The
American Civil War Homepage, URL: http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html>
,maintained Dr. George Hoeman, last updated 10/12/00.
The
American Civil War Homepage, URL: http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html>
,maintained Dr. George Hoeman, last updated 10/12/00.
This is an absolutely wonderful Civil War website! At this site, simply click on "To the Civil War resources," and you are immediately taken to a vast list of links to Civil War information. While some of it is the popcorn Civil War-buff type of stuff that you run into so much of on the web , most of it is excellent for scholarly research. For example, there is a big list of personal narratives that will be most useful to me on this project. Another item I found interesting was a direct link to the Official Government Records War of the Rebellion that the U.S. government compiled for twenty years from about 1880-1900. At this link you can simply click on one of the volumes to access it. This is an indispensable site with all sorts of terrific information. As an (edu.) site, or an educationally sponsored site, it is very reliable. The authority is clearly stated and the site is easy to use.
A
Civil War Reading List, URL http://www.sff.nct/people/pilman/civilwar.htm
A decent bibliographic list of Civil War books on a variety of subjects. It can be accessed at the above URL or through the American Civil War Homepage. From the home page click first on "To the Civil War resources" and then on "Histories and Bibliographies." This list in particular led me to Elisha Hunt Rhodes memoirs and a book by James I. Robertson.
Kirchberger, Joe H. The
Civil War and Reconstruction: An Eyewitness History, New York: Facts
on File,1991.
An account of the Civil War and Reconstruction told through chronological use of primary evidence. Statesman, soldiers, newspapers, women, generals, and common citizens are all quoted, and contextual information is provided by the author. The book is useful as a primary source, but far more valuable as bibliography; I found nearly a dozen personal narratives of soldiers as a result of examining this book's extensive bibliography.
Bellard, Alfred, Gone
for a Soldier: the Civil War memoirs of Private Alfred Bellard, Boston:
Little and Brown, 1975.
Interesting account of Private Alfred Bellard, a soldier in the Fifth New Jersey infantry who served in the Army of the Potomac through the battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. Contains some commentary on the major figures of the time, but is most useful in providing an everyday perspective of life in the army. Also features an interesting introduction by Lincoln biographer David Herbert Donald, who compares the memoirs, written for Bellard's own satisfaction with apparently no plans for publication, with the author's wartime journal.
Billings, John D.,
Hardtack and Coffee: The Unwritten Story of Army Life, New York:
P.J. Fleming and Co., 1888.
This account is invaluable. Written by a soldier who was in the Army of the Potomac for all four years, this is a highly detailed account of camp life. Better still, it was intended at its time of publication, just 23 years after the war's end, as a book that would shatter misconceptions about the Civil War. Highly readable and indispensable for my purposes.
The Blue and the
Gray: The Story of the Civil War as told by participants. 2 Vols. Edited
by Henry Steele Commager. New York: The Bobbs-Merril Company, Inc., 1950.
This is a wonderful work that chronicles the Civil War simply by presenting a cache of primary documents. It includes sections that focus solely on the lives of soldiers, using their accounts to describe their lives. One in particular studies the war in the east.
Chamberlain,
Joshua Lawrence. The Passing of the Armies. New York: G.P. Putnam's
Sons, 1915.
An account of the last campaign of the Army of the Potomac, when Grant's men drove the Army of Norther Virginia from the Petersburg trenches and effectively ended the war. Author Chamberlain, famous for his action on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, was a general by the time of the period about which he writes. However, one of his stated puroses is to provide an inner prosepctive of battle, one that is more descriptive of what the battle experience is for those who never see the battle maps with their arrows and clean flanking movements. As such, it is very usefyl to me.
Combat: The
Civil War. (edited and with commentary by Don Congdon) New York: Delacorbe
Press, 1967.
A collection of individual primary accounts of all of the major battles/campaigns of the war. While some of the authors are generals and high ranking officers, many are privates and low ranking officers. Their accounts, as always, are invaluable.
De Forest, John
William. A Volunteer's Adventures: A Union Captain's Recollections of
the Civil War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1946.
De Forest served in the Army of the Potomac from 1862-1864. His memoirs discuss both camp life and military endeavors.
Fisk, Wilbur
K., Hard Marching Every Day: the Civil War letters of Private Wilbur
Fisk, 1861-1865, Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1983.
This is a stunning primary account. It is a series of extremely well written, lucid letters written from Private Fisk to his hometown newspaper during the war. It not only deals with the minutiae of army life but also examines the philosophical issues of the war. It will be particularly valuable for tracking morale.
Gerrish, Theodore.
Army Life: A Private's Reminiscences of the Civil War. Portland,
Maine: Hoyt, Fogg & Donham, 1882.
