A Short History of the Civil War

Ordeal by Fire

Fletcher Pratt

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780486297026
• eBook ISBN: 9780486320045
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

Novelist, historian, and critic Bernard De Voto calls this book the "best one-volume history of the Civil War I've ever read." David Madden, Director of the United States Civil War Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, considers it "the most powerful of all short histories of the Civil War published since the Depression." These and many other authorities have been won over by the author's profound grasp of the great conflict, and also by his conceptual power, narrative drive, and muscular prose.
Now Civil War buffs and general readers alike can enjoy the noted historian's audacious, staccato-like style as he brings the events, figures, and campaigns of the War Between the States vividly to life. Beginning in Washington, D.C., on the day of Lincoln's inauguration, the narrative moves swiftly on to the battles of Bull Run, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Wilderness, and, ultimately, to Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House.
Avoiding footnotes and other academic trappings, the author describes in absorbing, highly readable detail the drama of military campaigns and battlefield strategies, studding his narrative with fascinating anecdotes and asides on Lincoln, Grant, Lee, Sherman, Jackson, and other leaders. Enhanced with 50 maps of battle sites, this fascinating popular history will thrill any Civil War buff and will also appeal to a wide audience of general readers.

INDEX

A

Adairsville, Ga., 294; map 295

Adams, Charles F., Union ambassador, 45, 265, 266–267

Adams, Henry, on U. S. Grant, 221

Adams, John, Confederate general, 378

Alabama, Confederate cruiser, 265–266

Albemarle Sound, N. C., 49

Albert, Prince, 46

Alexander, E. P., Confederate general, 217

Alexander, Mrs., 17

Allatoona, Ga., 298–299; map 295; battle of, 366—367

Amelia Court House, Va., 402;

map 396

Anderson, Patton, Confederate general, at Perryville, 123

Anderson, R. H., Confederate general, at Antietam, 166; at Chancellorsville, 189–196; at Spottsylvania, 312, 314–317; in Petersburg campaign, 346–347

Andrew, John A., Governor of Massachusetts, 48, 365

Antietam, battle of, 165–168;

map 167

Antietam campaign, 160–169;

map 163

Appomattox campaign, 397–404

Appomattox Court House, Va., 403–404; map 396

Arkansas, secedes, 9

Arkansas Post, Ark., 142; map 139

Armistead, L. A., Confederate general, at Malvern Hill, 86; at Gettysburg, 219–220

Ashby’s Gap, Va., 82; map 81

Atlanta, Confederate ironclad, 263

Atlanta, Ga., 291; maps 295, 330, 332, 336, 339; battle of, 333–340; maps of battle, 330, 332, 336, 339; burned, 368

Atlanta campaign, 291–303, 329–340; maps 295, 330, 332, 336, 339

Augur, C. C., Union general, at Cedar Mt., 148

Augusta, Ga., 386

Averasboro, N. C., Battle of, 389

Averell, W. W., Union general, 164, 188, 355

B

Baird, A., Union general, at Chickamauga, 247–250, 260

Baker, Union colonel, 38

Baltimore, Md., riots in, 13

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 26; map 25

Banks, N. P., Union general, 75, 78; in Jackson’s Valley campaign, 82–83; in Second Bull Run campaign, 146, 148

Banks’ Ford, Va., 188–190;

map 190

Bartow, F. S., Confederate general, at Bull Run, 31, 33

Bayou Pierre river, map 223

Beacon Island, N. C., 49

Beaufort, S. C., 49

Beaufort’s Mills, S. C., 387

Beauregard, Confederate ram, 89–90

Beauregard, P. G. T., Confederate general, 10, 56, 88, 96; at Bull Run, 29–34; at Shiloh, 66; at Drury’s Bluffs, 319; at Petersburg, 347–348

Bee, B. E., Con...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface to the Dover Edition
• Contents
• Introduction
• Book I.   Darkness on the Deep
• Book II.  Genius in the Ascendant
• Book III. Man and Machine
• Book IV. To the Stars
• Index