The Rebel Scout Expanded Annotated

"...thank God, the Rebel Scout has lived long enough to outgrow many of the prejudices engendered by the war." Though able to write those words in 1905, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, Dickinson College-educated Maryland native, Thomas Conrad was a passionate fighter for the Rebel cause. Working as a scout in the command of J.E.B. Stuart, he fought alongside his Phi Kappa Sigma buddy and life-long friend, Daniel Mountjoy Cloud. Along the way, he met and ate with Jefferson Davis and was part of a plan (separate from the Booth conspirators) to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. According to Conrad: "Neither President Davis nor his secretary of war had any knowledge of my contemplated attempt to capture Mr. Lincoln and bring him to Richmond. I consulted only the military secretary of General Bragg, and General Bragg at that time had command of Richmond and its defenses. This military secretary enjoined me, above all things, not to hurt a hair upon Lincoln’s head, or treat him with the slightest indignity." By chance, one of Conrad's men met up with John Wilkes Booth during his escape and furnished him with one of Conrad's horses, on which Booth rode to the site of his death. After the war, Conrad was president of what is today Virginia Tech. For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above. Buy it today!

"...thank God, the Rebel Scout has lived long enough to outgrow many of the prejudices engendered by the war."Though able to write those words in 1905, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, Dickinson College-educated Maryland native, Thomas Conrad was a passionate fighter for the Rebel cause. Working as a scout in the command of J.E.B. Stuart, he fought alongside his Phi Kappa Sigma buddy and life-long friend, Daniel Mountjoy Cloud.Along the way, he met and ate with Jefferson Davis and was part of a plan (separate from the Booth conspirators) to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. According to Conrad:"Neither President Davis nor his secretary of war had any knowledge of my contemplated attempt to capture Mr. Lincoln and bring him to Richmond. I consulted only the military secretary of General Bragg, and General Bragg at that time had command of Richmond and its defenses. This military secretary enjoined me, above all things, not to hurt a hair upon Lincoln's head, or treat him with the slightest indignity."By chance, one of Conrad's men met up with John Wilkes Booth during his escape and furnished him with one of Conrad's horses, on which Booth rode to the site of his death.After the war, Conrad was president of what is today Virginia Tech.For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones.Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above. Buy it today!

In all of the dusty volumes of Civil War memoirs that no one reads anymore, once in a while we come across one such as this. Written by a man with literary aspirations from a regiment of like-minded soldiers, Albert Marshall’s use of the pen produced more eloquence than did that of many of his contemporaries. He left one of the most compelling accounts of the siege of Vicksburg from a private soldier's point of view. He also wrote of service in Texas, which is rare among Civil War memoirs. Eloquent, funny, poignant, and immensely satisfying, Marshall's memoir from his journal is one of the best of the genre. Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever. For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers, tablets, and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

What could possibly induce an educated, merchant Scotsman, with no citizenship in the U.S., no sympathy for slavery, and a clear opposition to secession, to join and fight for the Confederate Army? In this fascinating 1888 memoir by William Watson, you'll find out. As a foreigner, he had a unique and fairly dispassionate view of the impending calamity of the American Civil War. He had lived and done business in the South for several years, watching and listening to all points of view as the country slid towards disaster. He tells us: "I had already determined that I would never forswear or renounce my allegiance to Queen Victoria." But when war came, Watson joined the Baton Rouge Rifle Volunteer Company to fight for the Confederacy. His insights and very self-aware answers as to why will surprise you. His observations of life in the South before the war are worth the entire book. For less than you'd spend on gas going to the library, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

Few Americans realize how many Native Americans served as scouts and guides for the U.S. Army during the Indian wars of the late 19th century. This is the true story of one battallion of Pawnees organized and led by the famous scouts, the North brothers. A scout's life was hard and often short but they were essential to army operations in the West, as few army officers had knowledge of the tribes or terrain. The North brothers knew the lay of the land and spoke Pawnee. George Bird Grinnell knew the Norths. He is one of our premier historians, anthropologists, and naturalists of the Old West. He accompanied General George Armstrong Custer on the 1874 Black Hills Expedition and has some interesting things to say about Custer in this book. Grinnell was also key to the protection of Yellowstone Park and the establishment of Glacier National Park. Every memoir of the American West provides us with another view of the migration that changed the country forever. For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

It is the worst Civil War POW camp you've probably never heard of. A larger percentage of those who left Cahaba died once back in Union lines than of those who left Andersonville. it was five times more crowded than Andersonville. Jesse Hawes was an 18-year-old enlistee in the 9th Illinois Cavalry who was captured and imprisoned at Cahaba. In one of the most articulate, unique, and moving accounts of prison life in the south, the Colorado physician looks back more than thirty years to the desperate days filled with starvation, death, and disease. Not only did he rely on his memory but he researched the Union and Confederate records to bring incredible detail to this comprehensive work. After the war, Hawes became a respected Colorado surgeon. He attended many reunions of the 9th Illinois and never forgot the friendships born of unspeakable hardships. Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever. For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

Every great battle takes on new perspectives and meaning when viewed from the prone position of the private soldier, as opposed to the broad sweep of after-battle reports. Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Spottslyvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg...Theodore Gerrish was at them all with Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's 20th Maine Regiment. His vivid, compassionate, and often humorous telling is from the spot on the field where the minie-balls are thickest and the cannonading is deafening. This is one of the best private-soldier memoirs of the American Civil War in its scope and its minute details. The views Gerrish provides at the end of famous officers as seen from the private soldier's point of view include Grant, Meade, Hooker, Josuah Lawrence Chamberlain, and others with whom he came in contact. Some of the humor: “Chaplain, will you be kind enough to tell me what the two capital letters, B.C., stand for, when they are printed together upon anything?” “O, yes. It means before the birth of our Saviour, previous to the beginning of the Christian era.” He proceeded to give quite a profound theological exposition of the matter, and then inquired, “Why did you ask so unusual a question?” “O, nothin’,” answered the innocent Dick, “only we have seen it stamped on these sheets of hard-tack, and were curious to know why it was there.” Of the African-Americans who fought, Gerrish says: "As these two races march beside each other in the struggle of life, we only ask and demand that those who, in their poverty, did all they could to save the nation and assist its defenders, shall not be deprived of their sacred rights." Front-line letters and diaries of the Civil War bring an immediacy to a long-ago event and connect us to these everyday men and women who lived it. For less than you'd spend on gas going to the library, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

Her true story is as remarkable and exciting as it was dangerous. Disguising herself as a man named Franklin Flint Thompson and enlisting in the Union army, Emma saw front-line battle and acted as a spy. A master of disguise, she even traveled into enemy territory as a black man and an Irish woman. She stated her reason for leaving after two years' service was due to contracting malaria. Her poignant story was published to great acclaim in 1864 and quickly became a best seller. After the war she was lauded by former compatriots and given a small government pension. The only woman inducted into the Union veterans organization, The Grand Army of the Republic, she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1992. [Abridged, Annotated, New Intro] Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever. For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.