Bøger om År 1800 til 1850

"Cecily Zander's "The Army under Fire" addresses two essential questions about the Civil War and its aftermath. First, what was the extent of anti-militarism in the Civil War era, and who were its proponents? Second, what consequences did political opposition to the professional army have on the war, Reconstruction, and postbellum western expansion? Zander suggests that the principal promotors of an anti-army ideology were the members of the Republican Party-the same men charged with overseeing the Union war effort between 1861 and 1865, as well as the military reconstruction of the nation in the decade that followed the collapse of the Confederacy. While scholars have long appreciated the Republican Party's anti-slavery roots, this study is the first to argue that anti-slavery attitudes developed in concert with a visceral anti-army ideology. Zander's work contains several historiographical interventions in the fields of Civil War history, nineteenth-century political history, and the history of the American West. She suggests that the Republican Party advanced an anti-army political philosophy in tandem with their anti-slavery ideology. Over almost two decades, they stalled legislation supporting the army, cut military funding, and reduced the institution's size. Zander's work counters narratives of accelerated western expansion supported by a more powerful army after the Civil War. She also advances a revised timeline for Reconstruction, suggesting that Republicans rapidly reduced their interest in supporting that policy in the South via military force between 1870 and 1872, which means the party's ideological commitment to the national reunification project ended four years earlier than the traditional date of 1876. Historians interested in the middle decades of the nineteenth century are likely to find "Republicans and Regulars in the Civil War Era" worthy of attention, especially scholars invested in the debates surrounding the chronological and geographic reframing of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Because of the notoriety of many of the work's most important characters-from Jefferson Davis and William Seward to Thaddeus Stevens and Zachariah Chandler, as well as William Tecumseh Sherman, Phillip Sheridan, and Ulysses S. Grant-general readers are also likely to be interested in this study"--

"J. Matthew Ward's Garden of Ruins is a social and military history of Civil War-era Louisiana. Delving deep into primary sources, Ward examines military occupation and state coercion from Union and Confederate authorities, concluding that despite the revolutionary potential of occupation, it was a conservative state mechanism that replicated much of the antebellum social order in the state. He suggests that social stability during wartime, and ultimately victory itself, developed from the capacity of military powers to secure their territory, governing powers, and civilian populations. White and Black residents, in turn, pressed Union and Confederate powers for supplies, security, and redress of grievances. Union troops occupied southern Louisiana beginning in May 1862, expanding their reach for the remainder of the war. During that occupation, Union forces relied on a comprehensive occupation structure that included military actions, social regulations, destabilization of slavery, and the creation of a complex bureaucracy. Struggles between Union forces and civilians, Ward suggests, reveal how occupation became a war on southern households and culture. Before occupation and in unoccupied regions of Louisiana, he shows that little functional difference existed between Confederate governmental and military forces. By examining the coercive policies of the state's Confederate government alongside civilian efforts to patrol the loyalty of their communities, Ward concludes that the Confederate war effort was also a joint production, one that urges historians to consider warfare as more than battles and strategy-it was a social event that revealed the underlying connections between people and state. Garden of Ruins reveals the Civil War, state-building, and democracy itself as contingent processes through which Louisianans shaped the world around them. It also shows that power during the conflict and immediately afterward was a collaborative production between occupying military forces and civilians. Ward's study is certain to be of interest to historians and general readers interested in the Civil War homefront in Louisiana"--

In this compelling new study, Carol E. Harrison and Thomas J. Brown chart the rise and fall of the Zouave uniform, the nineteenth century's most important military fashion fad for men and women on both sides of the Atlantic. Originating in French colonial Algeria, the uniform was characterized by an open, collarless jacket, baggy trousers, and a fez. As Harrison and Brown demonstrate, the Zouaves embraced ethnic, racial, and gender crossing, liberating themselves from the strictures of bourgeois society. Some served as soldiers in Papal Rome, the United States, the British West Indies, and Brazil, while others acted in theatrical performances that combined drag and drill. Zouave Theaters analyzes the interaction of the stage and the military, and reveals that the Zouave persona influenced visual artists from painters and photographers to illustrators and filmmakers.

