The Camden Expedition of 1864 and the Opportunity Lost by the Confederacy to Change the Civil War

Download The Camden Expedition of 1864 and the Opportunity Lost by the Confederacy to Change the Civil War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476608040
Total Pages : 223 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Camden Expedition of 1864 and the Opportunity Lost by the Confederacy to Change the Civil War by : Michael J. Forsyth

Download or read book The Camden Expedition of 1864 and the Opportunity Lost by the Confederacy to Change the Civil War written by Michael J. Forsyth and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-08-01 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Confederacy had a great opportunity to turn the Civil War in its favor in 1864, but squandered this chance when it failed to finish off a Union army cornered in Louisiana because of concerns about another Union army coming south from Arkansas. The Confederates were so confused that they could not agree on a course of action to contend with both threats, thus the Union offensive advancing from Arkansas saved the one in Louisiana and became known to history as the Camden Expedition. The Camden Expedition is intriguing because of the "might-have-beens" had the key players made different decisions. The author contends that if Frederick Steele, commander of the Federal VII Army Corps, had not received a direct order from General Ulysses S. Grant to move south, disaster would have befallen not only the Army of the Gulf in Louisiana but the entire Union cause, and possibly would have prevented Abraham Lincoln from winning reelection.

A Companion to the U.S. Civil War, 2 Volume Set

Download A Companion to the U.S. Civil War, 2 Volume Set PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119716144
Total Pages : 1223 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (197 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Companion to the U.S. Civil War, 2 Volume Set by : Aaron Sheehan-Dean

Download or read book A Companion to the U.S. Civil War, 2 Volume Set written by Aaron Sheehan-Dean and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 1223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to the U.S. Civil War presents a comprehensive historiographical collection of essays covering all major military, political, social, and economic aspects of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Represents the most comprehensive coverage available relating to all aspects of the U.S. Civil War Features contributions from dozens of experts in Civil War scholarship Covers major campaigns and battles, and military and political figures, as well as non-military aspects of the conflict such as gender, emancipation, literature, ethnicity, slavery, and memory

The Confederate Military Forces in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1861-1865

Download The Confederate Military Forces in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1861-1865 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Savas Beatie
ISBN 13 : 1954547439
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (545 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Confederate Military Forces in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1861-1865 by : William Royston Geise

Download or read book The Confederate Military Forces in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1861-1865 written by William Royston Geise and published by Savas Beatie. This book was released on 2022-08-30 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Royston Geise was a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin in the early 1970s when he researched and wrote The Confederate Military Forces in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1861- 1865: A Study in Command in 1974. Although it remained unpublished, it was not wholly unknown. Deep-diving researchers were aware of Dr. Geise’s work and lamented the fact that it was not widely available to the general public. In many respects, studies of the Trans-Mississippi Theater are only now catching up with Geise. This intriguing book traces the evolution of Confederate command and how it affected the shifting strategic situation and general course of the war. Dr. Geise accomplishes his task by coming at the question in a unique fashion. Military field operations are discussed as needed, but his emphasis is on the functioning of headquarters and staff—the central nervous system of any military command. This was especially so for the Trans-Mississippi. After July 1863, the only viable Confederate agency west of the great river was the headquarters at Shreveport. That hub of activity became the sole location to which all isolated players, civilians and military alike, could look for immediate overall leadership and a sense of Confederate solidarity. By filling these needs, the Trans-Mississippi Department assumed a unique and vital role among Confederate military departments and provided a focus for continued Confederate resistance west of the Mississippi River. The author’s work mining primary archival sources and published firsthand accounts, coupled with a smooth and clear writing style, helps explain why this remote department (referred to as “Kirby Smithdom” after Gen. Kirby Smith) failed to function efficiently, and how and why the war unfolded there as it did. Trans-Mississippi Theater historian and Ph.D. candidate Michael J. Forsyth (Col., U.S. Army, Ret.) has resurrected Dr. Geise’s smoothly written and deeply researched manuscript from its undeserved obscurity. This edition, with its original annotations and Forsyth’s updated citations and observations, is bolstered with original maps, photographs, and images. Students of the war in general, and the Trans-Mississippi Theater in particular, will delight in its long overdue publication.

