When the Disney Company ended months of controversy in 1995 by deciding against locating its historic theme park near the National Battlefield Park in Manassas, Virginia, advocates of historic preservation had won their own battle but perhaps not their war.
Few places exemplify the problems of historic preservation as urgently as Manassas. The site of this Civil War battle, also known as Bull Run, has been encroached upon by plans for an interstate highway, a cemetery, a shopping mall, and two theme parks. As Washington continues its sprawl into the Virginia countryside, pressure...
When the Disney Company ended months of controversy in 1995 by deciding against locating its historic theme park near the National Battlefield Park...
On the morning of December 12, 1862, the Union gunboat Cairo, nosing her way up the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg, Mississippi, triggered two Confederate demijohn mines. Within minutes the 512-ton ironclad had sunk six fathoms to the muddy bottom with no loss of life-the first armored war vessel ever downed by an electronically activated mine. A whole new era of naval warfare had begun.
In Hardluck Ironclad Edwin Bearss tells how he and two other Civil War historians discovered the Cairo almost a century later-still intact at the bottom of the Yazoo, her big guns loaded and ready to fire,...
On the morning of December 12, 1862, the Union gunboat Cairo, nosing her way up the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg, Mississippi, triggered two Confede...
"Incredible ... Anyone interested in the hardship, frustration, and courage of soldiers at war will be enthralled by this book." -- James G. Hollandsworth, author of The Louisiana Native Guards
Until now, Union army colonel Nathan W. Daniels has been a forgotten man with a forgotten regiment. The white commanding officer of the 2nd Louisiana Native Guard Volunteers, a black regiment, he was removed with his men from mainland military activity and confined to obscure duty on Ship Island, ten miles off the coast of Mississippi. However, as Daniels' intriguing diary documents, despite an...
"Incredible ... Anyone interested in the hardship, frustration, and courage of soldiers at war will be enthralled by this book." -- James G. Hollan...
Seth Ledyard Phelps was of the Old Navy and the New. As a midshipman and junior officer he served under sail off West Africa, in the War with Mexico, and in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. As a senior office in the river squadrons of the Civil War he saw combat at its closest.
Phelps, a native of Chardon, Ohio, was a prolific and observant correspondent. His private letters, to his wife, his father, and to political patrons and other naval officers, are among the most compelling and descriptive extant.
The heart of Ironclad Captain are these letters, which Jay...
Seth Ledyard Phelps was of the Old Navy and the New. As a midshipman and junior officer he served under sail off West Africa, in the War with Mexic...
From the defense of Washington and the siege of Richmond, from Big Bethel to Cedar Creek, we observe the bravery and exploits of Vermont's farm-bred troops who turned the tide in pivotal battles to preserve the Union. More than 10 percent of Vermont's entire population-34,238 Green Mountain men and boys-served in the war, sustaining one of the largest per capita losses incurred by a Northern state.
From the defense of Washington and the siege of Richmond, from Big Bethel to Cedar Creek, we observe the bravery and exploits of Vermont's farm-bred t...
Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign from Brandy Station, VA, to Petersburg involved 100,000 men, 40-days, the battles of Second Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor, the Army of the Potomac, and a two-to-one casualty margin compared to the Confederates. Coffin weaves together stories of the participating military units, outlines the overall campaign, and gives voice to several hundred personalities on the battlefield and back home, primarily through diaries and letters. The family correspondence gives a glimpse into small-town Vermont life as well as life at the front.
Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign from Brandy Station, VA, to Petersburg involved 100,000 men, 40-days, the battles of Second Wilderness, Spotsylvania Co...