Military uniforms, badges, flags, and other material objects have been used to represent the identity of Americans throughout history. In The Fabric of Civil War Society, Shae Smith Cox examines the material culture of America's bloodiest conflict, offering a deeper understanding of the war and its commemoration. Cox's analysis traces the influence of sewn materials throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction as markers of power and authority for both the Union and the Confederacy. These textiles became cherished objects by the turn of the century, a transition seen in veterans replacing wartime uniforms with new commemorative attire and repatriating Confederate battle flags. Looking specifically at the creation of material culture by various commemoration groups, including the Grand Army of the Republic, the Woman's Relief Corps, the United Confederate Veterans, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Cox reveals the ways that American society largely accepted their messages, furthering the mission of their memory work. Through the lens of material culture, Cox sheds new light on a variety of Civil War topics, including preparation for war, nuances in relationships between Native American and African American soldiers, the roles of women, and the rise of postwar memorial societies.

" 'The Limits of the Lost Cause' is a collection of essays that challenge the prevailing ways of thinking about the impact of the Civil War on the American South. Foster's introduction provides a comprehensive overview of scholarship on the Lost Cause and Civil War memory that highlights the emergence of two ways of thinking about these topics: an older one, pioneered by C. Vann Woodward, that made a case for a southern identity shaped by defeat and guilt; and a more recent one, prevalent not only in current scholarship but in the press and public discussion, that suggests the South is still fighting the Civil War."--

Frank J. Wetta and Martin A. Novelli's Abraham Lincoln and Women in Film investigates how depictions of women in Hollywood motion pictures helped forge the myth of Lincoln. Exploring female characters' backstories, the political and cultural climate in which the films appeared, and the contest between the moviemakers' imaginations and the varieties of historical truth, Wetta and Novelli place the women in Lincoln's life at the center of the study, including his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln; his stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln; his lost loves, Ann Rutledge and Mary Owens; and his wife and widow, Mary Todd Lincoln. Later, while inspecting Lincoln's legacy, they focus on the 1930s child actor Shirley Temple and the 1950s movie star Marilyn Monroe, who had a well-publicized fascination with the sixteenth president. Wetta and Novelli's work is the first to deal extensively with the women in Lincoln's life, both those who interacted with him personally and those appearing on screen. It is also among the first works to examine how scholarly and popular biography influenced depictions of Lincoln, especially in film.

Most histories of wounded Civil War veterans construe them as feminized men whose manhood has suffered due to their inability to provide for and raise families or engage in business. Wounded for Life complicates this picture by examining how seven veterans-six soldiers and one physician-coped with their changed bodies in their postwar lives.Through these intimate stories, author Robert D. Hicks looks at the veteran's body as shaped by the trauma of the battlefield and hospital and the construction of a postwar identity in relation to that trauma. Through his research, he reveals the changing social circumstances of the late 19th and early 20th centuries as they impacted the traumatized veteran's body. This engaging book is equal parts Civil War history, disability and gender history, and the history of the body that discloses the impact of war on a wounded warrior.

Discover the incredible stories of twenty-nine Civil War soldiers from Washington County, Pennsylvania, as told by best-selling author Jim Douglas. With meticulous research, Jim has uncovered the complete story of the soldiers from this county who marched off to war, answering the call of patriotism.Through his book, Jim takes us on a fascinating journey, sharing the lives of these soldiers from their humble beginnings to their experiences on the battlefield, and their remarkable lives after the war. Jim reveals the struggles and triumphs of each soldier, and how their experiences shaped their lives and the lives of their descendants many of whom served in later conflicts.With hundreds of stunning images, many expertly hand-colored by the author, Jim brings these soldiers to life once more. Through his vivid retelling of their stories, we learn how some veterans were merely fun-loving scamps, while others led the life of a scoundrel, and some were true American heroes.Join us on this remarkable journey as we uncover the unvarnished truth of what these soldiers endured when they returned home. Let Jim's expert storytelling and powerful images transport you back to a pivotal moment in our nation's history, and experience the lives of these brave soldiers as if you were there. These are stories that deserve to be told.

