Civil War Books - I need help please in selection

[Arrow]

I want to begin a study of the Civil War and would apprecitate any help any one can give me in regard to my selection of books...

Thank you in advance...

Arrow>>>>>>

[chilidog]

Sparrow,
"Lee's Lieutenants" by Douglas S. Freeman is an absoulute must for the Eastern Theater. It is the "knowall-tellall" of the Army of Northern Virginia. It is a 3-volume set. It's a lot of reading for a slow-poke like me, but it really changed my thinking. I didn't see all 3 volumes at amazon, but here's a link to 2 of them. You can at least see what they are about.

Amazon.com:
Amazon.com:

The "Official Records" are good if you are patient enough to wade through archives. You can find a lot of things that never show up in books. http://www.guildpress.com

Knowing your personality and how sensitive you are to the human side of things, you should definitely read "Co Aytch" by Sam R. Watkins. No grand strategies here; just a personal grunt's story.

Amazon.com: Used and New: "Co_ Aytch," A Side...
Amazon.com: Used and New: "Co_ Aytch," A Side...

Chilidog

[Arrow]

Thank you Chilidog I will check them out. I am very interested in the offical record site and will spend some time there too. I appreciate your response.

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[Keith_Hixson]

Are an absolute must!

"The coming Fury, Grant moves South, Mr. Lincoln's Army, Glory Road, This Hallowed Ground, Never Call Retreat"

You cannot consider yourself a Civil War Scholar unless you read Bruce Catton.

All great books. Very detailed. Scholarly.

Lee's Leutenants is a great book. Easier reading than Catton's books.

There are hundred's of books out there some are easy reading others aren't so easy reading.

I like Lincoln's biography by Sandberg.

Keith

[Arrow]

Thank you Pastor Keith. I don't know if I will ever be a scholar on the Civil War but I certainly need to be more informed. If I can compile a good list here I will at least be headed in the right direction. I'll be sure to check Catton's books out.

[Desdichado]

I will echo the Bruce Catton suggestion. He's perfect for an intro. He covers it all and has a really good literary style that is both moving and easy to read. He's one of the few who is really passionate about his subject, yet remains totally objective. His description of the Wilderness battle was one of the most moving passages I think I've ever read. I had to put the book down and take a walk and try to get the imagery out of my head.

After reading him for starters, you'll probably want to let the subject matter guide you. Personally, I like reading the memoirs and letters. They really knew how to turn a phrase back then. Sullivan Balloo's last letter to his wife before he got hisself killed at First Manassas could make a stone weep.

Avoid anything that looks like it has a point to make; those are usually crap and totally biased.

Dear Sarah,

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps tomorrow, and lest I should not be able to write you again I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I am no more. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how American civilization now leans upon the triumph of the government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of The Revolution, and I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government and to pay that debt.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence can break. And yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistible with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all the blissful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me and I feel most deeply grateful to God and you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes and future years when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and see our boys grown up to honorable manhood around us.

If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you, nor that when my last breath escapes me in the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How houghtless, how foolish I have sometimes been! But, oh, Sarah - if the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they love, I shall always be with you in the brightest day and the darkest night - always, always. And when the soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath - with the cool air your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead, think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again.


(One week later, Major Sullivan Balloo was killed in the first battle of Bull Run)

Wish I could write a letter like that...

[BLUEHAWK]

Little Sparrow -

Fastest surest most direct route would be to PM Tamaroa...

[MORTARDUDE]

Sis :

I have about 300+ books and magazines on the subject. PM me on what your are interested in, and I will send a box full that you are welcome to borrow for as long as necessary...I recently got some reprints of Confederate Veteran Magazine ( UCV ) from the early part of the 20th century on eBay. As luck would have it, the first story I opened to was about a soldier who grew up very near my great-grandfather in Hardeman Co. TN. I have a little bit of everything about the Civil War. This offer is open to anyone else as well. I will pay book rate postage your way and you pay on the return...It is cheap and fast..

Good luck,

Larry

[Tamaroa]

There are different authors that weave incredible tales but it depends on your current knowledge and where you want to go. As others have done, I would strongly recommend Bruce Catton. He is a master story teller. His trilogy of the Army of the Potomac is the best I have ever read (Glory Road, Mr. Lincoln's Army and Stillness at Appomattox.

You get a great feel of the eastern theater from those books. More broadbased would be Catton's three volume Centennial history of the Civil War (The Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword, Never Call Retreat).

If you are more in to the academia side, Alan Nevin's Series "Ordeal of the Union" is a scholarly study of the war.

If you want a balanced approach, I wouldn't go with Lee's Lieutenants right away. Freeman is good but you get little of the Yankee side in it.

Battles and Leaders of the Civil war is a great book. It is first hand accounts by the participants themselves and it covers both sides.

I would also recommend memoirs such as:

Hard Tack and Coffee John D. Billings
Gone for a Soldier Alfred Bellard
13 Months in the Rebel Army William G. Stephenson.
Minutae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia
by Carlton McCarthy.
Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade John O. Casler
Letters and Papers of an Artilleryman in the Army of Northern Virginia by Ham Chamberlayne.
U.S. Grant's Autobiography

And many many more :-)

Bill

P.S. I have tons of Civil War periodicals that I will be giving to the library to clear out my house. If you want them give me your address back channel and I will mail them to you. You can keep them if you like or if not, pass them on to anyone who is interested. I need to clear out my house, but I can't bear the thought of throwing these out. Most periodics have biographic stories of major players. They have sections on battles and preservation issues as well.

[DMZ-LT]

Killer Angels. You 'll remember it forever