From the Civil War's Battle of Gettysburg to the Gulf War's brilliantly orchestrated, 100-hour AirLand Battle, award-winning Army historian Colonel J.D. Morelock brings a lifetime of research and military experience to fourteen in-depth accounts of the world's most important battles. With rare insight and "you are there" immediacy, he captures the drama and excitement of each confrontation--from the vast historical perspective of global events, to the ever-changing developments in strategy, weaponry and technology, to the personal contributions of commanders and soldiers whose individual stories of courage reveal the human side of war. An invaluable addition to every military library

Like no other conflict in our history, the Civil War casts a long shadow onto modern America," writes David Eicher. In his compelling new account of that war, Eicher gives us an authoritative modern single-volume battle history that spans the war from the opening engagement at Fort Sumter to Lee's surrender at Appomattox (and even beyond, to the less well-known but conclusive surrender of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith in Galveston, Texas, on June 2, 1865). Although there are other one-volume histories of the Civil War -- most notably James M. McPherson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom, which puts the war in its political, economic, and social context -- The Longest Night is strictly a military history. It covers hundreds of engagements on land and sea, and along rivers. The Western theater, often neglected in accounts of the Civil War, and the naval actions along the coasts and major rivers are at last given their due. Such major battles as Gettysburg, Antietam, and Chancellorsville are, of course, described in detail, but Eicher also examines lesser-known actions such as Sabine Pass, Texas, and Fort Clinch, Florida. The result is a gripping popular history that will fascinate anyone just learning about the Civil War while at the same time offering more than a few surprises for longtime students of the War Between the States. The Longest Night draws on hundreds of sources and includes numerous excerpts from letters, diaries, and reports by the soldiers who fought the war, giving readers a real sense of life -- and death -- on the battlefield. In addition to the main battle narrative, Eicher analyzes each side's evolving strategy and examines the tactics of Lee, Grant, Johnston, Sherman, and other leading figures of the war. He also discusses such militarily significant topics as prisons, railroads, shipbuilding, clandestine operations, and the expanding role of African Americans in the war. The Longest Night is a riveting, indispensable history of the war that James McPherson in the Foreword to this book calls "the most dramatic, violent, and fateful experience in American history."

The greatest military historian of our time gives a peerless account of America’s most bloody, wrenching, and eternally fascinating war. In this magesterial history and national bestseller, John Keegan shares his original and perceptive insights into the psychology, ideology, demographics, and economics of the American Civil War. Illuminated by Keegan’s knowledge of military history he provides a fascinating look at how command and the slow evolution of its strategic logic influenced the course of the war. Above all, The American Civil War gives an intriguing account of how the scope of the conflict combined with American geography to present a uniquely complex and challenging battle space. Irresistibly written and incisive in its analysis, this is an indispensable account of America’s greatest conflict.

Beginning with the first battle at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861, when the Confederacy's General Pierre G.T. Beauregard and the Union's Major Robert Anderson began the war, and ending with the last battle when the thoroughly beaten General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to General William T. Sherman on April 26, 1865, this work--in excellent prose and with a keen sense of drama and will, crisis and fate--summarizes the action of the Civil War. In chronological order are descriptions of each battle-- infantry, artillery, and cavalry--and the names of the commanding and other Confederate and Union senior officers. Naval battles in open seas are excluded, although those battles that involved both infantry and naval forces are included. Also omitted are minor skirmishes, cavalry actions that might best be categorized as "raids," and all action in Florida and west of the Mississippi River.

A comprehensive introduction to the key battles of the American Civil War.

On January 19, 1862, Confederate and Union forces clashed in the now-forgotten Battle of Mill Springs. Armies of inexperienced soldiers chaotically fought in the wooded terrain of south-central Kentucky as rain turned bloodied ground to mud. Mill Springs was the first major Union victory since the Federal disaster of Bull Run. This Union triumph secured the Bluegrass State in Union hands, opening the large expanses of Tennessee for Federal invasion. From General Felix Zollicoffer meeting his death by wandering into Union lines to the heroics of General George Thomas, Civil War historian Stuart Sanders chronicles this important battle and its essential role in the war.

This campaign-by-campaign analysis of the War Between the States presents the action from the opening shots at Fort Sumter to the furled flags at Appomattox. Battles both obscure and famous are examined in detail, covering each army's move and countermove. Commentary is provided on the individual battles with attention to the role each conflict played in the greater scheme of the campaign and the war. The chronological arrangement of the campaigns allows for ready reference regarding a single event or an entire series of campaigns. The text is both clear and thorough, focusing on strategy and military successes and failures. An introduction to the events leading up to the war lays the groundwork for the military analysis. Maps and an index are also included.

The complete text of one of the most important speeches in American history, delivered by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln arrived at the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to remember not only the grim bloodshed that had just occurred there, but also to remember the American ideals that were being put to the ultimate test by the Civil War. A rousing appeal to the nation’s better angels, The Gettysburg Address remains an inspiring vision of the United States as a country “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”