Confederate Generals Of The Civil War

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The Encyclopedia of Confederate Generals

Author : Samuel W. Mitcham
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1684512794
Total Pages : 967 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (845 download)

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Book Synopsis The Encyclopedia of Confederate Generals by : Samuel W. Mitcham

Download or read book The Encyclopedia of Confederate Generals written by Samuel W. Mitcham and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-05-24 with total page 967 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A renown military historian and frequent television commenter brings to life the generalship of the South during the Civil War in sparkling, information-filled vignettes. For both the Civil War completist and the general reader! Anyone acquainted with the American Civil War will readily recognize the names of the Confederacy’s most prominent generals. Robert E. Lee. Stonewall Jackson. James Longstreet. These men have long been lionized as fearless commanders and genius tacticians. Yet few have heard of the hundreds of generals who led under and alongside them. Men whose battlefield resolve spurred the Confederacy through four years of the bloodiest combat Americans have ever faced. In The Encyclopedia of Confederate Generals, veteran Civil War historian, Samuel W. Mitcham, documents the lives of every Confederate general from birth to death, highlighting their unique contributions to the battlefield and bringing their personal triumphs and tragedies to life. Packed with photos and historical briefings, The Encyclopedia of Confederate Generals belongs on the shelf of every Civil War historian, and preserves in words the legacies once carved in stone.

The Top 5 Greatest Confederate Generals

Author : Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781492365655
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (656 download)

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Book Synopsis The Top 5 Greatest Confederate Generals by : Charles River Charles River Editors

Download or read book The Top 5 Greatest Confederate Generals written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2013-09-08 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures and maps. *Includes bibliographies on each general for further reading. With the exception of George Washington, perhaps the most famous general in American history might be Robert E. Lee, despite the fact he led the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia against the Union in the Civil War. Lee had distinguished himself so well before the Civil War that President Lincoln asked him to command the entire Union Army. Lee famously declined, serving his home state of Virginia instead after it seceded. Lee's most famous subordinate, Thomas Jonathan Jackson earned his famous "Stonewall" moniker at the First Battle of Bull Run, when Brigadier-General Bee told his brigade to rally behind Jackson, whose men were standing like a stone wall. Lee's other most famous subordinate was James Longstreet, the man Lee called his "old war horse." Had Longstreet died on the field in early May 1864, he would almost certainly be considered one of the South's biggest heroes. However, it was his performance at Gettysburg and arguments with other Southern generals after the Civil War that tarnished his image. One of the only bright spots in the West for the Confederacy was Irish immigrant Patrick Cleburne, whose successes earned him the nickname "Stonewall of the West." Where so many Confederates were failing, Cleburne's strategic tactics and bold defensive fighting earned him fame and recognition throughout the South, even leading Lee to call him "a meteor shining from a clouded sky." Confederate Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest is possibly the war's most controversial soldier. A self-made man with no formal military training, Forrest spent the entire war fighting in the West, becoming the only individual in the war to rise from the rank of Private to Lieutenant General. Forrest has been credited with having killed 30 Union soldiers in combat and having 29 horses shot out from under him.

Medical Histories of Confederate Generals

Author : Jack D. Welsh
Publisher : Kent State University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780873386494
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis Medical Histories of Confederate Generals by : Jack D. Welsh

Download or read book Medical Histories of Confederate Generals written by Jack D. Welsh and published by Kent State University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a compilation of the medical histories of 425 Confederate generals. It does not analyze the effects of an individual's medical problems on a battle or the war, but provides information about factors that may have contributed to the wound, injury, or illness, and the outcome.

Confederate Generals of the Civil War

Author : Carl R. Green
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780766010291
Total Pages : 120 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis Confederate Generals of the Civil War by : Carl R. Green

Download or read book Confederate Generals of the Civil War written by Carl R. Green and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the ten generals who led the the armies of the South are the very famous and the little known. Included here are: Robert E. Lee, Nathan Forrest, William Hardee, Ambrose Hill, John Hood, "Stonewall" Jackson, Joseph Johnston, James Longstreet, George Pickett of Pickett's charge, and "Jeb" Stuart. Their childhoods, education, and military training are given along with their roles in the Civil War.

