NF New to this

[Gandycreek]

Welcome

 

[WJC]

Welcome! As a newcomer, you might want to start with a good overview, like The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War. (New York: American Heritage Publishing Company, 1960), It's an old book, but still one of the best.
Another- or rather three more- oldies but goodies are the Centennial trilogy:

Bruce Catton, The Coming Fury. (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1961);
Bruce Catton, Terrible Swift Sword. (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1963);
Bruce Catton, Never Call Retreat. (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1965).​

I believe it is important to understand the background for the secession crisis of 1860/61 to better understand the complexities of the rebellion,. For this, I recommend David M. Potter, The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War 1848-1860. (New York: Harper Collins, Inc., 1976).
Check your local library: no need to buy these if they have them available.
However you choose to approach it, have fun! Be sure to use the members here as a resource to help answer any questions you have.

 

[ErnieMac]

For Gettysburg I would say that Turner, Trudeau or Stephen Sears Gettysburg are good starts. Edwin Coddington's Gettysburg: A Study in Command is excellent from a strategic / tactical sense, but gives little from the standpoint of the soldiers doing the fighting. One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863 by Eric J. Wittenberg, J. David Petruzzi, and Michael F. Nugent is an excellent account of the later stages of the campaign that is less well covered in other books.

 

[Deleted User CS]

Welcome from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A good starting Gettysburg book would be Allen Guelzo's and or Noah Andre Trudeau's books. A wonderful book on the whole American Civil War would be James McPherson's book entitled: "Battle Cry of Freedom." David.

 

[ErnieMac]

A comprehensive history to start with. For example, someone recommended Battle Cry of Freedom by McPherson. He any good?

McPherson is good, but many think that he allows his present day personal beliefs color his presentation. I'll let you judge that for yourself.

 

[veritasbulldog82]

Welcome from Missouri. I can't recommend any comprehensive books because they tend to be a real slog for me. I much prefer memoirs and my particular interest is the guerrilla war in Missouri. That might not be of interest to you.

Actually it would. I have never quite understood why so much fighting was done in lines instead of guerilla tactics. What would you recommend?

Also does, anyone know of a good book on Stand Watie? I heard he was a ruthless warrior.

 

[veritasbulldog82]

McPherson is good, but many think that he allows his present day personal beliefs color his presentation. I'll let you judge that for yourself.

Well, I can say that just from what I've heard about the man, I dislike him. I am very sympathetic to the South even though my state wasn't a state at the time. However, some of our Indian tribes sided with the South.

 

[AnnaLee]

Hello and welcome from Appomattox, Va.

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

Howdy and Welcome!

 

[Patrick H]

Actually it would. I have never quite understood why so much fighting was done in lines instead of guerilla tactics. What would you recommend?

Also does, anyone know of a good book on Stand Watie? I heard he was a ruthless warrior.

I've provided these links previously, but they're currently buried deep in a thread that is a couple of years old. I'll repeat:

To get the perspective of a Kansas historian of the early 1900s, read Connelley's "Quantrill and the Border Wars". Read the PDF version so you can see the footnotes, which are a voluminous and as full of information as the main text. In fact, I think the footnotes are better than the main text:
https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu//mu/islandora/object/mu:367470#page/3/mode/2up

Be advised that Connelley is one of the Quantrill demonizers, but he treats the rest of the boys reasonably fairly.

For an interesting eye witness account of a Quantrill scout, read John McCorckle's memoir. Realize that he dictated it in his old age and some of his recollections and dates were fuzzy. You can read it online or you can buy a newer edition from Amazon, annotated by Albert Castel, as I did. Castel clears up the fuzzy timelines and recollections. A link to the online version is here: https://archive.org/details/threeyearswithqu01mcco

For an interesting eye witness account of Bill Anderson's company, you can read Hamp Watts's memoir, "Babe of the Company":
http://digital.shsmo.org/cdm/ref/collection/amcw/id/15641

A very interesting eyewitness account of Quantrill's force and its various lieutenants was written by William Gregg at the request of William Elsey Connelley. When you read things about the Q. men from later authors, they are very often quoting from the Gregg manuscript. Gregg was a very capable lieutenant for Quantrill. He successfully led the rear guard action on the retreat from the Lawrence raid. He left Quantrill shortly afterward and went into regular Confederate service with Gen. J. O. Shelby. The typed transcription is somewhat laborious to read through, but it is very rewarding:
http://penningtons.tripod.com/charleythehorse2665-2.html#6

For a good profile of many of the Q. men by a 1950s - 60s Missouri scholar, you can read Richard Brownlee's "Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy" available on Amazon.