Guide to Missouri Confederate Units, 1861-1865

Download Guide to Missouri Confederate Units, 1861-1865 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Arkansas Press
ISBN 13 : 9781610751742
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (517 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Guide to Missouri Confederate Units, 1861-1865 by : James E. McGhee

Download or read book Guide to Missouri Confederate Units, 1861-1865 written by James E. McGhee and published by University of Arkansas Press. This book was released on 2011-07 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the origins and history of Missouri Confederate units that served during the Civil War is nearly as difficult as comprehending the diverse politics that produced them. Deeply torn by the issues that caused the conflict, some Missourians chose sides enthusiastically, others reluctantly, while a number had to choose out of sheer necessity, for fence straddling held no sway in the state after the fighting began. The several thousand that sided with the Confederacy formed a variety of military organizations, some earning reputations for hard fighting exceeded by few other states, North or South. Unfortunately, the records of Missouri's Confederate units have not been adequately preserved—officially or otherwise—until now. James E. McGhee is a highly respected and widely published authority on the Civil War in Missouri; the scope of this book is startling, the depth of detail gratifying, its reliability undeniable, and the unit narratives highly readable. McGhee presents accounts of the sixty-nine artillery, cavalry, and infantry units in the state, as well as their precedent units and those that failed to complete their organization. Relying heavily on primary sources, such as rosters, official reports, order books, letters, diaries, and memoirs, he weaves diverse materials into concise narratives of each of Missouri's Confederate organizations. He lists the field-grade officers for battalions and regiments, companies and company commanders, and places of origin for each company when known. In addition to listing all the commanding officers in each unit, he includes a bibliography germane to the unit, while a supplemental bibliography provides the other sources used in preparing this unique and comprehensive resource.

A Companion to the U.S. Civil War

Download A Companion to the U.S. Civil War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118802950
Total Pages : 1223 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (188 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Companion to the U.S. Civil War by : Aaron Sheehan-Dean

Download or read book A Companion to the U.S. Civil War written by Aaron Sheehan-Dean and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-02-05 with total page 1223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to the U.S. Civil War presents a comprehensive historiographical collection of essays covering all major military, political, social, and economic aspects of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Represents the most comprehensive coverage available relating to all aspects of the U.S. Civil War Features contributions from dozens of experts in Civil War scholarship Covers major campaigns and battles, and military and political figures, as well as non-military aspects of the conflict such as gender, emancipation, literature, ethnicity, slavery, and memory

Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol 1

Download Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol 1 PDF Online Free

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

DOWNLOAD NOW!


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.

Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol. 2

Download Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol. 2 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN 13 : 1621900894
Total Pages : 310 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (219 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol. 2 by : Lawrence Lee Hewitt

Download or read book Confederate Generals in the Trans-Mississippi, Vol. 2 written by Lawrence Lee Hewitt and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2015-05-29 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "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." From book jacket.

A Crisis in Confederate Command

Download A Crisis in Confederate Command PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : LSU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780807140673
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (46 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Crisis in Confederate Command by :

Download or read book A Crisis in Confederate Command written by and published by LSU Press. This book was released on with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Civil War General and Indian Fighter James M. Williams

Download Civil War General and Indian Fighter James M. Williams PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of North Texas Press
ISBN 13 : 1574415026
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (744 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Civil War General and Indian Fighter James M. Williams by : Robert W. Lull

Download or read book Civil War General and Indian Fighter James M. Williams written by Robert W. Lull and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography follows the military career of General James Monroe Williams, which spanned both the Civil War and the Indian Wars in the West.

Theater of a Separate War

Download Theater of a Separate War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 1469666286
Total Pages : 609 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (696 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Theater of a Separate War by : Thomas W. Cutrer

Download or read book Theater of a Separate War written by Thomas W. Cutrer and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2023-04-04 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though its most famous battles were waged in the East at Antietam, Gettysburg, and throughout Virginia, the Civil War was clearly a conflict that raged across a continent. From cotton-rich Texas and the fields of Kansas through Indian Territory and into the high desert of New Mexico, the Trans-Mississippi Theater was site of major clashes from the war's earliest days through the surrenders of Confederate generals Edmund Kirby Smith and Stand Waite in June 1865. In this comprehensive military history of the war west of the Mississippi River, Thomas W. Cutrer shows that the theater's distance from events in the East does not diminish its importance to the unfolding of the larger struggle.

"This Day We Marched Again"

Download

Author :
Publisher : University of Arkansas Press
ISBN 13 : 1935106678
Total Pages : 164 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (351 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis "This Day We Marched Again" by : Jacob Haas

Download or read book "This Day We Marched Again" written by Jacob Haas and published by University of Arkansas Press. This book was released on 2014-03-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A testament to the valor and determination of a common soldier On September 17, 1861, twenty-two-year-old Jacob Haas enlisted in the Sheboygan Tigers, a company of German immigrants that became Company A of the Ninth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. Over the next three years, Haas and his comrades marched thousands of miles and saw service in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and the Indian Territory, including pitched battles at Newtonia, Missouri, and Jenkins’ Ferry, Arkansas. Haas describes the war from the perspective of a private soldier and an immigrant as he marches through scorching summers and brutally cold winters to fight in some of the most savage combat in the west. His diary shows us an extraordinary story of the valor and determination of a volunteer soldier. Though his health was ruined by war, Haas voiced no regrets for the price he paid to fight for his adopted country.