Civil War Soldiers of Edgar County, Illinois: Harrison and William Nay tells the story of two brothers who served in the Civil War and wrote home to their sister from their places of duty. One was young, single, and a volunteer in 1862. The other was forty, married with six children and one on the way, when he was drafted in 1864. The younger was captured in the Battle of Chickamauga and spent nine months in Confederate prisons, finally dying of scurvy at Danville, Virginia. The older was drafted three months after his brother died in 1864 and served in the Army of the Cumberland participating in the Battles of Franklin and Nashville. With the end of the war in April 1865, the older brother was mustered out of the service and returned to his home in time to celebrate the Fourth of July. There he became a large and prosperous farmer until his death in 1898.This is also the story of their sister, Lucinda (Nay) Yowell and her descendants, who preserved the letters until they came to the attention of the author some 150 years later. The author presents this volume in recognition of the 158th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and in recognition of all the ordinary soldiers who have served "so that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."The author, Dr. W. Edward Rolison, is Professor Emeritus and former Head of the Department of the Social Sciences at Southwestern Oklahoma State University at Weatherford, where he taught political science and history for thirty-five years. He recently published On Democracy: Essays on Principles Fundamental to American Government and the 2020 Presidential Election (2023)."Old Abe is a hard man to work for and he pays his hands when he gets ready." --- Harrison Nay, December 26, 1862."Harriet informs me she is trying to get me a substitute. If she does, it would suit me very well as this is rather

At 4:00 a.m., April 12, 1861, Confederate Lt. Henry S. Farley, commanding a battery of two 10-inch siege mortars, fired the first shot at the Union garrison in Fort Sumter. The shell exploded above the fort, showering the deserted parade ground with fragments of hot iron. That one shell ushered in the bloody epic of the American Civil War. Seven-hundred-fity thousand men, perhaps more, were killed in battle, died from wounds, or from disease. In addition, 400,000 were wounded and many of those lived the rest of their lives with amputated arms and legs. Numerous others battled post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological maladies. Four months after personally witnessing the sweeping rout of the Yankee army at Bull Run, Congressman James B. McKean of Saratoga Springs, New York, issued a circular to his constituents calling for the formation of the Bemis Heights Battalion, subsequently designated the 77th New York State Volunteer Infantry. Electrified by the spirit of patriotism that swept through Saratoga like a wildfire, and the determination to join in the fight to put down the "unholy rebellion," twenty-one-year-old Luther Miller Wheeler offered his aid to B.F. Judson of The Saratogian newspaper in recruiting a company for the regiment, despite his mother's severe misgivings. She fervently sought to dissuade Luther from "taking any steps which should separate him from her, for he was dearer to her than her own life." But to his mother's forceful protestations, Wheeler invariably replied, "Someone has got to go to help put down this rebellion and I am not better than anyone else that I should be excused." His mother reluctantly relented only when he firmly declared, "You must give me up, as I have given myself up." I Think I Shall See a Hundred Battles is a compilation with commentary of the Civil War letters Luther M. Wheeler. His war correspondence entailed letters to his mother, brothers Frank and Wendell, and his sister Abigail. In his letters, Luther boasted of his robust health and fitness for military life and eagerly sought promotion to higher rank. He wrote of military life, Northern politics, Union war strategy, the courage and bravery of the Confederate soldier, the carnage of battle and aftermath, the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery and contrabands, Army commanders, and struggled with the role of Providence in the war. Wheeler also eagerly sought news from home, especially of his friends doings and who was courting whom. Luther Wheeler mustered into service September 24, 1861, commissioned as first lieutenant. April 12, 1862, he was promoted to captain of company C. Wheeler saw battle during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and 2nd Fredericksburg in 1863. His last letter was written May 2, 1863, to his mother. The next day, the Union VI Corps charged up Marye's Heights. In Albion Howe's division, the 77th New York assaulted the portion of Marye's Heights at Telegraph Hill. Leading his men up the hill, Luther was mortally wounded, dying a few hours later. His death was a terrible loss for the officers and men of the regiment. More than 2,000 mourners witnessed the committal service for burial at Greenridge Cemetery. Col. McKean offered the final words: "Captain Wheeler! My heroic young friend, you have not died in vain. The flag of your country is going on to victory. The dear country for which you paid the price of your precious life shall yet be saved. No, you have not died in vain."