For a more recent Missouri response to Connolley's book, you can read "Civil War on the Missouri - Kansas Border" by Donald Gilmore, available on Amazon. Gilmore was the first author who made me think that those guerrillas were all individuals and should be evaluated as individuals--some bad, some good, some neutral, some impossible to understand.

For a very interesting account of guerrilla-like warfare in the far northeast quarter of Missouri, you can read "With Porter in North Missouri." Colonel Joseph Porter was a commissioned Confederate officer, sent to his old neighborhood in Missouri on a recruiting mission. He was a very successful recruiter, and raised a substantially large force. He was forced by circumstances to use them very much like a large guerrilla force. He finally crossed his force over the Missouri River and made it to Arkansas, where he was killed in a skirmish. The book is available at Amazon, or you can read it here:
https://archive.org/details/withporterinnort01mudd

For an eyewitness account of Federal sergeant Thomas Goodman, captured by Bloody Bill Anderson at the Centralia massacre, check this link:
https://archive.org/details/thrillingrecordf00good

Those ought to keep you busy until at least New Years Eve. There are many, many more sources. Good luck with them.

 

[kholland]

Welcome from Maryland. Edited.

​

 

[veritasbulldog82]

Welcome! As a newcomer, you might want to start with a good overview, like The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War. (New York: American Heritage Publishing Company, 1960), It's an old book, but still one of the best.
Another- or rather three more- oldies but goodies are the Centennial trilogy:

Bruce Catton, The Coming Fury. (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1961);
Bruce Catton, Terrible Swift Sword. (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1963);
Bruce Catton, Never Call Retreat. (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1965).​

I believe it is important to understand the background for the secession crisis of 1860/61 to better understand the complexities of the rebellion,. For this, I recommend David M. Potter, The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War 1848-1860. (New York: Harper Collins, Inc., 1976).
Check your local library: no need to buy these if they have them available.
However you choose to approach it, have fun! Be sure to use the members here as a resource to help answer any questions you have.

Excellent reply. Now I really have some material to look for. When it comes to the war, like any historical subject I can't stand when people try to read back 20th century sensibilities or politics into it. It just ruins it. Take slavery. I don't agree with it, but I want to learn about the war and the reasons the people fought, not about whether someone was right or wrong about this or that. To quote Joe Friday, "Just the facts, ma'am."

Sadly, the public library stinks. I find it almost impossible to find 75% of the books I want to read there. I am in between jobs right now so I can't buy any books so this is doubly frustrating. They only have one of the Bruce Catton books (and of course, it's the last one so I can't read it without reading the first two) and they don't have the Potter book. Sigh.

 

[WJC]

I can't stand when people try to read back 20th century sensibilities or politics into it.

Thanks for your response.
Keep an open mind and avoid projecting today's sensibilities on the conflict.
We are fortunate that many myths once prevalent even fifty years ago have fallen by the wayside. Still, beware of attempts to make the conflict into something it was not.

 

[veritasbulldog82]

Excellent reply. Now I really have some material to look for. When it comes to the war, like any historical subject I can't stand when people try to read back 20th century sensibilities or politics into it. It just ruins it. Take slavery. I don't agree with it, but I want to learn about the war and the reasons the people fought, not about whether someone was right or wrong about this or that. To quote Joe Friday, "Just the facts, ma'am."

Thanks for your response.
Keep an open mind and avoid projecting today's sensibilities on the conflict.
We are fortunate that many myths once prevalent even fifty years ago have fallen by the wayside. Still, beware of attempts to make the conflict into something it was not.

Make it into something it was not? What do you mean?

 

[WJC]

Make it into something it was not? What do you mean?

Thanks for your response.
It was not 'Gone with the Wind', neither in terms of the carefree, idyllic, cultured South nor the evil, money-grabbing, unholy North.

 

[veritasbulldog82]

Thanks for your response.
It was not 'Gone with the Wind', neither in terms of the carefree, idyllic, cultured South nor the evil, money-grabbing, unholy North.

I never thought it was.