From
The Civil War Home Chatroom
"Book Chats"
From
The Civil War Home Chatroom
These are Civil War book discussions that were scheduled and held in the Civil War Home Chatroom. What you see is the chat between the members as it occurred. Each session consisted of discussing 2 or 3 chapters of the selected book and lasted about 1-1 1/2 hours.
The Devil Knows How To Ride
The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill and His Confederate Raiders
by
Edward E. Leslie". . .When Quantrill first became involved in the ongoing strife on the Kansas-Missouri border in 1860, he was only twenty-two years old. Many of the Missourians who joined his guerrilla band in later years were teenagers and so were even more immature than he was. . ."
Table of Contents
1. The War Over Kansas Territory, 1854-1861
(Chat for Chapters 1,2, & 3)
3. Quantrill's Western Travels5. Quantrill Becomes a Guerrilla
7. The Raid on Independence
(Chat for Chapters 7, 8, & )9. The Lawrence Massacre
11. The Baxter Springs Massacre
13. Anderson and Todd During the Summer
and Fall of 186415. The Postwar Years
2. Quantrill's Family Background and Early Years 4. The Morgan Walker Raid
(Chat for Chapters 4,5, & 6)6. Ambushes and Reprisals
8. Prelude to the Lawrence Massacre
10. The Pursuit of Quantrill and the Issuing of Order No. 11
(Chat for Chapters 10 & 11)
12. The Usurpation of Quantrill
(Chat for Chapters 12 & 13)
14. The Death of Quantrill
(Chat for Chapters 14 & 15)
Gettysburg, The Second Day
By
Harry W. Pfanz". . . .The second day's fighting at Gettysburg -- the assault of the Army of Northern Virginia against the Army of the Potomac on July 2, 1863 -- was probably the critical engagement of that decisive battle. . . ."
Table of Contents
1. From the Potomac to Pennsylvania
(Chat for Chapters 1,2, & 3)
3. The Army of the Potomac5. The Third Corps, Morning, 2 July
7. Sickles Takes Up the Forward Line
(Chat for Chapters 7 & 8)9. Devil's Den
(Chat for Chapters 9 & 10)11. The Opening Attack in the Wheatfield
(Chat for Chapters 11 & 12)13. McLaws Strikes the Peach Orchard
(chat for Chapters 13 & 14)15. Anderson's Division Attacks
(chat on the remainder of the book)17. Epilogue
2. The Army of Northern Virginia
4. Meade's Scattered Corps Assemble
(Chat for Chapters 4,5,& 6)6. Confederate Preparations, 2 July
8. Longstreet's Corps Opens the Attack
10. Little Round Top
12. The Confederates Seize the Wheatfield
14. From the Peach Orchard to Cemetery Ridge
16. The Repulse
Lincoln At Gettysburg
The Words That Remade America
By
Garry Wills". . . Lincoln found the language , the imagery, the myths that are given their best and briefest embodiment at Gettysburg. In order to penetrate the mystery of his "refounding" act, we must study all the elements of that stunning verbal coup. Without Lincoln's knowing it himself, all his prior literary, intellectual, and political labors had prepared him for the intellectual revolution contained in those fateful 272 words. . . "
Table of Contents
Prologue-Business in Gettysburg
(Chat for Prologue & Chapter 1)2. Gettysburg and the Culture of Death
(Chat for Chapters 2 & 3)4. Revolution In Thought
(Chat for Chapters 4 & 5)Epilogue - The Other Address
(chat for Epilogue and Appendices I & II)Appendices
I. What Lincoln Said: The Text
II. Where He Said It: The Site
III. Four Funeral Orations
(Chat for Appendix III)1. Oratory of the Greek Revival
3. The Transcendental Declaration
5. Revolution in Style
Lincoln's Sanctuary
Abraham Lincoln and the Soldier's Home
By
Matthew Pinsker". . . . .After the heartbreaking death of his son Willie, Abraham Lincoln and his family fled the gloom that hung over the White House, moving into a small cottage in Washington, D.C., on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home, a residence for disabled military veterans. . . . . .Lincoln lived at the Soldiers' Home for a quarter of his presidency, and for nearly half of the critical year of 1862, but most Americans (including many scholars) have not heard of the place. . . . ."