Soldiers from Experience

Download Soldiers from Experience PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : LSU Press
ISBN 13 : 0807178756
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (71 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Soldiers from Experience by : Eric Michael Burke

Download or read book Soldiers from Experience written by Eric Michael Burke and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2022-10-26 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2022 Civil War Books and Authors Book of the Year Award In Soldiers from Experience, Eric Michael Burke examines the tactical behavior and operational performance of Major General William T. Sherman’s Fifteenth US Army Corps during its first year fighting in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Burke analyzes how specific experiences and patterns of meaning-making within the ranks led to the emergence of what he characterizes as a distinctive corps-level tactical culture. The concept—introduced here for the first time—consists of a collection of shared, historically derived ideas, beliefs, norms, and assumptions that play a decisive role in shaping a military command’s particular collective approach on and off the battlefield. Burke shows that while military historians of the Civil War frequently assert that generals somehow imparted their character upon the troops they led, Sherman’s corps reveals the opposite to be true. Contrary to long-held historiographical assumptions, he suggests the physical terrain itself played a much more influential role than rifled weapons in necessitating tactical changes. At the same time, Burke argues, soldiers’ battlefield traumas and regular interactions with southern civilians, the enslaved, and freedpeople during raids inspired them to embrace emancipation and the widespread destruction of Rebel property and resources. An awareness and understanding of this culture increasingly informed Sherman’s command during all three of his most notable late-war campaigns. Burke’s study serves as the first book-length examination of an army corps operating in the Western Theater during the conflict. It sheds new light on Civil War history more broadly by uncovering a direct link between the exigencies of nineteenth-century land warfare and the transformation of US wartime strategy from “conciliation,” which aimed to protect the property of Southern civilians, to “hard war.” Most significantly, Soldiers from Experience introduces a new theoretical construct of small unit–level tactical principles wholly absent from the rapidly growing interdisciplinary scholarship on the intricacies and influence of culture on military operations.

The Great Missouri Raid

Download The Great Missouri Raid PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476619239
Total Pages : 291 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Great Missouri Raid by : Michael J. Forsyth

Download or read book The Great Missouri Raid written by Michael J. Forsyth and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-03-14 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1864, General Sterling Price with an army of 12,000 ragtag Confederates invaded Missouri in an effort to wrest it from the United States Army's Department of Missouri. Price hoped his campaign would sway the 1864 presidential election, convincing war-weary Northern voters to cast their ballots for a peace candidate rather than Abraham Lincoln. It was the South's last invasion of Northern territory. But it was simply too late in the war for the South to achieve such an outcome, and Price grossly mismanaged the campaign, guaranteeing the defeat of his force and of the Confederate States. This book chronicles the Confederacy's desperate, final, ill-fated attempt to win a decisive victory.

The Howling Storm

Download The Howling Storm PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : LSU Press
ISBN 13 : 080717419X
Total Pages : 687 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (71 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Howling Storm by : Kenneth W. Noe

Download or read book The Howling Storm written by Kenneth W. Noe and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2020-10-07 with total page 687 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist for the Lincoln Prize! Traditional histories of the Civil War describe the conflict as a war between North and South. Kenneth W. Noe suggests it should instead be understood as a war between the North, the South, and the weather. In The Howling Storm, Noe retells the history of the conflagration with a focus on the ways in which weather and climate shaped the outcomes of battles and campaigns. He further contends that events such as floods and droughts affecting the Confederate home front constricted soldiers’ food supply, lowered morale, and undercut the government’s efforts to boost nationalist sentiment. By contrast, the superior equipment and open supply lines enjoyed by Union soldiers enabled them to cope successfully with the South’s extreme conditions and, ultimately, secure victory in 1865. Climate conditions during the war proved unusual, as irregular phenomena such as El Niño, La Niña, and similar oscillations in the Atlantic Ocean disrupted weather patterns across southern states. Taking into account these meteorological events, Noe rethinks conventional explanations of battlefield victories and losses, compelling historians to reconsider long-held conclusions about the war. Unlike past studies that fault inflation, taxation, and logistical problems for the Confederate defeat, his work considers how soldiers and civilians dealt with floods and droughts that beset areas of the South in 1862, 1863, and 1864. In doing so, he addresses the foundational causes that forced Richmond to make difficult and sometimes disastrous decisions when prioritizing the feeding of the home front or the front lines. The Howling Storm stands as the first comprehensive examination of weather and climate during the Civil War. Its approach, coverage, and conclusions are certain to reshape the field of Civil War studies.