A biographical accounting of a Civil War Union Soldier. The book contains actual diary entries and letters written during the war along with historical photos. The writings found within the book will show the pain and turmoil that a Civil War soldier had to endure during that period in American history. It is compiled and written by his great, great grandson.

"The Mexican War brought vast new territories to the United States, which precipitated a growing crisis over slavery. The new territories seemed unsuitable for the type of agriculture that depended on slave labor, but they lay south of the line where slavery was permitted by the 1820 Missouri Compromise. The subject of expanding slavery to the new territories became a flash point between North and South."--

An influential yet controversial naval officer who played key roles in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars through unconventional methods and secretive operations.Quicksilver Captain is the story of Sir Home Popham (1762-1820), an extraordinary and under-appreciated personality of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Popham was a bundle of highly unusual contradictions. He achieved the rank of post-captain without a ship; he was more often employed by the War Department than by the Admiralty; and, as an expert in combined operations, he spent almost as much time serving on shore as at sea. In just over 25 years as a naval officer, Popham acted as an agent for transports, an unofficial diplomat, an intelligence officer, a Member of Parliament, an acclaimed hydrographer, a scientist and inventor, a publicist, and a government adviser, among many other roles.Popham's career was literally as well as figuratively amphibious. So was his personality. Popham's well-known past as an illicit private trader, as well as his notorious lack of scruples, marred his reputation. People meeting him for the first time did not know what to make of him: 'He seems a pleasant man, but a dasher.' He fully understood the importance of communication and is best known for inventing a signal code that the Royal Navy used for decades. When he died, he left reams of correspondence behind him. But he also understood that words could either obfuscate or illuminate the truth, and his genius for twisting the facts to suit his own purposes made him an unreliable narrator. Many contemporaries distrusted and loathed him; after his court martial in 1807 for attacking Buenos Aires without orders (he escaped with a reprimand), many of his naval peers refused outright to serve with him again. And yet, even his greatest critics could not deny his abilities. One of his fellow naval captains wrote what could have been his epitaph: 'He is an extraordinary man, and would have been a great man, had he been honest.'Quicksilver Captain paints a portrait of an ambitious man who built a career based on secrets and shadows. Popham's direct line to important patrons like William Pitt and Henry Dundas allowed him to play a role far beyond that of an ordinary post-captain. His ideas for using Britain's naval might for imperial defense and expanding British trade, as well as his knowledge of combined operations, made him the politicians' go-to expert. They wanted results, no matter what the cost, and Popham's willingness to play dirty - using bribery, threats, and experimental weaponry - appealed to them. In return, they protected him from his many foes, although in the end, they could not save him from his worst enemy - himself.

Let the Men Cross tells the story of the battle that Wellington's biographer Elizabeth Longford called 'Wellington's greatest adventure'. Sir Arthur Wellesley, soon to be Lord Wellington, took a combined army to Portugal's second city, fighting an offensive battle on the slopes of Grijo before maneuvering into the great trading city of Porto. The city was then liberated in a daring amphibious crossing, in wine barges, right under the eyes of the French forces.In the Spring of 1809, the fate of Portugal, and therefore of the Peninsular War, hung in the balance. France occupied most of Portugal and Spain, with only a few areas holding out. Sir Arthur Wellesley returned to command the Anglo-Portuguese field army, with large forces arrayed against him. One such large corps was commanded by Maréchal Jean-de-Dieu Soult, who had captured Porto and was busy ransacking what had once flourished as one of Europe's greatest wine trading centers.Wellesley took the initiative, marching his army north towards Porto, encountering a French vanguard holding the heights of Grijo. In the reverse to his reputation of holding the high ground, his forces attacked up these slopes over a two-day combat. Grijo allowed Wellesley's troops to enter the southern parts of Porto, near the wine trading quaysides. Soult had ordered all boats to be destroyed to prevent any crossing and felt falsely confident on the north bank.Wellesley sent out an exploring officer, an early intelligence expert, who found a priest, a barber, and wine barges. Together, they piloted the vessels to Wellesley's position. The British troops nearest, led by the 3rd Regiment of Foot, 'The Buffs', climbed into the wine barges and crossed the mighty Douro River to liberate the city, where they faced multiple French counter-attacks.Porto was one of the most daring offensive actions the soon-to-be Lord Wellington undertook. This risk enabled the liberation of Porto for relatively light British casualties, but one that showed a daring operation, the likes of which are rarely seen in the Napoleonic era.