Table of Contents
Introduction - I see the President Part One 1862
Chapter 1. Gone to the Country
(Chat for the Introduction, Chapters 1 & 2)Chapter 3. Forever free
(Chat for Chapters 3 & 4)Part Two 1863
Chapter 5. Mother very slightly hurt
(Chat for Chapters 5 & 6)Part Three
Chapter 7. Present at Fort Stevens
(Chat for Chapters 7, 8, & 9)Chapter 9. Whatever is, is right
Chapter 2. Am I to have no rest?
Chapter 4. Capt. D and his company
Chapter 6. In fine whack
Chapter 8. Damned in time & in eternity
Conclusion - There is something else there
(Chat for Conclusion)
Covered With Glory
The 26th North Carolina Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg
By
Rod Gragg". . . .The 26th North Carolina has the dubious distinction of appearing in Fox’s Regimental Losses of the American Civil War, 1861-1865 as having suffered "the severest regimental loss during the Civil War." In just two days of battle, July 1st on McPherson’s Ridge and on the 3rd in the front ranks of Pettigrew’s charge at Gettysburg, the Tar Heels lost over 680 casualties of the 800-plus engaged. . . ."
Table of Contents
Introduction - I Was Once a Soldier 1. Good, Honest American Stock
(Chat for Chapters 1 & 2)3. We are on Our Way
(Chat for Chapters 3 & 4)5. Summer Is Ended
(Chat for Chapters 5 & 6)7. Covered with Glory
(Chat for Chapters 7, 8, 9, & 10)9. All Were Willing to Die
11. Unconquered in Spirit
(Chat for chapter 11 and Epilogue)
2. Into the Jaws of Certain Death
4. May the Good Lord Take Care of the Pore Soldiers
6. Like Wheat Before the Sickle
8. The Sickening Horrors of War
10. Terrible as an Army with Banners
Epilogue - Steadfast to the Last
A Little Short of Boats
The Fights at Ball's Bluff and Edwards Ferry
By
James A. Morgan III". . . .to the victorious Confederates, it was the Battle of Leesburg. The badly beaten Federals named it for the imposing fortress-like rocky precipice on the northern side of the Potomac near Washington, D.C. - Ball's Bluff. Fought three months to the day after First Manassas (bull run) and another in a long line of Federal defeats during the first year of the war - the battle was, as author James Morgan puts it, "a reconnaissance mission gone bad. . . ."
Table of Contents
Introduction I. All Quiet Along The Potomac
(Chat for Chapters 1,2, & 3)3. At the First Symptom of Light
5. A Little Short of Boats
7. No Lizards Ever Got Closer to the Ground Than We Did
Conclusion: Success to the Right
2. A Slight Demonstration
4. None Too Good to Die In
(Chat for Chapters 4 & 5)6. With the Steady Tread of Veterans
(Chat For Chapters 6 & 7)8. Where All Was Lost Excepting Honor
(Chat For Chapter 8 & Conclusion)
Honor's Voice
The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln
By
Douglas L. Wilson". . .Abraham Lincoln's extraordinary rise from rural obscurity to become the greatest of American presidents has long been the stuff of romance and legend. But Lincoln's trajectory was in fact neither smooth nor inevitable, as historian Douglas L. Wilson demonstrates in this superb re-creation of the crucial years between 1831 and 1842, when the young Lincoln almost miraculously transformed himself from a small-town shopkeeper into “a man to be reckoned with.. . .”
