Over fifty thousand Connecticut soldiers served in the Union army during the Civil War, yet their stories are nearly forgotten today. Among the regiments that served, at least forty sets of brothers perished from battlefield wounds or disease. Little known is the 16th Connecticut chaplain who, as prisoner of war, boldly disregarded a Rebel commander's order forbidding him to pray aloud for President Lincoln. Then there is the story of the 7th Connecticut private who murdered a fellow soldier in the heat of battle and believed the man's ghost returned to torment him. Seven soldiers from Connecticut tragically drowned two weeks after the war officially ended when their ship collided with another vessel on the Potomac. Join author John Banks as he shines a light on many of these forgotten Connecticut Yankees.

Over fifty thousand Connecticut soldiers served in the Union army during the Civil War, yet their stories are nearly forgotten today. Among the regiments that served, at least forty sets of brothers perished from battlefield wounds or disease. Little known is the 16th Connecticut chaplain who, as prisoner of war, boldly disregarded a Rebel commander's order forbidding him to pray aloud for President Lincoln. Then there is the story of the 7th Connecticut private who murdered a fellow soldier in the heat of battle and believed the man's ghost returned to torment him. Seven soldiers from Connecticut tragically drowned two weeks after the war officially ended when their ship collided with another vessel on the Potomac. Join author John Banks as he shines a light on many of these forgotten Connecticut Yankees.

Stories of New England soldiers who perished in this bloody battle, based on their diaries and letters. The Battle of Antietam, in September 1862, was the single bloodiest day of the Civil War. In the intense conflict and its aftermath across the farm fields and woodlots near Sharpsburg, Maryland, more than two hundred men from Connecticut died. Their grave sites are scattered throughout the Nutmeg State, from Willington to Madison and Brooklyn to Bristol. Here, author John Banks chronicles their mostly forgotten stories using diaries, pension records, and soldiers’ letters. Learn of Henry Adams, a twenty-two-year-old private from East Windsor who lay incapacitated in a cornfield for nearly two days before he was found; Private Horace Lay of Hartford, who died with his wife by his side in a small church that served as a hospital after the battle; and Captain Frederick Barber of Manchester, who survived a field operation only to die days later. This book tells the stories of these and many more brave Yankees who fought in the fields of Antietam. Includes photos

Winchester and Winsted once blossomed with commerce. From cheeses that were sold to the most exclusive restaurants in major cities to tourism that proclaimed "the lake's the thing," the towns thrived. The production of clocks, clothing, knives and gold- and silver-plated coffin trimmings helped establish the region's prominence. Famous names like Rockwell, Beardsley, Boyd, Gilbert and Strong highlight the town's history, not only due to their business acumen but also because of their philanthropy. Colonel Samuel B. Horne, who earned the Medal of Honor in the Civil War, along with noteworthy journalists and artists all made their home here. And then, in 1955, disaster struck. Join local historian and author Virginia Shultz-Charette as she recounts the town's development and how the great flood changed everything.

“A treasure trove for historians . . . A real addition to Civil War history” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). At the end of the American Civil War, most of the intelligence records disappeared—remaining hidden for over a century. As a result, little has been understood about the role of espionage and other intelligence sources, from balloonists to signalmen with their telescopes. When, at the National Archives, Edwin C. Fishel discovered long-forgotten documents—the operational files of the Army of the Potomac’s Bureau of Military Information—he had the makings of this, the first book to thoroughly and authentically examine the impact of intelligence on the Civil War, providing a new perspective on this period in history. Drawing on these papers as well as over a thousand pages of reports by General McClellan’s intelligence chief, the detective Allan Pinkerton, and other information, he created an account of the Civil War that “breaks much new ground” (The New York Times). “The former chief intelligence reporter for the National Security Agency brings his professional expertise to bear in this detailed analysis, which makes a notable contribution to Civil War literature as the first major study to present the war’s campaigns from an intelligence perspective. Focusing on intelligence work in the eastern theater, 1861–1863, Fishel plays down the role of individual agents like James Longstreet’s famous ‘scout,’ Henry Harrison, concentrating instead on the increasingly sophisticated development of intelligence systems by both sides. . . . Expertly written, organized and researched.” —Publishers Weekly “Fundamentally changes our picture of the secret service in the Civil War.” —The Washington Post

We Fought At Gettysburg follows the 17th Connecticut Regiment through the Gettysburg Campaign and beyond in June and July of 1863. William H. Warren dedicated his life to compiling the accounts of his comrades in the 17th Connecticut. Many are published here for the first time. These are the words of those who lived through the trauma of combat and survived to write about it. Many of these men were wounded, taken prisoner, lost friends, and suffered themselves on this great battlefield of the war. These men tell what they experienced at Gettysburg in their own words. They describe what they saw, thought, and felt on the battlefield. Their story is told here through fascinating firsthand accounts, numerous photographs, including a photographic index of the regiment, and maps by Phil Laino.

Read the history of Mystic, Connecticut, from quiet farming village to wartime shipbilding powerhouse, to the charming nautical- themed destination it is today. Tucked away in a natural port, Mystic has long been home to seagoing adventure. In A History of Mystic, Connecticut, author and former Mystic Seaport librarian Leigh Fought relates the compelling story of this picturesque coastal community. Forged from the brutal Pequot War, for years Mystic was a quiet little farming village. Then came the War of 1812. Mystic's upstart venture capitalists seized on the war's dislocations to transform the settlement into a shipbuilding powerhouse. The shipyards launched vessels by the hundreds and an industry was born. The Civil War, steam-powered ships and the decline of commercial whaling halted Mystic's shipbuilding boom. Yet the town recovered, transforming itself into the charming nautical-themed tourist destination that has enchanted millions. Read Fought's comprehensive narrative to discover Mystic's role in New England's thrilling maritime saga.

Pioneers and patriots, the Henderson family left behind a legacy of historical treasures in word and deed, allowing an unprecedented look into the past. Their Victorian-era plantation home, constructed in the 1800s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a living monument to those who walked its halls in an unbroken chain of five generations. Family patriarch Alexander Henderson arrived in Virginia in the 1700s, earning the title of Father of the American Chain Store, counting founding fathers George Washington and George Mason among his friends. He sent three of his sons to what was then the wilds of the Mid-Ohio Valley. The Hendersons took part in what may be the only duel recorded north of the Ohio River and played a role in thwarting the treasonous exploits of Aaron Burr. Some family members also served on both sides during the Civil War, surviving turmoil, treachery, and tragedy.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • An "extraordinary ... profoundly moving" history (The New York Times Book Review) of the American Civil War that reveals the ways that death on such a scale changed not only individual lives but the life of the nation. An estiated 750,000 soldiers lost their lives in the American Civil War. An equivalent proportion of today's population would be seven and a half million. In This Republic of Suffering, Drew Gilpin Faust describes how the survivors managed on a practical level and how a deeply religious culture struggled to reconcile the unprecedented carnage with its belief in a benevolent God. Throughout, the voices of soldiers and their families, of statesmen, generals, preachers, poets, surgeons, nurses, northerners and southerners come together to give us a vivid understanding of the Civil War's most fundamental and widely shared reality. With a new introduction by the author, and a new foreword by Mike Mullen, 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.