From January to July of 1862, the armies and navies of the Union and Confederacy conducted an incredibly complex and remarkably diverse range of operations in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Under the direction of leaders like Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, George McClellan, Joseph E. Johnston, John Rodgers, Robert E. Lee, Franklin Buchanan, Irvin McDowell, and Louis M. Goldsborough, men of the Union and Confederate armed forces marched over mountains and through shallow valleys, maneuvered on ...

"An important book that rescues George B. McClellan's military reputation." — ChroniclesBold, brash, and full of ambition, George Brinton McClellan seemed destined for greatness when he assumed command of all the Union armies before he was 35. It was not to be. Ultimately deemed a failure on the battlefield by Abraham Lincoln, he was finally dismissed from command following the bloody battle of Antietam. To better understand this fascinating, however flawe...

A thorough and effectively executed study, this biography will appeal to anyone interested in Stonewall Jackson and the military history of the Civil War.Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was one of the greatest generals of the Civil War and remains an iconic figure of American history. Stonewall Jackson: A Biography offers a complete yet concise account of Jackson's life and career, illuminating the forces and events that shaped both.The study is orga...

More than 800 men lost their lives and 2,700 were wounded. Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson earned his legendary nickname 'Stonewall' here as fellow Confederate General Barnard Bee, later fatally wounded in the battle, shouted, 'Yonder stands Jackson like a stone wall!' Both the North and the South believed that a single victory in this first major battle would decide the war before it barely started. Yet the first battle of Manassas, or Bull Run, has not received nearly the same atte...

The generalship of Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's greatest commander, has long fascinated students of the American Civil War. In assessing Lee and his military career, historians have faced the great challenge of explaining how a man who achieved extraordinary battlefield success in 1862–1863 ended up surrendering his army and accepting the defeat of his cause in 1865. How, in just under two years, could Lee, the Army of Northern Virginia, and the Confederacy have gone from soaring trium...

This volume is the essential guide to the Manassas battlefields, site of two of the Civil War’s critical campaigns. Ethan S. Rafuse, a distinguished scholar of the Civil War, provides a clearly organized, thorough, and uniquely insightful account of both campaigns, along with expert analysis and precise directions for armchair traveler and battlefield visitor alike.The July 1861 Battle of First Manassas and the August 1862 Battle of Second Manassas unequivocally influenced the cour...

From the American Revolution to the War in Afghanistan, the United States has had no shortage of conflicts on both domestic and world stages. All provide insight into the values of the presidents who led the nation through them.This work takes readers through chronological entries of presidents who participated in key wars throughout U.S. history. An overview essay first considers the social, economic, and political factors that affected presidents during war. Entr...

Long overshadowed by the American Civil War, the Mexican-American War (1846–1848) has received significantly less attention from historians partly because of its questionable origin and controversial outcome. Rather than treat the conflict with a form of historical amnesia, the contributors to this volume argue that the Mexican-American War was a formative experience for the more than three hundred future Civil War generals who served in it as lower-grade officers. The Mexican War was the ...

The Human Tradition in America from the Colonial Era through Reconstruction is a collection of the best biographical sketches from several volumes in SR Books' popular Human Tradition in America Series. Compiled by Series Editor Charles W. Calhoun, this book brings American history to life by illuminating the lives of ordinary Americans. This examination of common individuals helps personalize the nation's past in a way that examining only broad concepts and forces cannot. By including a w...

Lens of War grew out of an invitation to leading historians of the Civil War to select and reflect upon a single photograph. Each could choose any image and interpret it in personal and scholarly terms. The result is a remarkable set of essays by twenty-seven scholars whose numerous volumes on the Civil War have explored military, cultural, political, African American, women’s, and environmental history.The essays describe a wide array of photographs and present an eclecti...

The largest and most destructive military conflict between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War, the American Civil War has inspired some of the best and most intriguing scholarship in the field of United States history. This volume offers some of the most important work on the war to appear in the past few decades and offers compelling information and insights into subjects ranging from the organization of armies, historiography, the use of intelligence and the challenges faced by ...

The outcomes of campaigns in the Civil War often depended on top generals having the right corps commanders in the right place at the right time. Mutual trust and respect between generals and their corps commanders, though vital to military success, was all too rare: Corps commanders were often forced to exercise considerable discretion in the execution of orders from their generals, and bitter public arguments over commanders' performances in battle followed hard on the heels of many majo...