Table of Contents
Introduction (Chat for Introduction and Chapters 1 & 2)
New Salem (1831-37) 2. Self-Education
4. Women
Springfield (1837-42)
6. Springfield
(Chat for Chapters 6 & 7)
8. The Mary Todd "Embrigglement"
(Chat for Chapters 8, 9, & 10)10. Transitions and Transformation Notes Acknowledgments Index
1. Wrestling with the Evidence
3. Finding a Vocation
(Chat for Chapters 3, 4, & 5)
5. Breaking in Politics
7. Campaign and Courtship
9. Honor
For Cause & For Country:
A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill and the Battle of Franklin
by
Eric Jacobson and Richard Rupp". . .concentrates on arguably the two most important days of the campaign. These two days, the last 48 hours of November 1864, saw the seemingly inexplicable lost opportunity at Spring Hill and the tragic bloodbath at Franklin a day later. Prior to this, Jacobson recounts the initial maneuverings of both armies as they struggled with distances, logistical problems, and weather. . . ."
Table of Contents
(Chat for Chapter 1) 3. The Roads to Spring Hill
(Chat for Chapter 3)5. The Legend and Legacy of Spring Hill
(Chat for Chapters 5 & 6)7. We Will Make the Fight
(Chat for Chapters 7 & 8)
9. I Thought I Knew What Fighting Was11. The Whole Thing is Inexplicable
2. The March to The Ohio
(Chat for Chapter 2)4. Passing Right Through Hood’s Army
(Chat for Chapter 4)6. The Gathering Storm
8. The Devil Had Full Possession of the Earth10. Defeat in a Blaze of Glory
12. Now There Can Be Peace
No Better Place To Die
by
Peter Cozzens"Peter Cozzens meticulously traces the chain of events as the Army of the Cumberland and the Army
of Tennessee meet in Middle Tennessee on New Year's Eve 1862 in one of the bloodiest encounters of the Civil War. "
Table of Contents1.Summer of Hope, Autumn of Despair
(Chat for Chapters 1, 2, & 3)
3. A Hasty Advance
5. To Murfreesboro
7. Boys, This is Fun
(Chat for Chapters 7, 8, & 9)
9. The Rebels Were Falling Like Leaves of Autumn11. Our Boys Were Forced Back in Confusion
13. We Laid to Rest Poor Boys Gone
(Chat for Chapters 13, 14, 15, & 16)15. The Army Should be Promptly Put
in Retreat2. The Rosecrans Touch
4. We Lived Like Lords
(Chat for Chapters 4, 5, & 6)6. The Lines Were Forming
8. Matters Looked Pretty Blue Now10. Rosecrans Rallies the Right
(Chat for Chapters 10, 11, & 12)
12. Whirlwind in the Round Forest14. Thunder on the Left
16. Bragg's Army? He's Got None
Tennessee's Forgotten Warriors
Frank Cheatham and His Confederate Division
by
Christopher LossonLosson traces Cheatham's life from his family background to his death, but 225 of the book's 288 pages of text deal with the Civil War years. Cheatham's "enthusiasm for horse racing, cursing, and the occasional bottle all served to reinforce the idea that Cheatham was, in certain respects, not unlike the men he led." His bravery on the battlefield and concern for his wounded men gave Cheatham a place in their hearts. Losson relies on manuscripts, newspapers, and memoirs for most of his material. Since Cheatham left almost no personal papers behind, this biography is one-dimensional. Losson sticks with readily available facts about the Army of Tennessee to write a narrow military history of its campaigns.
Table of Contents
1. From Nashville to Mexico City
(Chat for Chapters 1, 2, & 3)
3. ”Old Frank Is One of the Boys”:
Shiloh and Its Aftermath
2. ”One of the Wickedest Men I Ever Heard Speak”:
The 1850s and the Onset of the Civil War
A Bohemian Brigade
The Civil War Correspondents
by
James M. PerryA familiar figure on the modern battlefield is the combat correspondent, that hard-bitten, cynical journalist who chews on cigars and bullets and brings the smoke and gore back home. So the stereotype goes--and with basis in fact, as historian James Perry shows in this vigorous history of reporters on the front lines of the American Civil War.
Table of Contents
1. The World's Greatest War Correspondent.
(Chat for Chapters 1 & 2)3. Bull Run from the Front.
(Chat for Chapters 3 & 4)5. Out West.
(Chat for Chapters 5 & 6)7. A Very Angry General.
