Books in the Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War series

Recounts the tragic history of one of the Civil War's most ill-fated Union military units, the 16th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. The product of over a decade of research, Lesley J. Gordon's A Broken Regiment illuminates the unit's complex history amid the interplay of various, and often competing, voices.

Examines pardon petitions from former Confederate soldiers and sympathizers in Tennessee to craft a unique and comprehensive analysis of the process of Reconstruction in the Volunteer State after the Civil War. These under utilized petitions contain a wealth of information about Tennesseans from an array of social and economic backgrounds.

Argues that the political ideology and racial views of American Protestants during the Civil War mirrored their religious optimism or pessimism regarding human nature, perfectibility, and the millennium.

Considers whether poor northern men bore the highest burden of military service during the American Civil War. Examining data on median family wealth from the 1860 United States Census, Marvel reveals the economic conditions of the earliest volunteers from each northern state during the seven major recruitment and conscription periods of the war.

Probes the struggles of aggrieved spouses shedding light on the nature of marriage and violence in the US in the decades prior to the Civil War. Analysing over 1,500 divorce records that reveal intimate details of marriages in conflict, Robin Sager offers a rare glimpse into the private lives of ordinary Americans shaken by accusations of cruelty.

Chronicles the intersecting lives of the first black military Civil War hero, Captain Andre Cailloux of the 1st Louisiana Native Guards, and the lone Catholic clerical voice of abolition in New Orleans, the Reverend Claude Paschal Maistre.

Examines the language of slavery, which Niels Eichhorn considers central to revolutionary struggles, especially those waged in Europe in the nineteenth century. Eichhorn begins in 1830 with separatist movements in Greece, Belgium, and Poland, which laid the foundation for rebellions undertaken later in the century.

Examines how, due to the fear of insurrection by the enslaved, southerners created their own version of American exceptionalism, one that placed the perpetuation of slavery at its forefront.

Colorfully known as the "Greyhound Division" for its lean and speedy marches across thousands of miles in three states, Major General John G. Walker's infantry division in the Confederate army was the largest body of Texans -- about 12,000 men at its formation -- to serve in the American Civil War. From its creation in 1862 until its disbandment at the war's end, Walker's unit remained, uniquely for either side in the conflict, a stable group of soldiers from a single state. Richard Lowe's compelling saga shows how this collection of farm boys, store clerks, carpenters, and lawyers became the trans-Mississippi's most potent Confederate fighting unit, from the vain attack at Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, in 1863 during Grant's Vicksburg Campaign to stellar performances at the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, and Jenkins' Ferry that helped repel Nathaniel P. Banks's Red River Campaign of 1864. Lowe's skillful blending of narrative drive and demographic profiling represents an innovative history of the period that is sure to set a new benchmark.

A leading proponent of racial equality in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century, Albion W. Tourgee (1838-1905) served as the most articulate spokesman of the radical wing of the Republican party. Undaunted Radical presents Tourgee's most significant letters, speeches, and essays.

Offers a fresh, multifaceted interpretation of the quintessential sectional conflict in pre-Civil War Kansas. Kristen Tegtmeier Oertel explores the crucial roles Native Americans, African Americans, and white women played in the literal and rhetorical battle between proslavery and antislavery settlers in the region.

Recovers and analyses the global imaginings of Reconstruction's partisans, those who struggled over and with Reconstruction, as they vied with one another to define the nature of their country after the Civil War.

These essays ponder the role of history, myth, and media in sustaining the memory of the American Civil War and its racial implications in the South; Abraham Lincoln's legacy; and the war's consequences in less studied areas, such as civil-military relations, constitutional and legal history, and America's ascent on the international stage.

Appointed by Abraham Lincoln to the US Supreme Court during the Civil War, Samuel Freeman Miller served on the highest tribunal for twenty-eight tumultuous years. Michael Ross creates a colourful portrait of a passionate man grappling with the difficult legal issues arising from a time of wrenching social and political change.

Explores how Britons envisioned the American Civil War and how these conceptions influenced their discussions about race, politics, society, military affairs, and nationalism. Contributing new research that expands upon previous scholarship, Dubrulle offers a methodical dissection of the ideological forces that shaped opinion.

Provides a compelling comparison of seemingly disparate groups and illuminates the contours of nationalism during Reconstruction. By joining the Fenians with freedpeople and southern whites, Mitchell Snay seeks to assert their central relevance to the dynamics of nationalism during Reconstruction.

Until now, Civil War scholars considered Bright and the Union incursion that culminated in his gruesome death as only a historical footnote. In Executing Daniel Bright, Barton Myers uses these events as a window into the wider experience of local guerrilla conflict in North Carolina's Great Dismal Swamp region.

A panoramic collection of essays written by both established and emerging scholars, American Discord examines critical aspects of the Civil War era, including rhetoric and nationalism, politics and violence, gender, race, and religion.

Though slavery was widespread and antislavery sentiment rare in Alabama, there emerged a small loyalist population, mostly in the northern counties, that persisted in the face of overwhelming odds against their cause. Margaret Storey's welcome study uncovers and explores those Alabamians who maintained allegiance to the Union.

While most historians agree that Robert E. Lee's loyalty to Virginia was the key factor in his decision to join the Confederate cause, Richard B. McCaslin further demonstrates that Lee's true call to action was the legacy of the American Revolution viewed through his reverence for George Washington.

Until relatively recently, a legacy of silence restricted historical writing on the Great Hanging. In the first systematic treatment of this important event, Richard McCaslin also sheds much light on the tensions produced in southern society by the Civil War, the nature of disaffection in the Confederacy, and the American vigilante tradition.

By the time of the Civil War, the railroads had advanced to allow the movement of large numbers of troops even though railways had not yet matured into a truly integrated transportation system. As John Clark explains, the skill with which Union and Confederate war leaders utilized the rail system was an essential ingredient for ultimate victory.

Explores the role of the volunteer officer corps during the Civil War and the unique leadership challenges they faced when military necessity clashed with the antebellum democratic values of volunteer soldiers.

Offers eight case studies that illuminate the critical roles the Union corps commanders played in shaping the US Civil War's course and outcome. The contributors examine widespread assumptions about these men while considering the array of internal and external forces that shaped their efforts on and off the battlefield.

The formation of the Confederate States of America involved more than an attempt to create a new, sovereign nation - it inspired a flurry of creativity and entrepreneurialism in the South that matched Union ingenuity. This book brings to light the forgotten history of the Confederacy's industrious inventors and its active patent office.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, federal officials imprisoned and indicted Jefferson Davis for treason. Although the federal government pursued the charges, the case never went to trial. This book argues that while national politics played a role in the trial's direction, the actions of lesser-known individuals resulted in the failure to convict.

In this highly original study of Confederate ideology and politics, Jeffrey Zvengrowski suggests that Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his supporters saw Bonapartist France as a model for the Confederate States of America.

The collected essays in Upon the Fields of Battle demonstrate how historians enrich Civil War studies by approaching the period through the specific but nonetheless expansive lens of military history. Contributors present an innovative volume that deeply integrates and analyses the ideas and practices of the military during the Civil War.