Bøger af Gene Schmiel

Harriet Tubman. Clara Barton. Sojourner Truth. Harriet Beecher Stowe. These and many other women were important actors who had a significant influence on the United States during the Civil War. At the time they and their fellow female trailblazers were underestimated because of the social norms of the era. But over time they came to be seen as indispensable in many fields, not only nursing, but also, strangely enough, espionage. Their actions were critical in changing the mindset of the nation as to the worth and role of women, and it would never be the same.This book contains 50 short biographies of these influential women, including their pictures and additional contemporary artifacts, from pictures of the hospitals at which they worked to battlefield where they fought, frequently disguised as men.This book is the fourth in the series "Civil War Personalities, 50 At a Time," and it focuses on the half of of the population few would have even considered as important before the war began. But the Civil War changed literally every aspect of American life, including relations between the sexes. This book will show you how and why that happened, and it will also, through the list of books for further reading, allow you to pursue further information. Enjoy the trip!

Missouri was the site of some of the most vicious internecine fighting during the Civil War, and this book introduces the reader to the 50 key men and women who created (and quelled) that chaos; stemmed (or exacerbated) the tide of secessionism; kept the state in the Union, and bloodied (or calmed) its streets and reputation. Missouri became a focus of the issues involved in the Civil War long before it was fought. The 1820 Missouri Compromise was the first of several efforts to resolve sectional conflicts and divisions. But as would be seen, the addition of new territories from the Mexican War re-opened these contentious issues. Inevitably Missouri, a state where both abolitionists and slaveholders resided, would be a scene of significant conflict before, during, and after the Civil War. That in turn inexorably led to fighting by brother against brother throughout the war. The formal decision by Missouri to stay in the Union was settled in 1861 after a few battles. But efforts by Confederates, including vicious nihilists like William Quantrill, Bill Anderson, and Sterling Price, to force the state into the rebellion continued. The result was a parallel state-wide and region-wide civil war complete with violence and guerrilla warfare perhaps unparalleled anywhere else. The people described in this book all "rose to the occasion" of a period of conflict and crisis, though in many different ways. They are the people who made Missouri what it was for most of the 19th century, and their legacy continues. For all too many, like Quantrill and the James brothers, that legacy is of violence and evil. But men like Mark Twain and Dred Scott are memorable figures of renown and fame.

Lincoln and Harriet Tubman. Sherman and Frederick Douglass. Matthew Brady and John Wilkes Booth. These and 44 other significant Civil War era personalities are featured in this book. In short essays, the author explains why and how each individual was either a trailblazer or a troublemaker -- or sometimes both! (Mark Twain was one of those!!). By adding to each short essay contemporary photographs, political cartoons, and placards, the author hoped to elucidate to both the general reader and the Civil War "buff" how these men and women changed the face and flow of history. You will know many of these people, as noted above. But you will also learn about other significant personalities who made a difference: Clara Barton, the "Angel of the Battlefield;" Jonathan Letterman, the "Father of Battlefield Medicine;" Thaddeus Lowe and his military observation balloons; Richard Gatling and his infamous gun; Rose Greenhow, Confederate spy; and Henry Hunt, the artillery genius who destroyed "Pickett's charge. And many others. In a final section you will learn about the anonymous trailblazers of the era, the nurses, the telegraph operators, the military bands, the drummer boys, and many others. We don't know their names, but we have their images to look at, thanks to the magnificent holdings of the Library of Congress. Whether you know very little or a great deal about the Civil War, you will learn a great deal from this book. The author guarantees that as you read, after almost every page you will say, "I didn't know that!" Enjoy!

