Northerners, Southerners, generals, couriers, dreaming boys, and worried sisters describe the glory, the horror, the thrill, and the disillusionment of the first battle of the Civil War.

America's Civil War raged for more than four years, but it is the three days of fighting in the Pennsylvania countryside in July 1863 that continues to fascinate, appall, and inspire new generations with its unparalleled saga of sacrifice and courage. From Chancellorsville, where General Robert E. Lee launched his high-risk campaign into the North, to the Confederates' last daring and ultimately-doomed act, forever known as Pickett's Charge, the battle...

In this gripping telling of the first "great and terrible" battle of the Civil War, Groom describes the dramatic events of April 6 and 7, 1862, when a bold surprise attack on Ulysses S. Grant's encamped troops and the bloody battle that ensued would alter the timbre of the war.

Uses a variety of contemporary materials to describe and illustrate the early battles in the Civil War from the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861 to the conflict at Fredericksburg at the end of 1862.

By May 1864, General Robert E. Lee had been transformed from a young soldier into a gray-haired patriarch of the Confederate cause. As Lee struggled to keep his ragged soldiers alive, he faced pressure from two fronts. Grant's Union Army not only had superior numbers, but a steadfast infra-structure or railroads and industrialized supply routes. Lee's Last Campaign is a triumph of historic research and elegant writing. In this essential analysis of...

The high command of the Army of the Potomac was a changeable, often dysfunctional band of brothers, going through the fires of war under seven commanding generals in three years, until Grant came east in 1864. The men in charge all too frequently appeared to be fighting against the administration in Washington instead of for it, increasingly cast as political pawns facing down a vindictive congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War. President...

Examines the events preceding, during, and after the Battle of Antietam in 1862.

General Robert E. Lee was a complicated man and military figure. In Robert E. Lee, Noah Andre Trudeau follows the general's Civil War path with a special emphasis on Lee's changing set of personal values as the conflict wended through four bloody years and by exploring his famous skills as a crafty and daring tactician. Trudeau adds a fresh perspective toward understanding a major figure in American history who remains decidedly an enigma.

An educational collection of amazing-but-true facts about the Civil War shares accounts of such events as female spies fighting for the Rebel cause, cavalry rides in enemy territory, and the reelection of President Lincoln.