From First to Last is complete life story of one of the most controversial yet least well known generals on either side during the Civil War. The number one graduate of the West Point class of 1843, William Buel Franklin served in the U.S. Army's Corps of Topographical Engineers and contributed greatly to the building of the nation's internal improvements, including a stint as chief engineer in charge of construction of the U.S. Capitol's dome and extension from 1859 to 1861. During the Civil War Franklin ascended rapidly in rank and command authority, from command of a Union brigade at Bull...

The Great War remembered

"This book is not a history of World War I, nor is it a history of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front. Rather, it is a collection of essays that examines how the wartime generation and those that followed have remembered or commemorated individuals, groups, and military organizations that comprised the AEF."
--from the Preface

When the United States declared war in April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson sent the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) under the command of General John Pershing to the Western...

A resident historian's reflections on the Civil War's most famous battle

The Gettysburg Campaign and its culminating battle have generated more than their share of analysis and published works. In My Gettys-burg, Civil War scholar and twenty-six-year Gettysburg resident Mark Snell goes beyond the campaign itself to explore the "culture" of the battlefield. In this fascinating collection, Snell provides an intriguing interpretation of some neglected military aspects of the battle, such as a revisionist study of Judson Kilpatrick's decision to launch...