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Adelbert Ames, the Civil War, and the Creation of Modern America

| Filed under: Civil War Era, Civil War Soldiers and Strategies, Military History, Recent Releases, U.S. History
Adelbert Ames, the Civil War, and the Creation of Modern America Cover

A central figure in Reconstruction-era politics, Adelbert Ames and his contributions during a significant and uncertain time in American history are the focus of Michael J. Megelsh’s fascinating study. As Megelsh discusses, Ames’s life took many compelling turns. Born on Maine’s rocky shore in 1835, he served as a Union general during the American Civil War and was heralded as one of the young stars whose leadership was integral in helping the Union to victory. He briefly remained in the army after the conflict, stationed in Mississippi, where he entered the political arena.

 


From the Wilderness to Appomattox

| Filed under: American History, Civil War Era, Civil War Soldiers and Strategies, Military History, Recent Releases
From the Wilderness to Appomattox cover. By Edward A. Altemos

In early 1864, many heavy artillery regiments in the Civil War were garrisoning the Washington defenses, including the Fifteenth New York. At the same time, newly minted Union general in chief Ulysses S. Grant sought to replenish the ranks of the Army of the Potomac, and the Fifteenth became one of the first outfits dispatched to Major General George Meade at Brandy Station.

Drawing on a wealth of previously unmined primary sources, Edward A. Altemos pays tribute to the Fifteenth, other heavy artillery regiments, and the thousands of immigrants who contributed to the Union army’s victory.

 


The Other Veterans of World War II

| Filed under: Award Winners, Military History, Recent Releases, U.S. History
The Other Veterans of World War II by Rona Simmons. The Kent State University Press

For decades, the dramatic stories of World War II soldiers have been the stuff of memoirs, inter­views, novels, documentaries, and feature films. Yet the men and women who served in less visible roles, never engaging in physical combat, have received scant attention. Convinced that their depiction as pencil pushers, grease monkeys, or cowards was far from the truth, Rona Simmons embarked on a quest to discover the real story from the noncombat veterans themselves.

 


A Young Sailor at War

| Filed under: Books, History, Military History, Recent Releases

While a number of published collections of World War II letters are available to readers, few rise to the level of war literature. But A Young Sailor at War: The World War II Letters of William R. Catton Jr. is remarkable for the narrative skill, exuberance, and candor of its letter writer, and for his youthful but thoughtful commentary. Edited by his son Theodore, Catton’s letters give us a truly intimate look into an essential piece of history.

 


War, Memory, and the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion

| Filed under: Civil War Era, Military History, Recent Releases, U.S. History
War, Memory and the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion by Thomas R. Flagel. Kent State University Press

This June 29–July 4 reunion drew over 55,000 official attendees plus thousands more who descended upon a town of 4,000 during the scorching summer of 1913, with the promise of little more than a cot and two blankets, military fare, and the presence of countless adversaries from a horrific war. Most were revisiting a time and place in their personal history that involved acute physical and emotional trauma.

 


Blue-Blooded Cavalryman 

| Filed under: Civil War Era, Civil War Soldiers and Strategies, Military History, Recent Releases, U.S. History
Blue-Blooded Cavalryman by J. Gregory Acken. Kent State University Press

In May 1863, eighteen-year-old William Brooke Rawle graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and traded a genteel, cultured life of privilege for service as a cavalry officer. Traveling from his home in Philadelphia to Virginia, he joined the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry and soon found himself in command of a company of veterans of two years’ service, some of whom were more than twice his age. Within eight weeks, he had participated in two of the largest cavalry battles of the war at Brandy Station and Gettysburg.

 


James Riley Weaver’s Civil War

, , and | Filed under: Civil War Era, Civil War Soldiers and Strategies, Military History, Recent Releases, U.S. History
James Riley Weaver's Civil War by Schlotterbeck, Wilson, Kawaue, and Klingensmith. Kent State University Press.

Captured on October 11, 1863, James Riley Weaver, a Union cavalry officer, spent nearly seventeen months in Confederate prisons. Remarkably, Weaver kept a diary that documents 666 consecutive days of his experience, including his cavalry duties, life in a series of prisons throughout the South, and his return to civilian life. It is an unparalleled eyewitness account of a crucial part of our history.

 


Meade

| Filed under: Civil War Era, Civil War Soldiers and Strategies, Military History, Recent Releases, U.S. History, Understanding Civil War History
Meade by John G. Selby. Kent State University Press

George Gordon Meade has not been treated kindly by history. Victorious at Gettysburg, the biggest battle of the American Civil War, Meade was the longest-serving commander of the Army of the Potomac, leading his army through the brutal Overland Campaign and on to the surrender of Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. Serving alongside his new superior, Ulysses S. Grant, in the last year of the war, his role has been overshadowed by the popular Grant. This first full-length study of Meade’s two-year tenure as commander of the Army of the Potomac brings him out of Grant’s shadow and into focus as one of the top three Union generals of the war.

 


At the Forefront of Lee’s Invasion

| Filed under: Audiobooks, Award Winners, Civil War Era, Civil War Soldiers and Strategies, Military History, Recent Releases, U.S. History, Understanding Civil War History
At the Forefront of Lee's Invasion by Robert J. Wynstra. Kent State University Press

After clearing Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley of Federal troops, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s bold invasion into the North reached the Maryland shore of the Potomac River on June 15, 1863. A week later, the Confederate infantry crossed into lower Pennsylvania, where they had their first sustained interactions with the civilian population in a solidly pro-Union state. Most of the initial encounters with the people in the lush Cumberland Valley and the neighboring parts of the state involved the men from the Army of Northern Virginia’s famed Second Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, who led the way as Lee’s veteran soldiers advanced north toward their eventual showdown with the Union army at the crossroads town of Gettysburg.

 


A Family and Nation Under Fire

| Filed under: Civil War in the North, Military History, U.S. History, Understanding Civil War History
A Family and Nation Under Fire/Georgiann Baldino. Kent State University Press

This collection of previously unpublished diaries and correspondence between Maj. William Medill and older brother Joseph, one of the influential owners of the Chicago Tribune, illuminates the Republican politics of the Civil War era. The brothers correct newspaper coverage of the war, disagree with official military reports, and often condemn Lincoln administration policies. When shots were fired at Fort Sumter, the Medills mobilized, unaware how their courage would be tested in the coming years.

 


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