There is a "new Civil War" debate over who should be honored in Congress's Statuary Hall, and this is the first book ever to look at the issues revolving around the Civil War and relevant honorees in the U.S. Capitol building. At a time when monuments are coming down in Statuary Hall and elsewhere, and when the names of military bases honoring Confederate Generals are going to be changed, it is particularly apt. In 1864, during the Civil War, Congress passed legislation giving each state and the District of Columbia carte blanche to place statues of two of its honored citizens in the Capitol Building. Including the "Statue of Freedom," which was placed atop the Capitol Dome in 1863, this book describes the background of 50 men and women (and one allegorical figure) from the Civil War era who have been so honored. Each short biography includes a picture of the person's statue and a relevant bit of information, e/g/ a map where the person fought a battle to a political cartoon about their career. At a time when Confederate statues like that of Robert E. Lee in Statuary Hall and elsewhere are being removed throughout the nation, this book will help the reader understand both who has been honored and why, as well as why some of the statues are being replaced. Some states have already replaced men who were honored in years past. Lee is only the latest. Jabez Curry, an Alabama Confederate, was replaced in 2009 by Helen Keller. George Washington Glick of Kansas was replaced in 2003 by President Dwight Eisenhower. In other cases, state legislatures have voted to replace statues, but a lack of funding has stalled the replacement process. This book provides an update. Over the next few years it is certain that there will active public debate about replacing more of the current honorees from the Civil War era. The author is pleased to contribute to the process of gathering information for that debate via this book, the sixth in his series, "Civil War Personalities, 50 At a Time." For those interested in more details about the capitol, its history, and other books, see the web-site of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, https: //uschs.org/

Unsung Heroes win wars, resolve problems, and make improvements in society, but no one really knows who they are. That was certainly the case in the Civil War. Everyone knows that Lincoln and Grant won the war, but they had hundreds upon hundreds of others behind them who made it happen in many ways. General Montgomery Meigs made sure that Union soldiers had the equipment, weapons, and food to fight the war. Gustavus Fox spearheadead the naval effort. Elizabeth Van Lew ran a spy network which provided critical intelligence. Charles Francis Adams's diplomatic efforts kept the British from recognizing the Confederacy. Jay Cooked used his financial and salesmanship wizardry to sell bonds to finance the Union effort.On the other hand, those who supported the Confederacy could point to Ordnance expert General Josiah Gorgas, Bomb-making expert Gilbert Rains, and Admiral Raphael Semmes and his commerce raiders as the men who kept the insurgency afloat longer than it might have.This book also features people who were not necessarily heroes, but who contributed to the welfare of the nation. Sister Anthony led a huge coterie of nuns who acted as nurses in hospitals. George Sharpe created the most efficient intelligence network before the CIA. Abraham Galloway led a black insurgency inside the system and outside the system to highlight the struggle for equality.The book contains essays on 50 people chosen to be representative of behind the scenes actors. They were all essential and the war would have been extremely different without them. Enjoy reading about them and their heroics!

Virginia's reputation as the most important and influential state began during the American Revolution. Virginians like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson led the way toward independence. Four of the first five presidents were Virginians. The nation looked to Virginia as its intellectual touchstone; and Virginians looked upon themselves as a key unifying link between North and South, even as sectionalism grew in the mid-19th century. When the secession crisis reached its peak after Lincoln's 1860 election, Virginians were active in searching for ways to avoid Civil War. The state's legislators were at first disinclined to secede, in great part because sentiment among voters was divided. It was only after the attack on Fort Sumter and Lincoln's call for volunteers to put down the rebellion that Virginia voted to secede. Even then the vote was subject to a statewide referendum. And whereas the referendum in May 1861 endorsed the secession decision, it also led to a decision by anti-secession western Virginians to begin the process to, in effect, "secede from the secession." The result was the division of Virginia into two via the creation of the state of West Virginia.The four years of Civil War, 1861-5, saw Virginians take leadership roles on both sides. Virginian Winfield Scott was the Union's General-in-Chief, and Virginian Robert E. Lee would be the same for the Confederacy. Virginian Francis Pierpont would lead the effort to create West Virginia, and Virginian Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson would fight valiantly to hold the allegiance of that region for the Confederacy. This book takes a look at those people and 46 others who played key roles in many fields during the war. The historical influence of Virginia likely multiplied their influence and example as they engaged in the "American Iliad." Like their counterparts whom I discussed in Civil War Ohioans, they were difference-makers. In many cases we are still dealing with their legacies.

