History / History by country / United States / Historical period / Civil War Period (1850-1877)

The Man Who Would Not Be Washington: Robert E. Lee's Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History

by Jonathan Horn – Scribner (January 06, 2015)

The “compelling…modern and readable perpective” (USA TODAY) of Robert E. Lee, the brilliant soldier bound by marriage to George Washington’s family but turned by war against Washington’s crowning achievement,...

Discovering the Civil War in Florida: A Reader and Guide

by Paul Taylor – Pineapple Press (October 01, 2012)

A chronicle of Civil War activity in Florida, both land and sea maneuvers. For each engagement the author includes excerpts from official government reports by officers on both sides of the battle lines. Also...

Statesmanship and Reconstruction: Moderate versus Radical Republicans on Restoring the Union after the Civil War

by Philip B. Lyons – Lexington Books (October 24, 2014)

This book examines how statesmanship in reconstruction could have spared the South some severe hardships after the Civil War. Despite the vast change in public opinion on race relations over the last nearly...

Designing Dixie: Tourism, Memory, and Urban Space in the New South

by Reiko Hillyer – University of Virginia Press (December 29, 2014)

Although many white southerners chose to memorialize the Lost Cause in the aftermath of the Civil War, boosters, entrepreneurs, and architects in southern cities believed that economic development, rather than...

Indiana's War: The Civil War in Documents

by Richard F. Nation & Stephen E. Towne – Ohio University Press (September 15, 2009)

Indiana's War is a primary source collection featuring the writings of Indiana's citizens during the Civil War era. Using private letters, official records, newspaper articles, and other original sources, the...

Kansas's War: The Civil War in Documents

by Pearl T. Ponce – Ohio University Press (January 28, 2011)

When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Kansas was in a unique position. Although it had been a state for mere weeks, its residents were already intimately acquainted with civil strife. Since its organization...

Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown

by Henry David Thoreau & Richard Francis F. – WestWinds Press (September 15, 2014)

This set of timeless essays from the quintessential American shares his valuable philosophies on nature, solitude, slavery, religion, politics, fulfilling work, civil responsibilities, and more. WALDEN, Thoreau's...

Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion

by Harold Holzer – Simon & Schuster (September 10, 2014)

“Lincoln believed that ‘with public sentiment nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.’ Harold Holzer makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Lincoln’s leadership by showing...

Captivity of the Oatman Girls

by Royal B. Stratton – Skyhorse (November 11, 2014)

A dramatic true story of captivity on the American frontier.

In 1851, on route to California in a covered wagon, the Oatman family was brutally attacked by Apache Indians. Six family members were murdered on...

Strange and Obscure Stories of the Civil War

by Tim Rowland & J.W. Howard – Skyhorse (September 01, 2011)

Strange and Obscure Stories of the Civil War is an entertaining look at the Civil War stories that don’t get told, and the misadventures you haven’t read about in history books. Share in all the humorous...

Historical Dictionary of Slavery and Abolition

by Martin A. Klein – Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (September 04, 2014)

This second edition relates the long and brutal history of slavery and the struggle for abolition using several key features:

• Chronology
• Introductory essay
• Appendixes
• Bibliography
• Over 500 cross-referenced entries...

Civil War Chicago: Eyewitness to History

by Theodore J. Karamanski & Eileen M. McMahon – Ohio University Press (July 01, 2014)

The American Civil War was a crucial event in the development of Chicago as the metropolis of the heartland. Not only did Chicagoans play an important role in the politics of the conflict, encouraging emancipation...

Rebel Yell

by S. C. Gwynne – Scribner (September 30, 2014)

Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the epic New York Times bestselling account of how Civil War general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson became a great and tragic national hero.

Stonewall Jackson...

After Lincoln

by A. J. Langguth – Simon & Schuster (September 16, 2014)

A brilliant evocation of the post-Civil War era by the acclaimed author of Patriots and Union 1812. After Lincoln tells the story of the Reconstruction, which set back black Americans and isolated the South...

Ohio's War: The Civil War in Documents

by Christine Dee – Ohio University Press (June 20, 2014)

In 1860, Ohio was among the most influential states in the nation. As the third-most-populous state and the largest in the middle west, it embraced those elements that were in concert-but also at odds-in American...

How We Elected Lincoln: Personal Recollections

by Abram J. Dittenhoefer & Kathleen Hall Jamieson – University of Pennsylvania Press (June 09, 2014)

In How We Elected Lincoln, originally published in 1916 and appearing now for the first time in paperback, we have the only firsthand account of Lincoln's political campaigns.

When Johnny Came Marching Home

by William Heffernan – Akashic Books (October 02, 2012)

A one-armed young Civil War veteran investigates the death of a troubled fellow soldier in 1860s Vermont and Virginia.

