John A. McClernand was a leading Democratic congressman from Illinois who in 1861 became a brigadier general in the Union army. Although a “political general,” he proved himself on the battlefield until he ran afoul of Ulysses S. Grant and was relieved of his command of the Thirteenth Corps in 1863 during the Vicksburg campaign. Richard Kiper presents a balanced and sympathetic assessment of this highly controversial individual who served his country as soldier and statesman and sheds new light on the Union command system, providing insight into the politics of war as well as the personalities and relationships among the army’s senior officers.

First published in 1958, Red River Campaign examines how partisan politics, economic needs, and personal profit determined military policy and operations in Louisiana and Arkansas during the spring of 1864.
In response to the demands of Free-Soil interests in Texas and the New England textiles manufacturers’ need for cotton, Lincoln authorized an expedition to open the way to Texas. General Nathaniel Banks conducted a combined military and naval campaign up the Red River that lasted only from March 12 to May 20, 1864, but was one of the most destructive of the Civil War.

Henry S. White, a chaplain attached to the Fifth Rhode island heavy Artillery, was captured in May 1864 and remained a prisoner of war until the following September. After his release he wrote a series of letters to Zion’s Herald, a New England Methodist newspaper, in which he described in vivid detail his capture and transportation to Andersonville and then to the officers’ prison in Macon. The letters reveal White’s eye for detail and his keen interest in the state of affairs in the south. He drew pointed comparisons between the officers and men of the two armies, and recounted the terrible lot of the prisoner of war.

The U.S. Company of Sappers, Miners, and Pontooniers, which Congress authorized on May 13, 1846, quickly became one of the army’s elite units. During the Mexico City campaign, Company ‘A’ played a significant role in scouting, building fortifications, and setting artillery batteries. Gustavus Woodson Smith, the unit commander and author of the text, describes the training and discipline of the enlisted soldiers. His commentary also provides interesting insights into the early careers of future Civil War generals – Lee, Beauregard, Pemberton, and McClellan. The narrative is also a striking testament to the impact of West Point-trained officers on the course of the war and to the effectiveness of Winfield Scott’s army.

For all the serious scholarship and popular writing devoted to the American Civil War, the topic of prisoner-of-war camps, more than any other, retains the feeling of horror and passion that characterized the war years themselves, “Men held captive under such circumstances, guilty of no offense other than the deplorable misfortune of having been captured by the enemy, suffer tremendous psychological punishment as well as physical hardship. Monotony, estrangement and fear, along with privation and often brutality, combine to create nearly as wretched a quality of human life as is imaginable. The sufferings of Civil War prisoners (are) documented in this re-issue of an early number of the journal Civil War History ….Recounted there….are prisoner experiences in four Confederate installations: Andersonville, Georgia; Libby in Richmond, Virginia; Cahaba, Alabama; and Charleston, South Carolina. The remaining articles treat conditions in four Union prisons: Fort Warren in Boston harbor; Rock Island, Illinois; Elmira, New York; and Johnson’s Island on Lake Erie….in addition to some examples of sparkling and vivid prose, this volume contains a number of excellent photographs as well as an introduction by the late William B. Hesseltine….”—-Kenneth B. Shover, The Historian

A companion volume to Taken at the Flood, this book identifies areas of research and in-depth source materials for studies of the Maryland campaign.

Complementing Confederate Tide Rising, which covers the origins of the Maryland campaign, Taken at the Flood is a detailed account of the military campaign itself. It focuses on military policy and strategy and the context necessary to understand that strategy. A fair appraisal of the campaign requires a full appraisal of the circumstances under which the two commanders, Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan, labored. Harsh attempts to discover what they believed their responsibilities were and what they tried to accomplish; to evaluate the human and logistical resources at their disposal; and to determine what they knew and when the learned it.

In this reexamination of Confederate war aims, Joseph L. Harsh analyzes the military policy and grand strategy adopted by Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis in the first two years of the Civil War. Recent critics of Lee have depicted him as a general of tactical brilliance, but one who lacked strategic vision. He has been accused of squandering meager military resources in vain pursuit of decisive victories during his first year in field command. Critics of Davis claim he went too far in adopting a “perimeter” policy which attempted to defend every square mile of Southern territory, scattering Confederate resources too thinly. Harsh argues, to the contrary, that Davis and Lee’s policies allowed the Confederacy to survive longer than it otherwise could have and were the policies best designed to win Southern independence.

Charles P. Hamblen’s posthumous text provides the first account in more than 25 years of soldiers from the Nutmeg State and their role during the Battle of Gettysburg. Supplemented with numerous photographs of the participants, many of which have never before been published, and detailed maps pinpointing the position of Connecticut’s five regiments during the battle, Connecticut Yankees at Gettysburg offers an original retelling of the greatest battle of the Civil War.

In A Surgeon’s Civil War, the educated and articulate Holt describes camp life, army politics, and the medical difficulties that he and his colleagues experienced. His reminiscences and letters provide an insider’s look at medicine as practiced on the battlefield and offer occasional glimpses of the efficacy of Surgeon General William A. Hammond’s reforms as they affected Holt’s regiment. He also comments on other subjects, including slavery and national events. Holt served until October 17, 1864 when ill health forced him to resign.