About this item

A journalistic telling of the human stories behind the history books. More than 101 vignettes from all walks of life, all aspects of this tragic conflict---meet the soldiers, sailors and slaves, the politicians, the women, and so many other faces in the crowd! Drummer boys, free blacks, a few villains, and heroes of all kinds, even "Old Abe the Soldier Bird". Read about Robert E. Lee's rebound from near failure...Stonewall Jackson's off day in battle...Abe Lincoln's personal spy in the South...a mysterious stalker following General (and Mrs.) U.S. Grant the night of the Lincoln assassination. Not every Civil War book is all about battles. Not this one, anyway. Sure, you'll read about various combatants and their stories---major battles ARE treated, but so are the civilian onlookers (and sometime victims!) .