Confederate Generals in the Western Theater: Classic essays on America's Civil War

Author : Lawrence L. Hewitt
Publisher : Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN 13 : 1572337001
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (723 download)

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Book Synopsis Confederate Generals in the Western Theater: Classic essays on America's Civil War by : Lawrence L. Hewitt

Download or read book Confederate Generals in the Western Theater: Classic essays on America's Civil War written by Lawrence L. Hewitt and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Confederate Generals in the Western Theater ultimately comprise several volumes that promise a host of provocative new insights into not only the South's ill-fated campaigns in the West but also the eventual outcome of the larger conflict. --Book Jacket.

Braxton Bragg

Author : Earl J. Hess
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 1469628767
Total Pages : 544 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (696 download)

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Book Synopsis Braxton Bragg by : Earl J. Hess

Download or read book Braxton Bragg written by Earl J. Hess and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2016-09-02 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a leading Confederate general, Braxton Bragg (1817–1876) earned a reputation for incompetence, for wantonly shooting his own soldiers, and for losing battles. This public image established him not only as a scapegoat for the South's military failures but also as the chief whipping boy of the Confederacy. The strongly negative opinions of Bragg's contemporaries have continued to color assessments of the general's military career and character by generations of historians. Rather than take these assessments at face value, Earl J. Hess's biography offers a much more balanced account of Bragg, the man and the officer. While Hess analyzes Bragg's many campaigns and battles, he also emphasizes how his contemporaries viewed his successes and failures and how these reactions affected Bragg both personally and professionally. The testimony and opinions of other members of the Confederate army--including Bragg's superiors, his fellow generals, and his subordinates--reveal how the general became a symbol for the larger military failures that undid the Confederacy. By connecting the general's personal life to his military career, Hess positions Bragg as a figure saddled with unwarranted infamy and humanizes him as a flawed yet misunderstood figure in Civil War history.

Confederate Generals in the Western Theater: Essays on America's Civil War

Author : Lawrence L. Hewitt
Publisher : Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN 13 : 1572336994
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (723 download)

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Book Synopsis Confederate Generals in the Western Theater: Essays on America's Civil War by : Lawrence L. Hewitt

Download or read book Confederate Generals in the Western Theater: Essays on America's Civil War written by Lawrence L. Hewitt and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For this book, which follows an earlier volume of previously published essays, Hewitt and Bergeron have enlisted ten gifted historians---among them James M. Prichard, Terrence J. Winschel, Craig Symonds, and Stephen Davis---to produce original essays, based on the latest scholarship, that examine the careers and missteps of several of the Western Theater's key Rebel commanders. Among the important topics covered are George B. Crittenden's declining fortunes in the Confederate ranks, Earl Van Dom's limited prewar military experience and its effect on his performance in the Baton Rouge Campaign of 1862, Joseph Johnston's role in the fall of Vicksburg, and how James Longstreet and Braxton Bragg's failure to secure Chattanooga paved the way for the Federals'push into Georgia. --

Confederate Generals in the Western Theater, Vol. 3

Author : Lawrence L. Hewitt
Publisher : Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN 13 : 1572337907
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (723 download)

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Book Synopsis Confederate Generals in the Western Theater, Vol. 3 by : Lawrence L. Hewitt

Download or read book Confederate Generals in the Western Theater, Vol. 3 written by Lawrence L. Hewitt and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2011-05-30 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: @font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: 200%; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } The American Civil War was won and lost on its western battlefields, but accounts of triumphant Union generals such as Grant and Sherman leave half of the story untold. In the third volume of Confederate Generals in the Western Theater, editors Lawrence Hewitt and Arthur Bergeron bring together ten more never-before-published essays filled with new, penetrating insights into the key question of why the Rebel high command in the West could not match the performance of Robert E. Lee in the East. Showcasing the work of such gifted historians as Wiley Sword, Timothy B. Smith, Rory T. Cornish, and M. Jane Johansson, this book is a compelling addition to an ongoing, collective portrait of generals who occasionally displayed brilliance but were more often handicapped by both geography and their own shortcomings. While the vast, varied terrain of the Western Theater slowed communications and troop transfers and led to the creation of too many military departments that hampered cooperation among commands, even more damaging were the personal qualities of many of the generals. All too frequently, incompetence, egotism, and insubordination were the rule rather than the exception. Some of these men were undone by alcoholism and womanizing, others by politics and nepotism. A few outlived their usefulness; others were killed before they could demonstrate their potential. Together, they destroyed what chance the Confederacy had of winning its independence. Whether adding fresh fuel to the debate over the respective roles of Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard at Shiloh or bringing to light such lesser known figures as Joseph Finegan and Hiram Bronson Granbury, this volume, like the ones preceding it, is an exemplary contribution to Civil War scholarship. Lawrence Lee Hewitt is professor of history emeritus at Southeastern Louisiana University. A recipient of SLU’s President’s Award for Excellence in Research and the Charles L. Dufour Award for “outstanding achievements in preserving the heritage of the American Civil War,” he is a former managing editor of North & South. His publications include Port Hudson: Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi. The late Arthur W. Bergeron Jr. was a reference historian with the United States Army Military History Institute and a past president of the Louisiana Historical Association. Among his earlier books were Confederate Mobile and A Thrilling Narrative: The Memoir of a Southern Unionist.