A detailed narrative of Wellington's first Peninsular campaign, using primary sources to cover battles, diplomacy, and the liberation of Portugal from French occupation.So Just and Glorious a Cause is a highly detailed narrative of Wellington's first campaign in the Peninsula. Using memoirs, letters, and previously unpublished primary sources, it covers events from Junot's invasion in late 1807 to the Portuguese revolts in the summer of 1808, and then the sailing of the British expedition and the battles of Roliça and Vimeiro, through to the controversial Convention of Cintra and the liberation of Portugal from the French.In 1807, with most of Europe under his control, Napoleon looked towards the Iberian Peninsula, hoping to complete his hegemony and extend his reach to South America. He sent one of his most loyal generals, Jean-Andoche Junot, with 25,000 men, to conquer Portugal. The Portuguese had long been caught in the middle between Britain and France. Faced with an invasion he had little hope of preventing, the Prince Regent fled to Brazil, assisted by a Royal Navy squadron, and let his country be occupied.In the summer of 1808, with the rebellion of the Spanish and Portuguese people spreading across the Peninsula, Britain sent an expedition to liberate Portugal under Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington. Still a relatively junior and unknown commander, Wellesley fought an aggressive and successful campaign. He defeated the French first at Roliça and then at Vimeiro but was prevented from sealing his victory by the arrival of more senior officers. The French negotiated generous terms in the Convention of Cintra and were evacuated back to France, ending their occupation of Portugal.So Just and Glorious a Cause makes extensive use of primary sources from all levels of the French, Portuguese and British forces involved, many of them previously unpublished. The terrible forced marches of the French troops as they crossed the border into Portugal, the frenzied diplomatic efforts in Lisbon, the subsequent brutal occupation, and the Royal Navy blockade are all examined, as well as Vice Admiral Cotton's efforts to fan the flames of revolt in Portugal and offer support for the uprisings. The French, Portuguese and British forces are analyzed in detail, as are the logistical challenges of Wellesley's campaign. The narratives of the first skirmish at Obidos and then the battles of Roliça and Vimeiro are constructed from first-hand accounts from both sides, and many misconceptions about each action are addressed. Finally, numerous myths surrounding the controversial Convention of Cintra are tackled, including Wellesley's part in the negotiations."One of the most eagerly awaited books on the Peninsular War for years." - Rory Muir, author of Wellington and Britain & the Defeat of Napoleon 1807-1815"Robert Griffith's book is a masterful blend of scholarly rigor and engaging narrative. It meticulously dissects the strategic, operational, and tactical dimensions of Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington's, first campaign in the Peninsula. Drawing upon an impressive range of archival documents, letters, diaries, and memories, it presents a nuanced understanding of the challenges the British army faced as it embarked on what proved to be a crucial theater of the Napoleonic Wars. A must-read for anyone interested in the Napoleonic Wars!" - Alexander Mikaberidze, author of The Napoleonic Wars and Kutuzov

