After more than three years of grim fighting, General Ulysses Grant had a plan to end the Civil War--laying siege to Petersburg, Virginia, thus cutting off supplies to the Confederate capital at Richmond. He established his headquarters at City Point on the James River, requiring thousands of troops, tons of supplies, as well as extensive medical facilities and staff. Nurses flooded the area, yet many did not work in medical capacities--they served as organizers, advocates and intelligence gatherers. Nursing emerged as a noble profession with multiple specialties. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, this history covers the resilient women who opened the way for others into postwar medical, professional and political arenas.

After more than three years of grim fighting, General Ulysses Grant had a plan to end the Civil War--laying siege to Petersburg, Virginia, thus cutting off supplies to the Confederate capital at Richmond. He established his headquarters at City Point on the James River, requiring thousands of troops, tons of supplies, as well as extensive medical facilities and staff. Nurses flooded the area, yet many did not work in medical capacities--they served as organizers, advocates and intelligence gatherers. Nursing emerged as a noble profession with multiple specialties. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, this history covers the resilient women who opened the way for others into postwar medical, professional and political arenas.

True stories of Southern women in the Civil War for “any reader with an interest in women’s history . . . An eye-opening experience.” —ForeWord The women featured in this anthology refute the common belief that Southern women were delicate and fragile. These Confederate women started relief organizations and militia companies, learned how to fire a musket, and even worked as spies. One courageous woman disguised herself as a male officer and recruited troops from around the South. Confederate Women includes ten essays about the crucial role Southern women played during and after the Civil War, believing that the war was “certainly ours as well as that of the men.” Excerpts from correspondence with their sons, fathers, husbands, and other women shed light on their unique position in America’s past. Often women are left out of history books, only to fade into the shadows of time. Thanks to Mauriel Phillips Joslyn and her contributing authors, these women will remain a part of history, never to be forgotten. “An affecting reminder that Southern women faced the challenges of the wartime era with courage and determination.” —Civil War News Previously published as Valor and Lace: The Roles of Confederate Women 1861–1865

At Gettysburg is an autobiographical book of a teenage girl, Tillie Pierce, which recounted her experiences during the American Civil War. As a teenager, Tillie Pierce became well acquainted not just with the worries of war, but the horrors of military combat when a key battle of the American Civil War broke out in her hometown. When Tillie Pierce and her friends heard that Union troops were already on the move just after breakfast on the morning of July 1, 1863, they hurried off to watch the clash. In a really simple and easy way, a then 15 year-old, brings her view of the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War.

Colonel Fremantle, a British Army observer in the Confederacy, stated that when this war is over, the independence of the country will be due, in a great measure, to the women. This long-overdue collection of essays examines the roles of Confederate women in a surprising new light as modern research shows that Confederate women served as soldiers, scouts, and spies in addition to their more traditional roles.

During the last nine months of the Civil War, virtually all of the news reports and President Jefferson Davis’s correspondence confirmed the imminent demise of the Confederate States, the nation Davis had striven to uphold since 1861. But despite defeat after defeat on the battlefield, a recalcitrant Congress, nay-sayers in the press, disastrous financial conditions, failures in foreign policy and peace efforts, and plummeting national morale, Davis remained in office and tried to maintain the government—even after the fall of Richmond on April 2—until his capture by Union forces on May 10, 1865. The eleventh volume of The Papers of Jefferson Davis follows these tumultuous last months of the Confederacy and illuminates Davis’s policies, feelings, ideas, and relationships, as well as the viewpoints of hundreds of southerners—critics and supporters—who asked favors, pointed out abuses, and offered advice on myriad topics. Printed here for the first time are many speeches and a number of new letters and telegrams. In the course of the volume, Robert E. Lee officially becomes general in chief, Joseph E. Johnston is given a final command, legislation is enacted to place slaves in the army as soldiers, and peace negotiations are opened at the highest levels. The closing pages chronicle Davis’s dramatic flight from Richmond, including emotional correspondence with his wife as the two endeavor to find each other en route and make plans for the future in the wreckage of their lives. The holdings of seventy different manuscript repositories and private collections in addition to numerous published sources contribute to Volume 11, the fifth in the Civil War period.