting men at Antietam, as well as insight into their lives

Wisconsin troops fought and died for the Union on Civil War battlefields across the continent, from Shiloh to Gettysburg. Wisconsin lumberjacks built a dam that saved a stranded Union fleet.

The Second Wisconsin Infantry suffered the highest percentage of battle deaths in the Union army. Back home, in a state largely populated by immigrants and recent transplants, the war effort forced Wisconsin's residents to forge a common identity for the first time. Drawing on unpublished letters and new research, Ron Larson tells Wisconsin's Civil War story, from the famous exploits of the Iron Brigade to the heretofore largely unknown contributions of the Badger State's women, African Americans and Native Americans.

The only state born as a result of the Civil War, West Virginia was the most divided state in the nation. About forty thousand of its residents served in the combatant forces about twenty thousand on each side.

The Mountain State also saw its fair share of battles, skirmishes, raids and guerrilla warfare, with places like Harpers Ferry, Philippi and Rich Mountain becoming household names in 1861. When the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17, 1861, leaders primarily from the northwestern region of the state began the political process that eventually led to the creation of West Virginia on June 20, 1863. Renowned Civil War historian Mark A. Snell has written the first thorough history of these West Virginians and their civil war in more than fifty years.

Read the story of the Battle of Antietam from the African American perspective.

The African American community around Sharpsburg, Maryland witnessed John Brown’s raid, wartime skirmishes, the Battle of South Mountain, and the aftermath of the bloodiest day in American history. Read stories of encounters with Abraham Lincoln and Union and Confederate generals, and of Black civilian suffering and sacrifice in the cause of freedom. Their experiences during four years of Civil War come to life in vivid detail, often in their own words.

Award-winning historian Emilie Amt recounts the personal stories of African Americans, both enslaved and free, who lived on the battlefield and who worked in the armies who clashed there.

Look into the eyes of these soldiers and see the faces of those who dared to stare into the face of Death.

The Battle of Fredericksburg, fought December 11-15, 1862, is often remembered for the seemingly futile attacks by the Army of the Potomac against dug in Confederates on Marye's Heights. Less well understood is the fighting south of the heights on what has become known as Slaughter Pen Farm. In this work the images of thirty Union soldiers are published for the first time. They give a face and history to those men who struggled across that bloody landscape, as well as to those that charged up the slope of Marye's Heights into Confederate fire.

Authors Matthew Borders and Joseph Stahl introduce you to these men, their stories and their sacrifice on the bullet swept battlefield of Fredericksburg.

What began as a simple scouting mission evolved into a full-scale battle when a regiment of Union soldiers unexpectedly encountered a detachment of Confederate cavalry.

Three months after the Civil War's first important battle at Manassas in 1861, Union and Confederate armies met again near the sleepy town of Leesburg. The Confederates pushed forward and scattered the Union line. Soldiers drowned trying to escape back to Union lines on the other side of the Potomac River. A congressional investigation of the battle had long-lasting effects on the war's political and military administration. Bill Howard narrates the history of the battle as well as its thorny aftermath.

The most pivotal defensive line in the most pivotal battle in the history of America.

The fighting at Culp's Hill during the Battle of Gettysburg was some of the fiercest during the bloody battle, and holding the hill, for the Union, was essential not only for victory in battle, but protecting the country as a whole.

Authors Matthew Borders and Joseph Stahl present intimate portraits of twenty-eight soldiers who defended Culp's Hill, including in-depth analysis of never before published images and harrowing accounts of heroism in the fight to save the Union.

From Baltimore natives Lawrence Bopp and Stephen Bockmiller comes Showing the Flag: The Civil War Naval Diary of Moses Safford, USS Constellation, a new perspective on the Civil War and life in the navy in the mid-19th century. As the Civil War raged at home, naval yeoman Moses Safford toured the Mediterranean on the USS Constellation, dispatched in 1862 to "show the flag," or defend American merchant shipping. An attorney and accomplished sailor before the war, Moses kept a diary in his seafarer's way, leaving us one of the most detailed accounts of life aboard a Civil War warship known to exist.

Published for the first time and including insightful annotations and biographical information, this personal journal documents life aboard a navy ship in a time of national turmoil. Although the diary was intended for his own edification and personal remembrance, Safford's writing brings the reader back in time and place and opens a window on the past, allowing a view of Civil War naval life through the eyes of a literate and master seaman.

Michigan undertook a rapid and robust response to Lincoln's call to arms during the Civil War and in many of its great battles. Read the much overlooked history in this volume.

With lively narration, telling anecdotes, and vivid battlefield accounts, Michigan and the Civil War tells the story as never before of Michigan's heroic contributions to saving the Union. Beginning with Michigan's antebellum period and anti-slavery heritage, the book proceeds through Michigan's rapid response to President Lincoln's call to arms, its participation in each of the War's greatest battles, portrayal of its most interesting personalities, and the concluding triumph as Custer corners Lee at Appomattox and the 4th Michigan Cavalry apprehends the fleeing Jeff Davis. Based on thorough and up-to-date research, the result is surprising in its breadth, sometimes awe-inspiring, and always a revelation given how contributions by the Great Lake State in the Civil War are too often overlooked, even by its own citizens.