A gripping memoir of a Swedish soldier's journey through the Napoleonic Wars, offering vivid tales of camaraderie, battles, and historic events.A Swedish Soldier in the Napoleonic Wars is an important and rare memoir by a low-ranking officer. It contains lively anecdotes and stories of soldiers, commanders, and life on campaign from 1808 to 1814 in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and North Germany. Available for the first time in English, it provides a new perspective of little-known actions, small by the standards of continental Europe, but vital to our understanding of Sweden's part in the war.In 1808, at the age of 18 and whilst a student at Linköping High School, Carl Magnus Hultin enlisted as a junior officer in the militia, answering the call-to-arms in the nation's efforts to stem the Russian tide before Finland was lost. He then transferred to the regular army as an ensign in the Jönköping Regiment. He took part in the ill-fated Västerbotten expedition against the Russians on Swedish soil in 1809 and witnessed the 1809 coup d'etat to remove the unpopular King Gustav IV Adolf. Following the 'phoney' war with Britain 1811-1812, he served in Mecklenberg, Holstein and Belgium against France and Denmark in the 1813-1814 campaign under Napoleon's former Maréchal Bernadotte, who had been elected as Sweden's Crown Prince. Finally, he participated in the 1814 Norwegian campaign that saw the Union of Norway and Sweden, which lasted until 1905. He remained in the army after the war, retiring as a captain in 1842.Very late in life, he was persuaded to set down his memoirs, which were published in 1872. Two separate editions of the book were reprinted in Sweden in 1954 and 1955 with minimal editing after the expiry of the copyright 70 years after the author's death. The editor's preface to the 1954 edition noted, 'The present volume is ... unique to the extent that it may constitute the only document of literary value from our history of war', whilst the 1955 editor noted 'the account ... was greatly acclaimed' and that Hultin's friends were 'much entertained by his lively, sometimes rather burlesque tales about military life both on and off campaign.'This translation, by a descendent of Captain Hultin, includes extensive explanatory notes together with maps and illustrations to support the narrative.

Details Russia's 1812 defense against Napoleon, covering key figures, battles, and operational details, enhanced with maps and critiques.The Russian Patriotic War of 1812 is the only publicly available translation into English of Bogdanovich's official history of the Russian forces' involvement in the fight against Napoleon and his allies in Russia in 1812. This translation also includes extracts from Ivan Liprandi's critique of Bogdanovich's work.Volume 2 of The Russian Patriotic War of 1812 covers Kutuzov's appointment as Field Marshal, details of the opolchenie (militia) and donations made in 1812, the meeting in Abo between Tsar Alexander I and the Crown Prince of Sweden (Jean- Baptiste Jules Bernadotte), and the situation in enemy occupied territory. Highly detailed descriptions of operations are included, from before the Battle of Borodino to the camp at Tarutino, as well as operations on the flanks by Wittgenstein and Admiral Chichagov. Outstanding feats were performed not only by prominent personalities but also by others who participated in this war. The composition of the forces are shown as clearly as possible, as are force numbers, casualties on each side, and so on. The maps attached to this work were drafted in such a way that they might serve to explain entire phases of the war. The battle plans show the locations of dominant terrain according to detailed state surveys, while villages, forests and roads have been copied from previously published plans.

Publishing for the first time in English, this volume includes details of actions and exploits by Russian soldiers almost unknown outside of Russia.The Russian Patriotic War of 1812 is the only publicly available translation into English of Bogdanovich's official history of the Russian forces' involvement in the fight against Napoleon and his allies in Russia in 1812. This translation also includes extracts from Ivan Liprandi's critique of Bogdanovich's work.Volume 1 of The Russian Patriotic War of 1812 includes the causes of the war and an account of the operational planning by Russian forces for their retreat from the borders into the Empire, dispelling the myth of the non-existence of any premeditated plan. The logistics of the forces on both sides are examined, along with highly detailed descriptions of the operations from Russia's western borders to beyond Smolensk and operations on the northern and southern flanks. Outstanding feats were performed not only by prominent personalities but also by others who participated in this war. The composition of the forces are shown as clearly as possible, as are force numbers, casualties on each side, and so on. The maps attached to this work were drafted in such a way that they might serve to explain entire phases of the war. The battle plans show the locations of dominant terrain according to detailed state surveys, while villages, forests and roads have been copied from previously published plans.

An impassioned and timely exploration of Abraham Lincoln's long-time rivalry--and eventual alliance--with Stephen Douglas. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas are a misunderstood duo. History remembers them as antagonists, and for most of the years the two men knew each other, they were. In the 1830s, they debated politics around the stove in the back of Joshua Speed's store in Springfield, Illinois. In the 1850s, they disagreed over the Kansas-Nebraska Act and debated slavery as opponents for a Senate seat. In 1860, they both ran for president. Lincoln and Douglas ended as allies, though, against the greatest threat--slavery--that our country has ever faced. When Douglas realized he was going to lose the 1860 election, he stopped campaigning for himself and went South to persuade the slave states to accept Lincoln as president. After that effort failed, and the newly formed Confederate States of America bombed Fort Sumter, Douglas met with Lincoln to discuss raising an army. The story of how Lincoln and Douglas put aside their rivalry to work together for the preservation of the Union has important lessons for our time. We have just been through a presidential election where the loser refused to concede defeat, with violent consequences. Not only did Douglas accept his loss, he spent the final days of his campaign barnstorming the country to build support for his opponent's impending victory, setting aside his long-held desire for the presidency for the higher principle of national unity.