Buffalo Soldiers: The Colored Regulars in the United States Army

by T. G. Steward – Dover Publications (May 10, 2014)

This history by a chaplain of the Twenty-fifth Infantry includes firsthand accounts of the Spanish-American War as well as an overview of African-American contributions to prior wars and conflicts.

Military Memoirs of a Confederate

by Edward Porter Alexander – Skyhorse (May 06, 2014)

First published in 1907, Military Memoirs of a Confederate is regarded by many historians as one of the most important and dispassionate first-hand general accounts of the American Civil War. Unlike some other...

This Great Struggle: America's Civil War

by Steven E. Woodworth – Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (April 16, 2011)

Referring to the war that was raging across parts of the American landscape, Abraham Lincoln told Congress in 1862, "We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope on earth." Lincoln recognized what...

Grant Wins the War: Decision at Vicksburg

by James R. Arnold – Wiley (August 24, 2007)

Vicksburg is the key. . . . Let us get Vicksburg, and all that country is ours.--President Abraham Lincoln, 1862

In a brilliantly constructed and powerfully rendered new account, James R. Arnold offers a penetrating...

General Henry Lockwood of Delaware: Shipmate of Melville, Co-builder of the Naval Academy, Civil War Commander

by Colonel Lloyd J. Matthews – University of Delaware Press (April 01, 2014)

Based on a treasure trove of newly discovered information, General Henry Lockwood of Delaware: Shipmate of Melville, Co-builder of the Naval Academy, Civil War Commander offers the first comparative study of...

12 Years A Slave

by Solomon Northup – Canterbury Classics (March 17, 2014)

When Solomon Northup, born a free black man in Saratoga, New York, was offered a short-term job with a circus in Washington, D.C., in 1841, he jumped at the opportunity. But when he arrived, he was kidnapped...

Frederick Douglass on Slavery and the Civil War: Selections from His Writings

by Frederick Douglass – Dover Publications (February 03, 2012)

Selections of speeches and writings from the great abolitionist and statesman, focusing on the slave trade, the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, suffrage for African-Americans, Southern reconstruction, and other...

The Life and Times of Moses Jacob Ezekiel: American Sculptor, Arcadian Knight

by Peter Adam Nash – Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (March 01, 2014)

This first book-length study of Moses Ezekiel examines the life and historical context of the once celebrated, now little-known Jewish-American sculptor.

Twelve Years a Slave

by Solomon Northup – Dover Publications (February 22, 2014)

Now a major motion picture! Kidnapped into slavery in 1841, Northup spent 12 years in captivity. This autobiographical memoir represents an exceptionally detailed and accurate description of slave life and plantation...

Confederate Visions: Nationalism, Symbolism, and the Imagined South in the Civil War

by Ian Binnington – University of Virginia Press (November 15, 2013)

Nationalism in nineteenth-century America operated through a collection of symbols, signifiers citizens could invest with meaning and understanding. In Confederate Visions, Ian Binnington examines the roots...

Lighting Out for the Territory

by Roy Jr. Morris – Simon & Schuster (March 02, 2010)

In the very last paragraph of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the title character gloomily reckons that it’s time “to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest.” Tom Sawyer’s Aunt...

The Mind of the Negro As Reflected in Letters During the Crisis 1800-1860

by Carter G. Woodson & Bob Blaisdell – Dover Publications (September 05, 2013)

This treasury of hundreds of historically valuable letters features correspondence exchanged by African Americans and abolitionists. Contributors include slaves, freemen, and political and philosophical leaders,...

The Battle of Gettysburg: A Soldier's First-Hand Account

by Frank A., Col. Haskel – Dover Publications (April 06, 2012)

Vivid eyewitness accounts of the wounded, of skirmishes, attacks and counterattacks, estimates of losses, marks of battle, and burial of the dead. 2 maps.

A Short History of the Civil War: Ordeal by Fire

by Fletcher Pratt – Dover Publications (July 04, 2013)

Best one-volume history brings the events, figures, and battles of monumental conflict vividly to life. Absorbing details of military campaigns, battlefield strategies, and personalities revealed in an audacious...

Civil War Collector's Encyclopedia: Arms, Uniforms and Equipment of the Union and Confederacy

by Francis A. Lord – Dover Publications (June 26, 2013)

Indispensable reference identifies and describes more than 800 subjects, from artillery accoutrements to tools and patriotic sheet music. "A must-have book." — Antiques & Auction News. Over 350 rare illustrations....

Revised Regulations for the Army of the United States, 1861

by War Department – Dover Publications (June 26, 2013)

Wealth of authentic information on Union Army life includes details of military discipline, rank and command, arms, and more. A must for serious Civil War historians, buffs, and battle scene reenactors.

