Describes the internal conflicts, hardships, and violence that afflicted the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Culpeper County, Virginia, was occupied by the Northern army, recaptured by the Confederacy, and finally ceded to the North in the course of the Civil War. Told largely through the diaries, papers and correspondence of residents and such personalities as Robert E. Lee and Walt Whitman, this story captures both the intimate and sweeping sides of war. photos.

Best one-volume history brings the events, figures, and battles of monumental conflict vividly to life. Absorbing details of military campaigns, battlefield strategies, and personalities revealed in an audacious style.

The Civil War is the central event in the American historical consciousness. While the Revolution of 1776-1783 created the United States, the Civil War of 1861-1865 preserved this creation from destruction and determined, in large measure, what sort of nation it would be. The war settled two fundamental issues for the United States: whether it was to be a nation with a sovereign national government, or a dissoluble confederation of sovereign states; and whether this nation, born of a declaration that all men are created with an equal right to liberty, was to continue to exist as the largest slaveholding country in the world. The Constitution of 1789 had left these issues unresolved. By 1861 there was no way around them; one way or another, a solution had to be found. - Preface.

Best one-volume history brings the events, figures, and battles of monumental conflict vividly to life. Absorbing details of military campaigns, battlefield strategies, and personalities revealed in an audacious style that carries readers breathlessly along from the day of Lincoln's inauguration to Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House.

This one-volume history on the Civil War brings the events, figures, and battles of monumental conflict vividly to life. Absorbing details of military campaigns, battlefield strategies, and personalities revealed in an audacious style that carries readers breathlessly along from the day of Lincoln's inauguration to Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. [Source: Goodreads.com] “The present one-volume history of the war is written for the man-in-the-street who, perhaps justifiably, has not the time to follow out the details of controversies as to the exact sequence of events, especially in some of the battles. It is an effort to follow the main currents of fact and emotion during the war; to include practically everything that contributed to the final result and to omit nearly everything else.” [From Author’s Foreword] Richly illustrated by distinguished artist Merritt Cuttler with over 40 maps and illustrations.