With Malice Toward Some

Author : William Alan Blair
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 1469614057
Total Pages : 430 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (696 download)

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Book Synopsis With Malice Toward Some by : William Alan Blair

Download or read book With Malice Toward Some written by William Alan Blair and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2014 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With Malice toward Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era

The Top 5 Greatest Confederate Generals

Author : Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781985829077
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis The Top 5 Greatest Confederate Generals by : Charles River Charles River Editors

Download or read book The Top 5 Greatest Confederate Generals written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-23 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures and maps. *Includes bibliographies on each general for further reading. With the exception of George Washington, perhaps the most famous general in American history might be Robert E. Lee, despite the fact he led the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia against the Union in the Civil War. Lee had distinguished himself so well before the Civil War that President Lincoln asked him to command the entire Union Army. Lee famously declined, serving his home state of Virginia instead after it seceded. Lee's most famous subordinate, Thomas Jonathan Jackson earned his famous "Stonewall" moniker at the First Battle of Bull Run, when Brigadier-General Bee told his brigade to rally behind Jackson, whose men were standing like a stone wall. Lee's other most famous subordinate was James Longstreet, the man Lee called his "old war horse." Had Longstreet died on the field in early May 1864, he would almost certainly be considered one of the South's biggest heroes. However, it was his performance at Gettysburg and arguments with other Southern generals after the Civil War that tarnished his image. One of the only bright spots in the West for the Confederacy was Irish immigrant Patrick Cleburne, whose successes earned him the nickname "Stonewall of the West." Where so many Confederates were failing, Cleburne's strategic tactics and bold defensive fighting earned him fame and recognition throughout the South, even leading Lee to call him "a meteor shining from a clouded sky." Confederate Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest is possibly the war's most controversial soldier. A self-made man with no formal military training, Forrest spent the entire war fighting in the West, becoming the only individual in the war to rise from the rank of Private to Lieutenant General. Forrest has been credited with having killed 30 Union soldiers in combat and having 29 horses shot out from under him.

Generals at Rest

Author : Richard Owen
Publisher : White Mane Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 9781572492554
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (925 download)

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Book Synopsis Generals at Rest by : Richard Owen

Download or read book Generals at Rest written by Richard Owen and published by White Mane Publishing Company. This book was released on 2001-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides pictures, descriptions, and directions for the graves of each Confederate general. South Carolina cemeteries included here are Trinity Episcopal Churchyard, Columbia; Elmwood Cemetery, Columbia; Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston; Quaker Cemetery, Camden; St. Helena's Episcopal Churchyard, Beaufort; Tabernacle Cemetery, Cokesbury; St. Paul's Episcopal Churchyard, Pendleton; Long Cane Cemetery, Abbeville; St. Thaddeus Episcopal Churchyard, Aiken; Holy Apostles Episcopal Churchyard, Barnwell; Dunovant Family Cemetery, Chester County, near Chester; Willow Brook Cemetery, Edgefield; Prince George, Winyah Episcopal Churchyard, Georgetown; Chesnut Family Cemetery, Kershaw County, near Camden; Forest Lawn Cemetery, Union; Episcopal Cemetery, Winnsboro.

Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol 1

Author : Lawrence L. Hewitt
Publisher : Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN 13 : 1572339853
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (723 download)

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Book Synopsis Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol 1 by : Lawrence L. Hewitt

Download or read book Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol 1 written by Lawrence L. Hewitt and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2013-04-30 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until relatively recently, conventional wisdom held that the Trans-Mississippi Theater was a backwater of the American Civil War. Scholarship in recent decades has corrected this oversight, and a growing number of historians agree that the events west of the Mississippi River proved integral to the outcome of the war. Nevertheless, generals in the Trans-Mississippi have received little attention compared to their eastern counterparts, and many remain mere footnotes to Civil War history. This welcome volume features cutting-edge analyses of eight Southern generals in this most neglected theater—Thomas Hindman, Theophilus Holmes, Edmund Kirby Smith, Mosby Monroe Parsons, John Marmaduke, Thomas James Churchill, Thomas Green, and Joseph Orville Shelby—providing an enlightening new perspective on the Confederate high command. Although the Trans-Mississippi has long been considered a dumping ground for failed generals from other regions, the essays presented here demolish that myth, showing instead that, with a few notable exceptions, Confederate commanders west of the Mississippi were homegrown, not imported, and compared well with their more celebrated peers elsewhere. With its virtually nonexistent infrastructure, wildly unpredictable weather, and few opportunities for scavenging, the Trans-Mississippi proved a challenge for commanders on both sides of the conflict. As the contributors to this volume demonstrate, only the most creative minds could operate successfully in such an unforgiving environment. While some of these generals have been the subjects of larger studies, others, including Generals Holmes, Parsons, and Churchill, receive their first serious scholarly attention in these pages. Clearly demonstrating the independence of the Trans-Mississippi and the nuances of the military struggle there, while placing both the generals and the theater in the wider scope of the war, these eight essays offer valuable new insight into Confederate military leadership and the ever-vexing questions of how and why the South lost this most defining of American conflicts.

The Civil Wars of General Joseph E. Johnston

Author : Richard M. McMurry
Publisher : Savas Beatie
ISBN 13 : 1954547110
Total Pages : 361 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (545 download)

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Book Synopsis The Civil Wars of General Joseph E. Johnston by : Richard M. McMurry

Download or read book The Civil Wars of General Joseph E. Johnston written by Richard M. McMurry and published by Savas Beatie. This book was released on 2023-01-16 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph Eggleston Johnston was one of the original five full Confederate generals. He graduated West Point in the same 1829 class as Robert E. Lee and served in the War with Mexico, the Seminole Wars in Florida, and in Texas and Kansas. By 1860 Johnston was widely looked upon as one of America’s finest military officers. During the Civil War he commanded armies in Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas and served as commander of the entire Western Theater during a critical period of the war. Johnston’s contributions to the war effort, however, remain a lightning rod of controversy. In The Civil Wars of General Joseph E. Johnston, Richard M. McMurry argues persuasively that the Confederacy’s most lethal enemy was the toxic dissension within the top echelons of its high command. The discord between General Johnston and President Jefferson Davis (and others), which began early in the conflict and only worsened as the months passed, routinely prevented the cooperation and coordination the South needed on the battlefield if it was going to achieve its independence. The result was one failed campaign after another, all of which cumulatively doomed the Southern Confederacy. McMurry’s study is not a traditional military biography but a lively and opinionated conversation about major campaigns and battles, strategic goals and accomplishments, and how these men and their decision-making and leadership abilities directly impacted the war effort. Personalities, argues McMurry, win and lose wars, and the military and political leaders who form the focal point of this study could not have been more different (and in the case of Davis and Johnston, more at odds) when it came to making the important and timely decisions necessary to wage the war effectively. The Civil Wars of General Joseph E. Johnston represents a lifetime of study and contemplation that captures Johnston in a way that has never been accomplished. It sheds fresh light on old controversies and compels readers to think about major wartime events in unique and compelling ways. This first installment begins just before the Civil War and ends on the eve of Johnston taking command of the Army of Tennessee in North Georgia. Here, finally, is the definitive study of how qualities of character played an oversized role in determining the outcome of the Civil War.

More Generals in Gray

Author : Bruce S. Allardice
Publisher : LSU Press
ISBN 13 : 0807155748
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis More Generals in Gray by : Bruce S. Allardice

Download or read book More Generals in Gray written by Bruce S. Allardice and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2006-04 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a biographical sketch, photograph, and short bibliography of 137 Confederate generals who attained their rank through a route other than presidential appointment and have therefore been largely overlooked in historical accounts of the Civil War.

