The Cambridge History of the American Civil War: Volume 1, Military Affairs

This volume narrates the major battles and campaigns of the conflict, conveying the full military experience during the Civil War. The military encounters between Union and Confederate soldiers and between both armies and irregular combatants and true non-combatants structured the four years of war. These encounters were not solely defined by violence, but military encounters gave the war its central architecture. Chapters explore well-known battles, such as Antietam and Gettysburg, as well as military conflict in more abstract places, defined by political qualities (like the border or the West) or physical ones (such as rivers or seas). Chapters also explore the nature of civil-military relations as Union armies occupied parts of the South and garrison troops took up residence in southern cities and towns, showing that the Civil War was not solely a series of battles but a sustained process that drew people together in more ambiguous settings and outcomes. Contents 5 Maps 8 Contributors to Volume I 10 Acknowledgments 15 Note on the Text 17 1 . Introduction: The Cambridge History of the American Civil War 19 Part I. Major Battles and Campaigns 27 2 . The Battles of Virginia, 1861 29 3 . The Battles of Tennessee, 1862 48 4 . The Battles of the Trans Mississippi, 1861 - 1863 68 5 . The Peninsula Campaign 90 6 . The Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1862 and 1864 113 7 . The Second Bull Run Campaign 138 8 . The Antietam Campaign 159 9 . The Western Theater, 1862 - 1863 183 10 . The Battle of Fredericksburg 201 11 . The Chancellorsville Campaign 221 12 . The Gettysburg Campaign 241 13 . The Vicksburg Campaign 264 14 . The Battles of Tennessee, 1863 287 15 . The Overland Campaign 310 16 . The Georgia Campaign 333 17 . The Carolinas Campaign 355 18 . The Tennessee Campaign, 1864 380 19 . The Petersburg and Appomattox Campaigns 399 Part II. Places 421 20 . War on the Rivers 423 21 . War on the Waters 445 22 . The Blockade 467 23 . The Border War 489 24 . War in the Deep South 513 25 . War in Appalachia 534 26 . War in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas 553 27 . War in the West 572 28 . War in Indian Country 594 Index 619 The Civil War Was America's Great National Trauma. Like The Napoleonic Wars In Nineteenth-century Europe And World War Ii In The Twentieth, The Civil War Birthed A New Civic Order. Politics, Economic And Social Life, And Cultural Expression All Assumed A New Cast For The War's Participants And Their Children. Even A Century And A Half Later, After Industrialization, Urbanization, The Dramatic Expansion Of America's Military And Political Power In The World, And Generations Of Cultural Change, The War's Impact Is Plain To See-- Volume 1 Military Affairs. Volume 2 Affairs Of The State. Volume 3 Affairs Of The People. Edited By Aaron Sheehan-dean. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "The Civil War was America's great national trauma. Like the Napoleonic Wars in nineteenth-century Europe and World War II in the twentieth, the Civil War birthed a new civic order. Politics, economic and social life, and cultural expression all assumed a new cast for the war's participants and their children. Even a century and a half later, after industrialization, urbanization, the dramatic expansion of America's military and political power in the world, and generations of cultural change, the war's impact is plain to see"-- Provided by publisher This volume considers how the Civil War reshaped Americans' spiritual, cultural, and intellectual habits. It analyzes the ways that participants made sense of the conflict and its impact on their lives, uncovering how the war changed attitudes about gender, religion, ethnicity, and race.