With firsthand accounts, letters and diary entries from the Carter House Archives, local historian James R. Knight paints a vivid picture of the gruesome Battle of Franklin.

In late November 1864, the last Southern army east of the Mississippi that was still free to maneuver started out from northern Alabama on the Confederacy's last offensive. John Bell Hood and his Army of Tennessee had dreams of capturing Nashville and marching on to the Ohio River, but a small Union force under Hood's old West Point roommate stood between him and the state capital. In a desperate attempt to smash John Schofield's line at Franklin, Hood threw most of his men against the Union works, centered on the house of a family named Carter, and lost 30 percent of his attacking force in one afternoon, crippling his army and setting it up for a knockout blow at Nashville two weeks later.

The Battle of Pickett's Mill documents the history this Dead-Line battle through firsthand accounts and sources from the Civil War era.

On May 27, 1864, Union forces under the command of William Tecumseh Sherman attacked Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston and his men at Pickett's Mill in Paulding County, Georgia. Following his defeat at New Hope Church, Sherman ordered Major General Oliver Howard to attack Johnston's flank, which Sherman believed to be exposed. But the Confederate soldiers were ready, and Sherman's supporting troops never arrived. What ensued was a battle that cost 2,100 lives and a defeat that Sherman left completely out of his memoirs. Author Brad Butkovich brings to life through personal letters, newspaper accounts and unit histories the battle that Union soldier and author Ambrose Bierce called the Dead-Line.

St. Louis was at the center of several key Civil War events from the Dred Scott decision through the Mississippi Campaign that cut the Confederate States in two. Visit the site from which enslaved people tried to cross the Mississippi River to the free state of Illinois. Discover how hundreds of lawsuits by enslaved people set the stage for the Dred Scott decision that lit the fuse to the Civil War. See the military base that produced over 200 Civil War generals and the arsenal that secessionists and unionists fought to control. Author Peter Downs goes behind the monuments and historic sites to explore the people, relationships and events that influenced the course of civil war in St. Louis and the nation.

The Battle of Brandy Station was the largest cavalry battle ever fought on North American soil. A must-read for Civil War and Virginia history enthusiasts.

Just before dawn on June 9, 1863, Union soldiers materialized from a thick fog near the banks of Virginia's Rappahannock River to ambush sleeping Confederates. The ensuing struggle, which lasted throughout the day and included some 20,500 soldiers, was to become known as the Battle of Brandy Station. By the end, Union casualties were 907 (69 killed, 352 wounded, and 486 missing, primarily captured) and Confederate losses totaled 523. Meticulously captured by historian, preservationist, and author Eric J. Wittenberg, these events marked a major turning point in the Civil War: the waning era of Confederate cavalry dominance in the East gave way to a confident and powerful Union mounted arm.

This fascinating volume features a GPS guided tour of the battlefield with illustrations and maps by master cartographer Steven Stanley.

In the Southern Appalachian Mountains, no character was more loved or despised than George W. Kirk.

This inured Union officer led a group of deserters on numerous raids between Tennessee and North Carolina in 1863, terrorizing Confederate soldiers and civilians alike. At Camp Vance in Morganton, Kirk's mounted raiders showcased guerrilla warfare penetrating deep within Confederate territory. As Home Guards struggled to keep Western North Carolina communities safe, Kirk's men brought fear and violence throughout the region for their ability to strike and create havoc without warning. Civil War historian Michael C. Hardy examines the infamous history of George W. Kirk and the Civil War along the Blue Ridge.

The South’s high command traveled dramatically divergent paths after the dissolution of the Confederacy.

Their professional reputations were often rewritten accordingly, as the rise of the Lost Cause ideology codified the deification of Lee and the vilification of James Longstreet. The irascible Jubal A. Early, Robert E. Lee’s “bad old man,” went to Canada after the war and remained an unreconstructed Rebel until his death. Lee became president of Washington College and urged reconciliation with the North. Braxton Bragg never found solid economic footing and remained mournful of slavery’s demise until his own, when a heart attack took him in Galveston.  Allie Povall shares the stories of nineteen of these former generals, touching briefly on their antebellum and wartime experiences before richly detailing their attempts to salvage livelihoods from the wreckage of America’s defining cataclysm.

On December 31, 1862, 16 men perished that stormy New Year's Eve when the USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, N.C.

The United States Navy's first ironclad warship rose to glory during the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, but there's much more to know about the USS Monitor. Historian John Quarstein has painstakingly compiled bits of historical data gathered through years of research to present the first comprehensive picture of the lives of the officers and crew who served faithfully in an iron ship unlike any vessel previously known.

The Monitor Boys, a moniker the men gave themselves, is a reflection of how these hundred-odd souls were bound together through storms, battles, boredom and disaster. Just living aboard the ironclad took uncommon effort and fortitude. Their perseverance through the heat, stress and unseaworthiness that defined life on the ship makes the study of those who dared it a worthy endeavor. Many recognized that they were part of history. Moreover, the Monitor Boys were agents in the change of naval warfare.

Following Quarstein's compelling narrative is a detailed chronology as well as appendices including crew member biographies, casualties and statistics and dimensions of the ship. Readers can dive into the world of the Monitor and meet William Flye, George Geer and the rest of the men who risked everything by going to sea in the celebrated cheesebox on a raft and became the hope of a nation wracked by war.