(Chat for Chapters 7 & 8)9. Prisoners of War.
(Chat for Chapters 9,10, & 11)11. The Jolly Congress.
13. The Reporter Who Was Kissed by Lincoln.
15. The Fall of Richmond.
2. Bull Run from the Rear.
4. The Three Graces: Greeley, Bennett, and Raymond.
6. Afloat.
8. The Court-Martial.
10. Grant Finds a Reporter.
12. Gettysburg.
(Chat for Chapters 12 & 13)14. There Is to Be No Turning Back 3 . .
(Chat for Chapters 12 & 13)Epilogue.
Stealing The General
The Great Locomotive Chase and The First Medal of Honor
by
Russell S. BondsStealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor is the dramatic true story of the Civil War raid that resulted in the first award of the nation's highest decoration for valor.
On April 12, 1862—one year to the day after Confederate guns opened on Fort Sumter and started the Civil War—a tall, mysterious smuggler and self-appointed Union spy named James J. Andrews and nineteen infantry volunteers infiltrated north Georgia and stole a steam engine called the General. Racing northward at speeds approaching sixty miles an hour, cutting telegraph lines and destroying track along the way, Andrews planned to open East Tennessee to the Union army, cutting off men and materiel from the Confederate forces in Virginia. If they succeeded, Andrews and his raiders could change the course of the war.
But the General's young conductor, William A. Fuller, chased the stolen train first on foot, then by handcar, and finally aboard another engine, the Texas. He pursued the General until, running out of wood and water, Andrews and his men abandoned the doomed locomotive, ending the adventure that would soon be famous as The Great Locomotive Chase. But the ordeal of the soldiers involved was just beginning. In the days that followed, the "engine thieves" were hunted down and captured. Eight were tried and executed as spies, including Andrews. Eight others made a daring escape to freedom, including two assisted by a network of slaves and Union sympathizers. For their actions, before a personal audience with President Abraham Lincoln, six of the raiders became the first men in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor—the nation's highest decoration for gallantry.
Table of Contents
Preface: "The Boldest Adventure of the War"
PART I The Tlan
I. The Bridge Burners
(Chat for Chapters 1 & 2)
3. The Heart of Dixie
(Chat for Chapters 3 & 4)
PART II The Chase
5. All Aboard
(Chat for Chapters 5 & 6)
7. The Crookedest Road Under the Sun
(Chat for Chapters 7,8 & 9)
9. A Trial of Speed
PART III Consequences
11. Court-Martial
13. Heaven or Cincinnati
PART IV Valor
15. The Medal of Honor
(Chat for Chapters 15, 16, & Caboose)
Caboose
2. Old Stars
4. An Uncompromising and Violent Union Man
6. "Someone is Running Off with Your Train!"
8. The Texas
10. "Every Man for Himself!"
(Chat for Chapters 10 & 11)
12. The Horrors of the Gibbet
(Chat for Chapters 12, 13, & 14)
14. "A Damned Long Ways from Camp"
16. The General Rides Again
Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston, and the Beginning of the Civil War
By
David DetzerAn original and deeply human portrait of soldiers and civilians caught in the vortex of war.
So vividly does Allegiance re-create the events leading to the firing of the first shot of the Civil War on April 12, 1861, that we can feel the fabric of the Union tearing apart. It is a tense and surprising story, filled with indecisive bureaucrats, uninformed leaders, hotheaded politicians, and dedicated and honorable soldiers on both sides.
The six-month-long agony that began with Lincoln's election in November sputtered from one crisis to the next until Lincoln's inauguration, and finally exploded as the soldiers at Sumter neared starvation. At the center of this dramatic narrative is the heroic figure of Major Robert Anderson, a soldier whose experience had taught him above all that war is the poorest form of policy. With little help from Washington, D.C., Anderson almost single-handedly forestalled the beginning of the war until he finally had no choice but to fight.
David Detzer's decade-long research illuminates the passions that led to the fighting, the sober reflections of the man who restrained its outbreak, and individuals on both sides who changed American history. No other historian has given us a clearer or more intimate picture of the human drama of Fort Sumter.
