Overview
The war that has been called "The American Iliad" is splendidly presented here in a rare gallery of over 350 pictures, many never before published, gathered from sources North and South. A compact and masterly history of the war, year by year, written by Civil War authority Paul M. Angle, accompanies the collection of photographs, combat artists' sketches and other contemporary illustrations. Many of the photos are enhanced by reproduction in duotone.
Important figures, political and military-- Grant, Lee, Lincoln, Dred Scott, Roger Taney, Stonewall Jackson, 18-year-old Rebel spy Belle Boyd-- appear in authentic portraits. So do humbler figures-- a mess boy filling canteens, liberated slaves flocking to the Union army, a sutler with his wagon full of small luxuries, on which he had to keep a close watch.
The reality of war leaps out of photos of "the grim harvest of Fredericksburg," Burnside's Mud March, the caves at Vicksburg, Lee's army crossing the Potomac, Union and Confederate dead at Gettysburg, an Indiana surgeon caring for Confederate wounded at Antietam, the wounded of the Wilderness being rescued from the burning woods.
A less grim face of the war appears in pictures of Thanksgiving dinner at the front, the original balloon air reconnaissance, the welcome news vendors in camp, Pennsylvania troops voting in the field, Confederate camp entertainment, a cockfight before Petersburg.
The naval side of the conflict is depicted in Farragut's flagship, the Hartford, going into action at Mobile Bay; the Confederate torpedo boat David; the even more remarkable Confederate submarine Hunley, first sub to sink an enemy ship; the British-built blockade-runner Bat, the Monitor, and many others.
Important figures, political and military-- Grant, Lee, Lincoln, Dred Scott, Roger Taney, Stonewall Jackson, 18-year-old Rebel spy Belle Boyd-- appear in authentic portraits. So do humbler figures-- a mess boy filling canteens, liberated slaves flocking to the Union army, a sutler with his wagon full of small luxuries, on which he had to keep a close watch.
The reality of war leaps out of photos of "the grim harvest of Fredericksburg," Burnside's Mud March, the caves at Vicksburg, Lee's army crossing the Potomac, Union and Confederate dead at Gettysburg, an Indiana surgeon caring for Confederate wounded at Antietam, the wounded of the Wilderness being rescued from the burning woods.
A less grim face of the war appears in pictures of Thanksgiving dinner at the front, the original balloon air reconnaissance, the welcome news vendors in camp, Pennsylvania troops voting in the field, Confederate camp entertainment, a cockfight before Petersburg.
The naval side of the conflict is depicted in Farragut's flagship, the Hartford, going into action at Mobile Bay; the Confederate torpedo boat David; the even more remarkable Confederate submarine Hunley, first sub to sink an enemy ship; the British-built blockade-runner Bat, the Monitor, and many others.