American Civil War [2 volumes]

Download American Civil War [2 volumes] PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 1251 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (16 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis American Civil War [2 volumes] by : Spencer C. Tucker

Download or read book American Civil War [2 volumes] written by Spencer C. Tucker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-03-24 with total page 1251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This two-volume encyclopedia offers a unique insight into the Civil War from a state and local perspective, showing how the American experience of the conflict varied significantly based on location. Intended for general-interest readers and high school and college students, American Civil War: A State-by-State Encyclopedia serves as a unique ready reference that documents the important contributions of each individual state to the American Civil War and underscores the similarities and differences between the states, both in the North and the South. Each state chapter leads off with an overview essay about that state's involvement in the war and then presents entries on prominent population centers, manufacturing facilities, and military posts within each state; important battles or other notable events that occurred within that state during the war; and key individuals from each state, both civilian and military. The A–Z entries within each state chapter enable readers to understand how the specific contributions and political climate of states resulted in the very different situations each state found itself in throughout the war. The set also provides a detailed chronology that will help students place important events in proper order.

First Kansas Colored Volunteers: Contributions Of Black Union Soldiers In The Trans-Mississippi West

Download First Kansas Colored Volunteers: Contributions Of Black Union Soldiers In The Trans-Mississippi West PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1782899308
Total Pages : 105 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (828 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis First Kansas Colored Volunteers: Contributions Of Black Union Soldiers In The Trans-Mississippi West by : Major Michael E. Carter

Download or read book First Kansas Colored Volunteers: Contributions Of Black Union Soldiers In The Trans-Mississippi West written by Major Michael E. Carter and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over one hundred and eighty thousand black men fought for the Union during America’s Civil War. From infantrymen, to artillerist and cavalry soldiers, these soldiers combined to form one hundred and sixty-six Union regiments. On 29 October 1862 at Island Mound, Missouri, the First Kansas Colored Volunteers, an infantry regiment comprised mainly of blacks from Kansas and Missouri, became the first black regiment to experience combat during the Civil War. Their courage and outstanding performance in battle, as recorded, are unquestioned. What have been omitted from research thus far are their contributions to overall Union successes in the Trans-Mississippi West. Their accomplishments are remarkable, for they came in the face of extreme obstacles of prejudice and hatred. “No Quarter” was ever given and “No Quarter” was asked of the regiment’s black soldiers. The contributions of the First Kansas Colored Volunteers, in conjunction with those of the many regiments they served alongside of, resulted in a resounding Union victory in the Trans-Mississippi West.

Soldiers in the Army of Freedom

Download Soldiers in the Army of Freedom PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806147210
Total Pages : 548 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Soldiers in the Army of Freedom by : Ian Michael Spurgeon

Download or read book Soldiers in the Army of Freedom written by Ian Michael Spurgeon and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2014-10-22 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was 1862, the second year of the Civil War, though Kansans and Missourians had been fighting over slavery for almost a decade. For the 250 Union soldiers facing down rebel irregulars on Enoch Toothman’s farm near Butler, Missouri, this was no battle over abstract principles. These were men of the First Kansas Colored Infantry, and they were fighting for their own freedom and that of their families. They belonged to the first black regiment raised in a northern state, and the first black unit to see combat during the Civil War. Soldiers in the Army of Freedom is the first published account of this largely forgotten regiment and, in particular, its contribution to Union victory in the trans-Mississippi theater of the Civil War. As such, it restores the First Kansas Colored Infantry to its rightful place in American history. Composed primarily of former slaves, the First Kansas Colored saw major combat in Missouri, Indian Territory, and Arkansas. Ian Michael Spurgeon draws upon a wealth of little-known sources—including soldiers’ pension applications—to chart the intersection of race and military service, and to reveal the regiment’s role in countering white prejudices by defying stereotypes. Despite naysayers’ bigoted predictions—and a merciless slaughter at the Battle of Poison Spring—these black soldiers proved themselves as capable as their white counterparts, and so helped shape the evolving attitudes of leading politicians, such as Kansas senator James Henry Lane and President Abraham Lincoln. A long-overdue reconstruction of the regiment’s remarkable combat record, Spurgeon’s book brings to life the men of the First Kansas Colored Infantry in their doubly desperate battle against the Confederate forces and skepticism within Union ranks.