Gerrish served in the Twentieth Maine Infantry, the regiment of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain that so distinguished itself on Little Round Top at Gettyburg. (And has now received such fme as a result of Micheal Shaara' The Killer Angels and Ken Burns' PBS series The Civil War.) Gerrish served from Antietam to Appomattox, and his recollections are quite valuable. Most interesting is a special section at the end of the book in which Gerrish discusses the strengths and weaknesses of every major commander of the Army of the Potomac, as well as some of the lesser known generals.
Goss, Warren Lee.
Recollections of a Private: A Story of the Army of the Potomac.
New York: Thomas E. Crowell & Co., 1890.
Goss, who served in the Potomac army from the 1862 Peninsula Campaign onward, believes that the, "description of the many incidents of the private solder's experience shows its (the army) living soul." This book is extremyl detailed, and it is effective in tracking the mood of the army throughout the war.
Holmes, Oliver
Wendell. Touched with fire: Civil War letters and diary of Oliver Wendell
Holmes Jr., 1861-1864; with a new introduction by David H. Burton.
New York: Fordham University Press, 2000.
A new edition of the famous Civil War diary of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. that was quoted in Ken Burns' The Civil War television documentary. A wonderful account of the Army of the Potomac from one of the great Americans, Holmes letters and diaries provide insight into the meaning of the war for Civil War soldiers. Holmes served in the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, and became particularly disillusioned during the summer of 1864.
Rhodes, Elisha
Hunt. All For the Union: A History of the second Rhode Island Volunteer
Infantry in the War of the Great Rebellion. Lincoln, Rhode Island:
Andrew Mowbray Incorporated, 1985.
Sterling war diary of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, who enlisted in the army as a private before Bull Run in 1861 and served until the end of the war - by which time he had risen to command of his regiment. Literate, involving, and useful in many different ways, this account is now famous for having been used extensively by Ken Burns in his PBS miniseries.
Tyler, Mason Whiting.
Recollections of the Civil War. (edited by William S. Tyler) New
York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1912.
Mr. Tyler served in the Thirty-Seventh Massachusetts regiment, and he decided to publish his memoirs at the very end of his life. He died just before he finished, and his son took over the project. Yet another ground level view of life within the Army of the Potomac.
Wainwright, Charles
S. A Diary of Battle: The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainwright
(Edited by Allan Nevins), New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World Incorporated,
1962.
Thorough diary of a colonel who served in the Army of the Potomac all four years. Though an account by an officer, it still provides a ground-level view of life in the army from a source that will never make the traditional history books. Detailed (some entries go on for several pages) discussion of battles, generals, President Lincoln and the general condition of the army. Contains commentary from Nevins throughout.
Wilkenson, Warren.
Mother, My You Never See the Sights I Have Seen: The Fifty-Seventh Massachusetts
Veteran Volunteers in the Army of the Potomac, 1864-1865. New York:
Harper and Row, 1990.
A regimental memoir of a unit that saw heavy action in every major engagement fought in by the Army of the Potomac in the final year of the war, with the exception of Cold Harbor.
Wilkeson, Frank. Recollections
of a Private Soldier in the Army of the Potomac. New York: G.P. Putnam's
Sons, 1887.
This is one of the most fascinating books I uncovered. It is the very literate account of Private Frank Wilkeson, who srrved in the army from the winter of 1863-64 until the end of the war. In the preface he states as his mission the desire to a history of the war from a point of view of other than that of the generals. He was inspired by Grant's deathbed dedication in Personal Memoirs to all solderis of the Union. All manner of topics are discussed in this book, and it gives crucial insights into the deteriorating psyche of the army in 1864. Several portions of it, particularly those that describe battle, are riveting reading.
Young, Jesse Bowman.
What a Boy Saw in the Army: A Story of Sight-Seeing and Adventure in
the war for the Union. New York: Hunt and Eaton, 1894.
The personal account of Jesse Bowman Young, who served in the Union army throughout the war. Especially adept at providing information about the everyday lives of soldiers.
Bellah, James Warner.
Soldier's Battle: Gettysburg. New York: David McKay Company, 1962.
Attempts, with only partial success, to provide a ground-level view of the battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of the soldiers who fought it. Still useful, but too often falls back into a general's account of the battle.
Catton, Bruce.
Mr. Lincoln's Army, Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company
Inc., 1951.
The
first of a three volume set by Bruce Catton that chronicles the Army of
the Potomac. This volume covers the age of McClellan, from his rise to
command of the army following the 1861 disaster at Bull Run to his dismissal
by Lincoln following the inconclusive outcome of Antietam. Catton's mission
is to cover the great events of the war while never losing sight of the
role of the ordinary foot soldier. So, his books are a valuable insight
into the character of the Army of the Potomac.