RE-FIGHTING THE CIVIL WAR!? FROM MY MUSINGS AND REFLECTIONS ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR TO YOURS! The debate about the causes, nature, results, and meaning of the Civil War goes on and on. This book is not written as part of that debate, nor is it an attempt to be a comprehensive look at every element of the war. Rather, through my thought-provoking musings and reflections, I hope to bring about reconsideration of certain elements of the war, not for the purpose of debate, but to have the reader, too, muse and reflect. Based on my half century of studying the war, the book contains a sampling of the blogs I have written over the last few years on my web-site, https: //civilwarhistory-geneschmiel.com . In them I have commented about a wide variety of topics, from major military decisions to Civil War pets and everything in-between. Each time I have attempted to elucidate a particular point or two and thereby to bring to the reader's attention aspects of the war which he might have not considered and to encourage him to ponder about them. The photos, maps, etc. which accompany each item are designed to reinforce that objective. If, after reading each item in this book, the reader says to himself, "that deserves further thought," then I will have achieved my objective. Enjoy!

A unique re-telling of the The Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864, through the lives and eyes of three Ohioans who were the heroes of that crucial Union army victory. The Battle of Franklin was the final test of both the strength of the Union army in the West and the notion that a Napoleonic-style frontal infantry attack was the best tactic for Civil War military success. This book describes these events through the words of three Ohio heroes, while thereby giving the reader a full understanding of how these events played out and how the war affected them and their lives irrevocably. The Union army passed its test that day, in great part due to the leadership and heroism of three Ohioans: Generals Jacob Cox, Emerson Opdycke, and Jack Casement. Cox ordered the creation of an impenetrable bulwark of breastworks against the infantry charge ordered by Confederate commander, General John Bell Hood. The bulwark succeeded, and it was only breached because of human error and misjudgment. Cox, Opdycke, and Casement rose to the occasion to seal the breach and ensure Union victory.The notion that frontal infantry attacks could be successful failed the test that day. As at Chickamauga, the Confederate forces were successful for a time because of the human error by Union subordinates at Franklin. But unlike at Chickamauga, the attack ultimately failed due to the heroism of those three Ohioans. The Confederate Army of Tennessee was devastated at the Battle of Franklin. It was finally overwhelmed and obliterated two weeks later at the Battle of Nashville, and the war in the West was effectively over. However, most historians agree that it was the Battle of Franklin that tore the heart out of the rebel army in the West.

Lincoln once said that whenever he heard that Ohio generals and troops were involved in a battle, he felt confident of victory. Perhaps that's why he surrounded himself with Ohioans in the civilian and military leadership. Many of the men pictured on the cover of this book, Grant, Sherman, Stanton, Chase, and Sheridan, Buckeyes all, were the key actors in the victory of the Union. There were also a few Ohio civilians who made a difference. These include not only the wartime governors, all unionist Democrats, but also one Catholic nun who became a nursing legend. And, of course, one cannot forget the Ohio Copperheads, especially Clement Vallandigham, who were a thorn in Lincoln's side, and the Ohio men who fought for the Confederacy.This book looks at 50 of these men and women, Buckeyes all, who made a difference in the "American Iliad." It is the seventh in my series, and I hope you will enjoy it.

Jesse James, George Custer, Napoleon III, Ambrose Bierce, Phil Sheridan. These and 45 other "characters" were Rogues, Rascals, and/or Rapscallions -- and sometimes all three!! -- during the Civil War era who you will learn about in this book. Every war has strange bedfellows. It brings forth the best and the worst in a society, and it certainly accelerates the appearance and impact of Rogues, Rascals, and Rapscallions. The Civil War was no exception. These are the people who are memorable during a conflict, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad.In writing this book, I have used the following definitions: Rogue: one who acts outside normal parameters;.Rascal: mean, unprincipled, or dishonest person; Rapscallion: ne'er do-well, extreme rascal.But, and this is a critical point for the reader to understand, some of the people I categorize as "rogues" did have a positive impact, even though they were persons who, as the definition notes, acted "outside normal parameters." These are the "positive rogues." Custer, Sheridan, and several others fit in this category.At the same time, there are some other characters in this book who have no redeeming features. Jesse James, William Quantrill, and others fit into that group.Of course, these are the author's judgments about these people. Further, there are certainly more than 50 who might be written about. All the other characters I write about fit in between, like most human beings a combination of the good and the bad. I have presented each character via a short 2-3 page essay, their picture from the era, contemporary images, including political cartoons, modern maps, and suggested additional books to read. After reading about each person, I hope you will say, "I didn't know that," and look for further information, using the books I have recommended and others. In the end, as a result, the process of learning about the American Civil War, the "American Iliad" will accelerate. I am pleased to be able to help continue that process with this and my other books.