Kentuckians in Gray

Author : Bruce S. Allardice
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813194067
Total Pages : 477 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis Kentuckians in Gray by : Bruce S. Allardice

Download or read book Kentuckians in Gray written by Bruce S. Allardice and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps more than any other citizens of the nation, Kentuckians held conflicted loyalties during the American Civil War. As a border state, Kentucky was largely pro-slavery but had an economy tied as much to the North as to the South. State government officials tried to keep Kentucky neutral, hoping to play a lead role in compromise efforts between the Union and the Confederacy, but that stance failed to satisfy supporters of both sides, all of whom considered the state's backing crucial to victory. President Abraham Lincoln is reported to have once remarked, "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky." Kentucky did side with Lincoln, officially aligning itself with the Union in 1861. But the conflicted loyalties of Kentucky's citizens continued to impact the state's role in the Civil War. When forced to choose between North and South, Kentuckians made the choice as individuals. Many men opted to fight for the Confederate army, where a great number of them rose to high ranks. With Kentuckians in Gray: Confederate Generals and Field Officers of the Bluegrass State, editors Bruce S. Allardice and Lawrence Lee Hewitt present a volume that examines the lives of these gray-clad warriors. Some of the Kentuckians to serve as Confederate generals are well recognized in state history, such as John Hunt Morgan, John Bell Hood, and Albert Sidney Johnston. However, as the Civil War slips further and further into the past, many other Confederate leaders from the Commonwealth have been forgotten. Kentuckians in Gray contains full biographies of thirty-nine Confederate generals. Its principal subjects are native Kentuckians or commanders of brigades of Kentucky troops, such as Morgan. The first complete reference source of its type on Kentucky Civil War history, the book contains the most definitive biographies of these generals ever assembled, as well as short biographical sketches on every field officer to serve in a Kentucky unit. This comprehensive collection recognizes Kentucky's pivotal role in the War between the States, imparting the histories of men who fought "brother against brother" more than any other set of military leaders. Kentuckians in Gray is an invaluable resource for researchers and enthusiasts of Kentucky history and the American Civil War.

Seventeen Seventy-six

Author : David McCullough
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 0743226720
Total Pages : 19 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (432 download)

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Book Synopsis Seventeen Seventy-six by : David McCullough

Download or read book Seventeen Seventy-six written by David McCullough and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-07-04 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Draws on personal correspondence and period diaries to present a history of the American Revolution that includes the siege of Boston, the American defeat at Brooklyn, the retreat across New Jersey, and the American victory at Trenton.

Confederate General William "Extra Billy" Smith

Author : Scott L. Mingus
Publisher : Grub Street Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1611211301
Total Pages : 599 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (112 download)

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Book Synopsis Confederate General William "Extra Billy" Smith by : Scott L. Mingus

Download or read book Confederate General William "Extra Billy" Smith written by Scott L. Mingus and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2013-04-19 with total page 599 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An award-winning biography of one of the Confederacy’s most colorful and controversial generals. Winner of the 2013 Nathan Bedford Forrest History Book Award for Southern History Nominated for the 2014 Virginia Book Award for Nonfiction Despite a life full of drama, politics, and adventure, little has been written about William “Extra Billy” Smith—aside from a rather biased account by his brother-in-law back in the nineteenth century. As the oldest and one of the most controversial Confederate generals on the field at Gettysburg, Smith was also one of the most charismatic characters of the Civil War and the antebellum Old South. Known nationally as “Extra Billy” because of his prewar penchant for finding loopholes in government postal contracts to gain extra money for his stagecoach lines, Smith served as Virginia’s governor during both the war with Mexico and the Civil War; served five terms in the US Congress; and was one of Virginia’s leading spokesmen for slavery and states’ rights. Extra Billy’s extra-long speeches and wry sense of humor were legendary among his peers. A lawyer during the heady Gold Rush days, he made a fortune in California—and, as with his income earned from stagecoaches, quickly lost it. Despite his advanced age, Smith took to the field and fought well at First Manassas, was wounded at Seven Pines and again at Sharpsburg, and marched with Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania. There, on the first day at Gettysburg, Smith’s frantic messages about a possible Union flanking attack remain a matter of controversy to this day. Did his aging eyes see distant fence-lines that he interpreted as approaching enemy soldiers—mere phantoms of his imagination? Or did his prompt action stave off a looming Confederate disaster? This biography draws upon a wide array of newspapers, diaries, letters, and other firsthand accounts to paint a portrait of one of the South’s most interesting leaders, complete with original maps and photos.