Catalog Search Results

This brilliant and engaging biography of Varina Davis tells of the early days of her marriage to Jefferson Davis, the controversial figure who would become president of the Confederacy. The story gives a detailed account of their life in Washington and Richmond, the years of war, and follows their journey during the weeks and months of escape and then - following Jefferson Davis' release from prison - exile. "EVERY move they made was noticed and commented...

In February 1865, the end was clearly in sight for the Confederate government. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg had dashed the hopes of the Confederate army, and Grant's victory at Vicksburg had cut the South in two. An Honorable Defeat is the story of the four months that saw the surrender of the South and the assassination of Lincoln by Southern partisans. It is also the story of two men, antagonists yet political partners, who struggled during this time...

A study in how governments can self-destruct during wartime. For more than a century, the conventional wisdom has been that the South lost because of overwhelming Union strength and bad luck. The Confederates have been lionized as noble warriors who fought for an honorable cause with little chance of succeeding. But historian Eicher reveals a calamity of political conspiracy, discord, and dysfunction. Drawing on previously unexplored sources, Eicher...

"From the New York Times bestselling presidential biographer comes the greatest untold story of the Civil War: how two American presidents faced off as the fate of the nation hung in the balance--and how Abraham Lincoln came to embrace emancipation as the last, best chance to save the Union" -- Provided by the publisher.

Nearly all of the Civil War's greatest soldiers were forged in the heat of Vera Cruz and Monterrey. The Mexican War has faded from our national memory, but it was a struggle of enormous significance: it was the first U.S war waged on foreign soil; and it nearly doubled our nation's land area. At this fascinating juncture of American history, a group of young men came together to fight as friends, only years later to fight as enemies. This is their...