Confederate Lives: Soldiers and Statesmen

by Gamaliel Bradford – Dover Publications (February 21, 2013)

A distinguished historian offers portraits of 8 key figures — Johnston, Stuart, Longstreet, Beauregard, Semmes, Benjamin, Toombs, and Stephens — concluding with a survey of the Confederacy's "high water...

Lee the American

by Gamaliel Bradford – Dover Publications (February 15, 2012)

Sympathetic portrait of an enigmatic man who was a model of decorum and honor, a moderate on the issue of secession, and a fierce yet chivalrous soldier. 10 black-and-white illustrations.

The Capture of Atlanta and the March to the Sea: From Sherman's Memoirs

by William T Sherman – Dover Publications (February 21, 2013)

Highlights from the general's autobiography chronicle his blitzkrieg-styled march through the heart of the South in 1864 and reveal the theories that marked him as the first modern military strategist.

Army Life in a Black Regiment

by Thomas Wentworth Higginson – Dover Publications (May 11, 2012)

Union officer's lively, detailed wartime diary captures the raw humor that develops among the men in combat and paints unforgettable pictures of soldiers, routines of camp life, and southern landscapes.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

by Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas & Bob Blaisdell – Dover Publications (July 16, 2012)

Complete texts for all 7 debates between the incumbent Democratic senator from Illinois and the 1858 nominee of the infant Republican party, plus a major speech by each.

Abraham Lincoln

by Lord Charnwood – Dover Publications (August 08, 2012)

The stranger-than-fiction story of a self-taught backwoods lawyer's transformation into the savior of a nation. Well-researched, engaging biography, written in 1917 by an Englishman, was one of the first major...

Behind the Scenes in the Lincoln White House: Memoirs of an African-American Seamstress

by Elizabeth Keckley – Dover Publications (May 07, 2012)

A former slave who was a dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, Keckley witnessed the happy times as well as the tragic events that unfolded within the Lincoln White House.

Memoranda During the War: Civil War Journals, 1863-1865

by Walt Whitman & Bob Blaisdell – Dover Publications (February 15, 2012)

While serving as a volunteer at military hospitals, the poet recorded soldiers' anecdotes of army life, their last words and final messages, and his own reflections on the Civil War.

Recollections and Letters of Robert E. Lee

by Robert Edward Lee – Dover Publications (May 29, 2012)

This remarkable portrait of the idol of the Confederacy features personal reminiscences by his son as well as the general's letters to his family from the Mexican-American and Civil Wars.

True Tales of the South at War: How Soldiers Fought and Families Lived, 1861-1865

by Clarence Poe – Dover Publications (January 22, 2013)

Treasury of reminiscences includes battlefield correspondence, diary entries, journals kept on the homefront, stories told to children and grandchildren, more. Intimate, compelling record.

Civil War Hospital Sketches

by Louisa May Alcott – Dover Publications (February 09, 2012)

Written by the author of Little Women during the winter of 1862-63, these memoirs reveal the realities of battlefield medicine as well as the tentative first steps of women in military service.

History of the Civil War, 1861-1865

by James Ford Rhodes – Dover Publications (July 11, 2012)

1917 Pulitzer Prize–winner is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding studies — and first unbiased history — of the Civil War. "...very attractive volume." — American Historical Review. Notes....

Arms and Equipment of the Civil War

by Jack Coggins – Dover Publications (February 08, 2012)

From iron-clads, submarine torpedoes, and military balloons to pontoon bridges, grenades, and siege artillery, this excellent work describes what materiel was available to the armies and navies of both sides....

The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts

by William Still & Ian Finseth – Dover Publications (February 16, 2012)

From a "conductor" who assisted runaway slaves in their flight to freedom, here is a collection of letters, newspaper articles, and firsthand accounts about refugees' narrow escapes and deadly struggles. Over...

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

by Ulysses Simpson Grant – Dover Publications (February 08, 2012)

Intelligent, deeply moving firsthand account of Civil War campaigns, considered by many the finest military memoirs ever written. Includes Grant's letters to his wife, photographs by Mathew Brady, maps, more....

Great Speeches

by Abraham Lincoln – Dover Publications (April 06, 2012)

Masterly orations and letters. "House Divided" speech (1858), First Inaugural Address (1861), Gettysburg Address (1863), Letter to Mrs. Bixby (1864), Second Inaugural Address (1865), 11 others.

The Red Badge of Courage

by Stephen Crane – Dover Publications (March 23, 2012)

Amid the nightmarish chaos of a Civil War battle, a young soldier discovers courage, humility, and, perhaps, wisdom. Uncanny re-creation of actual combat. Enduring landmark of American fiction.