Books Suggested for Reading

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  Lee’s Lieutenants by Douglas Southall Freeman

     This book is about the commanders who served under Lee and who made the Army of Northern Virginia an elite fighting force during the war.

Gray Fox by Burke Davis

     This book chronicles the wartime experiences of General Robert E. Lee with first-hand orders, letters, and reports included throughout the book.

Shrouds of Glory by Winston Groom

     This book chronicles the trials and tribulations of the Confederate Army of Tennessee in a novelistic way of telling a true story.  Atlanta is covered up to the climactic battles at Franklin and Nashville occurred.  Sam Watkins said “The death angel came to gather its last harvest.” 

Heroines of Dixie edited by Katherine Jones

     This collection of letters and diary accounts describe the trials suffered by women on the Confederate homefront.

Echoes of Glory by Time-Life

     This 3 book collection includes a battle atlas of civil war battles along with 2 separate books on the accouterments soldiers on both sides carried on their persons during the war. 

Rebel Private: Front and Rear by William A. Fletcher

     This is a memoir of a Confederate soldier from Texas who fought in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia .  His account is the best one according to Shelby Foote.

All for the Union by Elisha Hunt Rhodes

     This day by day account is by a Union soldier in the Army of the Potomac and is the one of the featured diaries on Ken Burns “The Civil War.”

Nathan Bedford Forrest by Jack Hurst

     This book is a very compelling account of “that devil Forrest” as General Sherman would say.  The book is an adventure into the raids, battles, and personal duels “the wizard of the saddle” encountered throughout his life.

Pickett’s Charge by George R. Stewart

     This book is a micro-history of the charge that is full of first hand accounts from the participants in the charge.  The book puts you in the minds of the participants who made various decisions during the charge.

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz

     This book is pure comedy to any reader.  Although the author has a slanted view on certain topics concerning the war, the people he meets along the way leave a lasting impression on the reader.

Class of 1846 by John C Waugh

     This book is about the men who went to school at West Point prior to the war and had friendships with each other.  These same men from the various states would one day fight each other in the “Brother’s War.”

Promise of Glory by C.X. Moreau

     This book is a novel about the Maryland Campaign in September of 1862.  This is a look at the battles associated with the Maryland Campaign told in a way that is reminiscent of “Killer Angels.”

The Life of Johnny Reb and Billy Yank by Bell Irwin Wiley

     These 2 books give a down to earth account of the common foot soldier and his struggles during the war.

When in the Course of Human Events by Charles Adams

     This book is a defense of southern secession and the questionable conduct of Abraham Lincoln during the war.

Facts The Historians Leave Out by John S. Tilley

     This small book may be small in size but speaks volumes of truth which many people overlook when studying the war.

Stonewall Jackson:  The Man, The Soldier, The Legend by James I. Robertson Jr.

     This award winning book about the life of Stonewall Jackson cuts through myth to give an accurate portrait of “Lee’s right arm.”

The Civil War by Shelby Foote

     This 3 volume set of books covers the war from day one till the conclusion of it.  Forget those dull works associated with school textbooks, and pick up a novel which is compelling.

The Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee edited by Clifford Dowdey

  What better way to know a great man than to read his own thoughts on paper!  The letters in the book are letters to his relatives, military commanders, and government officials during the war.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

   A novel which shows the personal thoughts and feelings of the leaders in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara

   A novel covering the early war years up till the Battle of Chancellorsville. 

The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara

     A novel covering the Battle of the Wilderness till the surrender at Appomattox.