Many books about Alabama's role in the Civil War have focused serious attention on the military and political history of the war. The Yellowhammer War likewise examines the military and political history of Alabama's Civil War contributions, but it also covers areas of study usually neglected by centennial scholars, such as race, women, the home front, and Reconstruction. From Patricia A. Hoskins's look at Jews in Alabama during the Civil War and Jennifer Ann Newman Treviño's examination of white women's attitudes during secession to Harriet E. Amos Doss's study of the reaction of Alabamians to Lincoln's Assassination and Jason J. Battles's essay on the Freedman's Bureau, readers are treated to a broader canvas of topics on the Civil War and the state. CONTRIBUTORS Jason J. Battles / Lonnie A. Burnett / Harriet E. Amos Doss / Bertis English / Michael W. Fitzgerald / Jennifer Lynn Gross / Patricia A. Hoskins / Kenneth W. Noe / Victoria E. Ott / Terry L. Seip / Ben H.

Col. Hundley commanded the Alabama 31st Infantry Regiment. He was captured at Kennesaw Mountain in July of 1864 and taken to Johnson's Island, Illinois. This is one of the few surviving prison narratives based on a surviving journal written while in prison. From the Introduction: As will be found by a perusal of this book I now offer the public, I made my escape from Johnson's Island on the 2d day of January, 1865, and attempted to reach Canada afoot, walking at night and sleeping in hay-lofts during the day. After nearly a week of untold hardships and sufferings, I was recaptured and taken back to my old quarters. On reaching the head-quarters of the commandant of Johnson's Island, I was stripped to the skin, and there being found concealed on my person a journal of prison life, it was taken from me. On making application subsequently to Colonel Hill for my MS., I was informed that it had been sent to the Commissary-General of Prisoners at Washington. I heard nothing more of my MS. for nine years. In January, 1874, I received notice from the Postmaster at Huntsville, Ala., that a certain Alexander R. Jones, of New-York, desired my address. In a few weeks my journal was returned to me through the United States mail. It had not been mutilated in the least, but, on the contrary, was well preserved; and I desire here to return my thanks to the unknown friend who did me this act of kindness. It will be seen that my journal is a thorough rebel production, and I have thought it best to publish it just as it was written. Since 1857, I had been in the habit of keeping a diary, which I continued during the whole war. The first part of my prison journal was only an enlargement of my diary, giving an account of my experiences from Kennesaw Mountain to Johnson's Island. The second part consisted of literal extracts from my diary while in prison. I have now added a third part, giving an account of my escape and recapture, which I believe will also be of interest to the reader.

Initially published between 1970 and 2012, the essays in Approaching Civil War and Southern History span almost the entirety of William J. Cooper’s illustrious scholarly career and range widely across a broad spectrum of subjects in Civil War and southern history. Together, they illustrate the broad scope of Cooper’s work. While many essays deal with his well-known interests, such as Jefferson Davis or the secession crisis, others are on lesser-known subjects, such as Civil War artist Edwin Forbes and the writer Daniel R. Hundley. In the new introduction to each chapter, Cooper notes the essay’s origins and purpose, explaining how it fits into his overarching interest in the nineteenth-century political history of the South. Combined and reprinted here for the first time, the ten essays in Approaching Civil War and Southern History reveal why Cooper is recognized today as one of the most influential historians of our time.