Böcker av Randy Bishop

The Tennessee Brigade participated in the major Civil War battles of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. With regiments raised before Tennessee's secession, the Tennessee Brigade saw action at Seven Pines, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Spotsylvania. The brigade suffered the first casualty at Gettysburg and was the guiding unit during the assault on the Union position on the third day of the war's greatest battle. The brigade survived Petersburg's trenches only to surrender a fraction of its once mighty ranks at Appomattox. This book thoroughly examines the exploits of this unit, using extensive research, first person accounts, and a previously unpublished diary. Maps by Dave Roth and numerous photographs enhance the text.

In January 1868, a Union veteran named Gilbert Bates set out from his Wisconsin farm for Vicksburg, Mississippi, to prove a point and win a bet: that he could safely walk across the postCivil War Southalone, unarmed, with no moneywhile carrying the flag of the United States. The effort quickly riveted the attention of Americans everywhere, who weren't yet sure the country could meaningfully reunite after their fratricidal war. Mark Twain believed Bates would be abused, attacked, possibly even scalped, during this time when the U.S. Army still occupied the South, resentment ran high, and groups like the KKK were spreading terror.Starting from Vicksburg, Bates walked 1,400 miles through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, through places where Federal soldiers shattered Confederate arms and Sherman's men razed the land. He was never harmedand almost always greeted with hospitality, generosity, and celebration. En route, Bates planned to sell photos of himself with the Stars and Stripes to raise money for widows and orphans and eventually called off the bet, which he would've lost on a technicality: even though he successfully traveled the South unharmed and reached Washington, DC, in the agreed-upon timeframe, he was not allowed to raise his flag above the U.S. Capitol and had to settle for the unfinished Washington Monument.This is a deeply researched book that taps into big- and small-town newspaper coverage that described Bates's journey across the American South and his reception. It recounts the courage of a former soldier who believed strongly in the bonds of Union and Lincoln's ';mystic chords of memory' and underscores the missed opportunities for a more perfect union.