Table of Contents
Foreword
1. Asunder
(Chat for Chapters 1,2, & 3)
3. Salad Days5. Twilight of the Old Union
7. Slim Pickens, Stout Fort
(Chat for Chapters 7,8, & 9)
9. Dueling Flags
11. Hostages
13. Takes Two to Tango, But One Can Do the
Twist All Alone
(Chat for Chapters 13,14, & 15)15. That Little Bridge
17. Ashes and Dust
Mystic Cords of Memory: A Postscript
2. A Gentle Man
4. The Fulcrum
(Chat for Chapters 4,5, & 6)
6. Commanders and Chiefs
8. Eventide
10. The Wolf at the Door
(Chat for Chapters 10,11, & 12)12. The Boys on the Beach
14. The Yellow Brick Road
16. A Mere Point of Honor
(Chat for Chapters 15,16, & Postscript)
Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America
By
Andrew FergusonAbraham Lincoln was our greatest president and perhaps the most influential American who ever lived. But what is his place in our country today? In Land of Lincoln, Andrew Ferguson packs his bags and embarks on a journey to the heart of contemporary Lincoln Nation, where he encounters a world as funny as it is poignant, and a population as devoted as it is colorful. In small-town Indiana, Ferguson drops in on the national conference of Lincoln presenters, 175 grown men who make their living (sort of) by impersonating their hero. He meets the premier collectors of Lincoln memorabilia, prized items of which include Lincoln’s chamber pot, locks of his hair, and pages from a boyhood schoolbook. He takes his wife and children on a trip across the long-defunct Lincoln Heritage Trail, a driving tour of landmarks from Lincoln’s life. This book is an entertaining, unexpected, and big-hearted celebration of Lincoln’s enduring influence on our country--and the people who help keep his spirit alive.
Table of Contents
1. When Lincoln came back to Richmond
(Chat for Chapters 1 & 2)
3. The Past Isn't What It Used to Be.
(Chat for Chapters 3, & 4)
5. The Magic of Stuff
(Chat for Chapters 5 & 6)
7. Abe Lincoln and the Secret of Success
(Chat for Chapters 7 & 8)
9. A Whole Lotta Lincoln
(Chat for Chapters 9 &10)
2. Billy Herndon and the Inner Mr. L.
4. The Kingmaker's Wife, The Emotional Engineer, and the
Triumph of Fun
6. A Sea of Lincolns
8. Hot On the Trail
10. In Defense of the Icon
Jeff Davis, American
By
William J. Cooper, Jr.Both a devoted American and a wealthy plantation owner who thought slavery to be a moral and social good, Jefferson Davis is one of the most complex and compelling political figures in the nation's history. Davis's duplicitous nature is at the heart of JEFFERSON DAVIS, AMERICAN, William J. Cooper's exhaustive biography of the former president of the Confederacy. Cooper bases his work on the extensive archival record left by Davis and his family and associates. JEFFERSON DAVIS, AMERICAN is a critical and sympathetic account of the controversial statesman.
Table of Contents
Prologue: The Saddest Day of My Life
(Chat for Chapters 1, 2 & 3)
3. Ever Ready to Render My Best Services
5. It Was What I Wished
7. At Present All is Uncertainty
Chat for Chapters 7, 8 & 9)9. I. . . .Have a Field of Usefulness
11. Our Cause is Just and Holy
13. Lift Men Above All Personal Considerations
15. The Issue Is. . Very Painful For Me To Meet
17. These Days of Our Hard Fortune
19. There is Much Preparation
2. Put Away the Grog
4. Located in a Very Retired Place
(Chat for Chapters 4, 5 & 6)6. It May Be That I Will Return With a Reputation
8. The Cloud Which Has Collected
10. The Darkest Hour12. The Noblest Cause in Which Man Can Be Engaged
14. We Are Fighting For Existence
16. I Have Not Sunk Under My Trials
18. The Duty of Doing Justice to the Cause
Epilogue. Esto Perpetua
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