"From the bestselling author of The Indispensables, the unknown and dramatic story of irregular guerrilla warfare that altered the course of the Civil War and inspired the origins of America's modern special operations forces. The Civil War is most remembered for the grand battles that have come to define it: Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh, among others. However, as bestselling author Patrick K. O'Donnell reveals in The Unvanquished, a vital shadow war raged amid and away from the major battlefields that was in many ways equally consequential to the conflict's outcome. At the heart of this groundbreaking narrative is the epic story of Lincoln's special forces, the Jessie Scouts, told in its entirety for the first time. In a contest fought between irregular units, the Scouts hunted John Singleton Mosby's Confederate Rangers from the middle of 1863 up to war's end at Appomattox. With both sides employing pioneering tradecraft, they engaged in dozens of raids and spy missions, often perilously wearing the other's uniform, risking penalty of death if captured. Clashing violently on horseback, the unconventional units attacked critical supply lines, often capturing or killing high-value targets. North and South deployed special operations that could have changed the war's direction in 1864, and crucially during the Appomattox Campaign, Jessie Scouts led the Union army to a final victory. They later engaged in a history-altering proxy war against France in Mexico, earning seven Medals of Honor; many Scouts mysteriously disappeared during that conflict, taking their stories to their graves. An expert on special operations, O'Donnell transports readers into the action, immersing them in vivid battle scenes from previously unpublished firsthand accounts. He introduces indelible characters such as Scout Archibald Rowand; Scout leader Richard Blazer; Mosby, the master of guerrilla warfare; and enslaved spy Thomas Laws. O'Donnell also brings to light the Confederate Secret Service's covert efforts to deliver the 1864 election to Peace Democrats through ballot fraud, election interference, and attempts to destabilize a population fatigued by a seemingly forever war. Most audaciously, the Secret Service and Mosby's Rangers planned to kidnap Abraham Lincoln in order to maintain the South's independence. The first full chronicle of the shadow war between North and South, rich in action and offering original perspective on history, The Unvanquished is a dynamic and essential addition to the literature of the Civil War"--

This book details the campaigns of Louis-Gabriel Suchet in the Peninsular War. The only one of Napoleon's marshals to earn his baton in Spain, Suchet conquered Aragon, Lower Catalonia, and Valencia in a string of brilliant sieges and battles against both Spanish regular and guerrilla forces.

Examines Wellington's campaign of 1811 in the Peninsular War.

A register of memorials to British and Allied soldiers who served in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo.

A collection of essays that reveals the reality of war behind the pageantry of the American Civil War

Love and the Working Class is a unique look at the emotions of hard-living, racially diverse nineteenth-century Americans who were often on the cusp of literacy. Wrongly assumed to be inarticulate on paper, these laboring folk highly valued letters and, however difficult it was, wrote to stay connected to those they loved.

The subject of the War Between the States, as it pertained to Jackson County, Texas, and the story of the Confederacy, and its quest for independence, was one which provided ample grist from which a romance writer might glean the bountiful harvest of an inspired story. The conflict itself was not over emancipation of the slaves, though that event was a result of the war, but over different systems of economy: one commercial and industrial, the other largely agricultural. America had become two peoples, one seeking dominion over all peoples and all things, the other contented with the blessings bestowed by the good earth. Though the two peoples were joined by a written constitution, a numerical majority of one section imposed protective tariffs on the imports of the other. Tariffs are a bounty to one, a burden to the other. Tariffs have the effect of levying an unequal, and therefore unconstitutional, tax on the consumer. It is scarcely necessary to add that, although the romance is entirely imaginary, the author has naturally drawn upon his experiences and observations during the war, both in Jackson County, Texas, and while marching with his regiment, the Second Texas Infantry, C.S.A., in Tennessee and Mississippi.