CIVIL WAR POLITICAL GENERALS WERE KEY TO THE SUCCESSES OF BOTH SIDESWhen the Civil War began, the North and the South took different approaches to creating their armies. In the Union, General-in-Chief Winfield Scott decided to create what would be called the "U.S. Volunteers." Having experienced difficulties in the Mexican War with volunteers at all levels, Scott did not want to repeat the experience. He reasoned that the war would not last long and that an additional 25,000 men added to the regular army would suffice to do all the fighting. Volunteers could guard the rivers and facilities, but little else. The Confederacy, having benefited from the resignation from the army of hundreds of officers and men, created a unified army from whole cloth. President Jefferson Davis used his military background and experience to form an army almost entirely of volunteers. No formal distinction was made between "regulars" and "volunteers," although the several private military academies of the South, e.g. VMI, as well as West Point, supplied a well-trained military leadership. But West Pointers would be given all major commands. By the end of the war, over 3 million men wore the two uniforms, the Blue and the Grey. Hundreds of those men were general officers, men who had responsibility for commanding thousands of men in combat. The great generals on both sides, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Lee, Longstreet, Johnston, are well known. They were all West Point graduates and professional soldiers. There were also many near-great generals who were not professional soldiers. They were the so-called "Political Generals." But few other than Joshua Chamberlain, Patrick Cleburne, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and John Logan are well-remembered. That is partly due to the fact that few non-West Pointers ever had major commands. Also, the stereotypical image of bumbling "Political Generals" remains strong in Civil War circles. This book will introduce (or re-introduce) the reader to 50 of these "Political Generals," men who did not graduate from West Point. I have chosen 25 from each side and given the reader an introduction to their achievements, successes, and failures. After reading my short essays and following up with the "further reading" I have included with each item, the reader can then make up his own mind about these men., Further, I hope and trust you the reader will gain a fuller understanding of the nature and abilities of the more aptly-named "Citizen-Generals" in the American Civil War.

"Most of the letters in this collection are to Cox's wife, Helen. This volume's editor, Gene Schmiel, wrote a well-regarded biography of Cox in 2014. In 2012, Schmiel was made aware that Oberlin College had a cache of letters that had been transcribed by Cox's great granddaughter, and the cache turned out to contain 213 letters written to his wife during the Civil War. Well-known for his incredibly detailed postwar writing about campaigns, Cox reveals himself in these letters as an ambitious, warmhearted, and concerned observer of the progress of the war. The letters reflect his service in the Maryland Campaign, Atlanta Campaign, and Franklin-Nashville Campaign"--

The nation's preeminent Civil War Scholar, Professor James McPherson, has read this book and called it "fascinating" We hope you will join him and find out why he also said he enjoyed reading it. Here is what it is all about: What if, even after the Union had won the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery had remained legal in the United States? In this thought-provoking speculative history, written in a "you are there" style using the words of the participants themselves, award-winning Civil War historian Gene Schmiel shows exactly how that ironic and tragic series of events could have happened. He describes how one changed decision at the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, could have created a "Civil War butterfly effect" and irrevocably changed American history. Most people don't know that Lincoln saw the Emancipation Proclamation as giving the Confederate states one more chance to re-join the Union, whether or not they abolished slavery. This book will explain how, as a result, slavery might not have ended despite a Union victory.Lincoln hoped that slavery would cease eventually, but at the time he thought that ending the war and re-uniting the nation were sufficient achievements. Schmiel explains also how this series of events might have split the ranks of both the Union and Confederate governments on these issues.To some in the North, the failure to abolish slavery would have become "the Northern lost cause" noted in the title. Abolitionists and black leaders would be bitter that despite the bloodshed, victory had not brought the cherished goal of destroying slavery. Would that then have started an entirely new debate about the future of slavery in a country no longer divided? That too is among the thought-provoking questions arising from this book.