The 6th Michigan Volunteer Infantry first deployed to Baltimore, where the soldiers' exemplary demeanor charmed a mainly secessionist population. Their subsequent service along the Mississippi River was a perfect storm of epidemic disease, logistical failures, guerrilla warfare, profiteering, martinet West Pointers and scheming field officers, along with the doldrums of camp life punctuated by bloody battles. The Michiganders responded with alcoholism, insubordination and depredations. Yet they saved the Union right at Baton Rouge and executed suicidal charges at Port Hudson. This first modern history of the controversial regiment concludes with a statistical analysis, a roster and a brief summary of its service following conversion to heavy artillery.

The hard-fighting 11th Michigan Volunteer Infantry was recruited from sparsely settled southwest Michigan shortly after the Civil War broke out. Mainly composed of young farmers and tradesmen, the regiment rapidly evolved into one of the Army of the Cumberland's elite combat units, tenaciously fighting its way through some of the war's bloodiest engagements. This book--featuring a complete unit roster--chronicles the regiment through the words of the veterans, tracing their development from a rabble of idealists into a fine-tuned fighting machine that executed successful bayonet charges against superior numbers. The narrative continues into the postwar period, discussing the ex-soldiers' careers through Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Photographs, maps, illustrations and a statistical analysis round out the work.

In the summer of 1862, a group of volunteer soldiers joined the Twenty-First Michigan Volunteer Infantry in western Michigan. For the next two and a half years, these men saw extensive combat against the Confederacy in Americas most brutal and bloody war. Drawn from hundreds of letters, diaries, and memoirs, Into the Tornado of War is the complete history of this Union regiment as seen through the soldiers eyes. James Genco traces their movements from their first major battle at Perryville, Kentucky, through Tennessee, Georgia, and finally, the Carolinas. In addition to Perryville, the regiment was severely tested in the landmark battles of Stones River, Chickamauga, and Bentonville, and participated in Union General William T. Shermans March to the Sea in November and December of 1864. As the war wound down in 1865, the regiment was part of the Union Army that cut its way through the Carolinas, ultimately finding itself in the forefront of one of the last major battles of the war. In a valuable contribution to the scholarship on the American Civil War, Into the Tornado of War paints a picture of the realities of the war through the words of real soldiers.

When the 1st Michigan Volunteer Infantry regiment arrived in Washington, DC, President Lincoln exclaimed: "Thank God for Michigan!" The state raised more than 90,000 men to serve during the Civil War, and 69 of them received the Medal of Honor. Notable Michiganders include Gens. Israel Richardson, Orlando Poe, Alpheus Williams, Orlando Willcox, and George Hartsuff, as well as "The Boy General," George Armstrong Custer, and Officer Norman Hall, who was stationed at Fort Sumter when the war began. Featuring images of the 4th Michigan Cavalry, which captured Confederate president Jefferson Davis at the war's end, and never-before-published photographs of Wolverine soldiers, Images of America: Remembering Michigan's Civil War Soldiers highlights hundreds of Michiganians who were committed to preserving the Union.

On the hot summer evening of July 2, 1863, at the climax of the struggle for a Pennsylvania hill called Little Round Top, four Confederate regiments charge up the western slope, attacking the smallest and most exposed of their Union foe: the 16th Michigan Infantry. Terrible fighting has raged, but what happens next will ultimately—and unfairly—stain the reputation of one of the Army of the Potomac’s veteran combat outfits, made up of men from Detroit, Saginaw, Ontonagon, Hillsdale, Lansing, Adrian, Plymouth, and Albion. In the dramatic interpretation of the struggle for Little Round Top that followed the Battle of Gettysburg, the 16th Michigan Infantry would be remembered as the one that broke during perhaps the most important turning point of the war. Their colonel, a young lawyer from Ann Arbor, would pay with his life, redeeming his own reputation, while a kind of code of silence about what happened at Little Round Top was adopted by the regiment’s survivors. From soldiers’ letters, journals, and memoirs, this book relates their experiences in camp, on the march, and in battle, including their controversial role at Gettysburg, up to the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House.

Michigan played a crucial role during the four years of the Civil War (1861-65), as well as in the tumultuous decades leading up to the outbreak of hostilities. The story of the Wolverine State during America's greatest conflict is a rich one, filled with tales of uncommon sacrifice, epic adventure, and heroic service, and it springs to life in this compelling narrative. A Distant Thunder: Michigan in the Civil War highlights the experiences and contributions of Michiganians during the Civil War era. Book jacket.

The 6th Michigan Volunteer Infantry first deployed to Baltimore, where the soldiers' exemplary demeanor charmed a mainly secessionist population. Their subsequent service along the Mississippi River was a perfect storm of epidemic disease, logistical failures, guerrilla warfare, profiteering, martinet West Pointers and scheming field officers, along with the doldrums of camp life punctuated by bloody battles. The Michiganders responded with alcoholism, insubordination and depredations. Yet they saved the Union right at Baton Rouge and executed suicidal charges at Port Hudson. This first modern history of the controversial regiment concludes with a statistical analysis, a roster and a brief summary of its service following conversion to heavy artillery.

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- We Will Strive to Do Our Duty as American Soldiers -- The Loss Is Great, the Confusion Greater -- McClellan Moves Slow but Sure -- We Shall Go into the Storm of Battle with Brave Hearts -- A Whirlwind of Bullets, Yells, and Shrieks -- At It We Went Tooth and Nail -- The Sight Was Horrible and One I Hope I Never See Again -- Three Cheers for Colonel Jeffords -- Christ How the Canister Flew -- They Were Soon on All Sides of Us -- We Have Seen a Pretty Hard Campaign -- They Say Let the War Go On -- I Am Well but Don't Know How Long -- The Regiment Is in a Bad Situation at Present -- We Have Broke the Backbone of the Rebellion -- I Saw Passing a Great Army -- Roster of the 4th Michigan Infantry Regiment -- Notes -- Bibliography.