Catton, Bruce. The
Army of the Potomac: Glory Road, Garden City, New York: Doubleday and
Company Inc., 1952.
The second volume of Catton's series on the Army of the Potomac, this work covers the army from Fredericksburg through the crucial turning point at Gettysburg.
Catton, Bruce. The
Army of the Potomac: A Stillness at Appomattox, Garden City, New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1953.
This third volume focuses on the last terrible year of the war. Catton argues that the Army of the Potomac had changed greatly by this time, no longer resembling the grand spectacle it had been under McClellan, but now made up much of draftees and bounty-seekers.
Glatthaar, Joseph T. Forged
in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers.
New York: The Free Press (A Division of MacMillan), 199?.
Not terribly effectual for my questions, but does offer the views of Potomac soldiers on black troops at a few times during the war.
Hess, Earl J. The
Union Soldier in Battle: Enduring the Ordeal of Combat. Lawrence, Kansas:
University Press of Kansas, 1997.
Interesting and in-depth look at every possible aspect of how a northern soldier dealt with combat. This work will be extremely valuable to me in addressing how men in the Army of the Potomac coped with the experience of battle.
McPherson, James M.
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1988.
The classic single-volume account of the Civil War, this works like an encyclopedia in its breadth and scope. Provides more than adequate backdrop for Civil War studies.
McPherson, James M.
For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1997.
As with all of McPherson's work, this is lucid academic analysis that is as enjoyable a read as anything. Using a wealth of soldier literature, this book addresses the motivations of the men who fought in the Civil War. It asks, awestruck, why the men endured what they endured.
Mitchell, Reid. Civil
War Soldiers: Their Expectations and Experiences. New York: Penguin
Inc. 1988.
This interesting work discusses the beliefs of soldiers in the Civil War on a wide range of issues. It also addresses the conceptions they brought to the war and the conceptions they took from the war. Of particular note: It examines the psychological transformation the men during the conflict.
Nolan, Alan T. The
Iron Brigade: A Military History. New York: MacMillan and Company,
1961.
This work focuses on the Iron Brigade, the most famous brigade in the Army of the Potomac. This is a military history, so it will be of limited use. It can give me insight into the ebb and flow of casualties in a given unit.
Perret, Geoffrey.
Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier and President. New York: Random House,
1997.
Engrossing biography that I read last year about Grant, who became the effective commander of the Army of the Potomac in the spring of 1864. Perret provides a quite positive perspective of Grant, going so far as to claim that he was an underrated president. One of Perret's chief missions is to dispel many unfavorable claims about Grant made by William McFeely, who also wrote a famous biography of the great general.
Pullen, John J. The
Twentieth Maine. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1952.
Discusses in detail the recruitment and makeup of this regiment of soldiers, which has become famous as Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's regiment as a result of Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels and Ken Burn's PBS series.
Robertson, James I.
Soldiers Blue and Gray. Colombia: The University of South Carolina
Press, 1988.
Robertson was an understyud of Bell Irvin Wiley, who wrote a classic account of soldiers on both sides. This book addresses a wide range of topics, including the drudgery of army service, sickness, entertainment, discipline, etc. Draws heavily upon primary sources.
Sears, Stephen W.
George B. McClellan: The Young Napoleon. New York: Ticknor and Field,
1988
I believe this is the most recent biography of General McClellan. This is very useful, for McClellan is the man who built the raggle that fled from Bull Run into one of the finest armies the world had ever seen. His tactics of civilized warfare were ineffective.
Wert, Jeffry D. A
Brotherhood of Valor: The Common Soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade and
the Iron Brigade. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999.
A comparison of the two most famous units in Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac. Compares the lives and beliefs of these two groups of men, ultimately arguing that they were more alike than different. Useful, of course, principally for its examination of the Iron Brigade.
Wheeler, Richard.
On Fields of Fury: From the Wilderness to the Crater, An Eyewitness
History. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991.
Examines the campaign between the armies of Grant and Lee from May to July, 1864. Important for it provides in the second chapter, as a backdrop for the remainder of the narrative, a detailed description of the state of the Army of the Potomac as it was about to head South yet again. Touches on issues of the army's demographic makeup.
Wiley, Bell Irvin.
The Common Soldier in the Civil War. New York: Grosset and Dunlap,
1951.
As the title would suggest, this work studies separately the lives of Confederate and Union troops. It examines racism, rations, the ebb and flow of morale, and a host of other issues. This is highly useful to my overall cause.