CW - 150
The Civil War 150th Anniversary
Interesting facts, links, and suggested books for each month of the Civil War.
September 1864
This Month's Events
- 1 September. General John B. Hood's Confederates withdraw from Atlanta. The next day Union forces under General William Tecumseh Sherman will occupy the city.
- 3 September. A "dump Lincoln" movement is growing within the Republican Party. The Democratic Party, sensing opportunity in the upcoming election, has included a platform plank declaring the war "a failure". Then news comes in from Sherman. "Atlanta is ours and fairly won."
- 16 September. As the Confederate food supply in Petersburg, Virginia dwindles, a scout finds a herd of cattle guarded by Union troops some miles outside the city. General Wade Hampton takes more than 4,000 men on a "cattle rustling" expedition and leads a 7 mile long procession of soldiers and cattle back to Petersburg.
- 19 September. In the second Battle of Cabin Creek, Oklahoma a Confederate force, commanded by brigadier generals Richard M. Gano and Stand Watie (a Cherokee chief and the highest ranking Native American in the Confederate forces), captures a supply train of three hundred wagons from Major Henry M. Hopkins of the Second Kansas Cavalry.
- 19 September. The 1st Georgia Regulars are stationed on Whitmarsh Island off Georgia. They are extremely hungry. In his journal Sergeant W. H. Andrews describes the men's daily hunt for rats and acorns. "I have tried the acorns, but am not quite hungry enough to go the rats." He also comments, "The boys are having a good time gathering oysters and crabs. While I like the oysters very well, don't like the crabs. They are just about as much like meat as a maypop is like a vegetable."
- 24 September. The 44th N. C. is "throwing up Brestworks some 4 miles south of the city of Petersburg between the Boydton [?] and Petersburg plank road and the Weldon R Road. we are throwing up a line to keep the Yankees from going on the Danville R Road Lines." The line to Danville, Virginia and thence into North Carolina is now Lee's vital connection to food and supplies from the south.
This Month's Fiction
Adult Fiction
Gone with the Wind by Call Number: FIC MITISBN: 9780684830681Publication Date: 1936-09-01A story about a woman named Scarlett, a man named Rhett, a plantation named Tara, and a city named Atlanta. Probably the best known Civil War novel. If you haven't read it, this is the appropriate month to do so.
Walking to Gatlinburg by Call Number: FIC MOSISBN: 9780307450678Publication Date: 2010-03-02Late in the Civil War, 17-year-old Morgan Kinneson from northern Vermont gets deeply involved with his family's participation in the Underground Railroad when the slave he's leading toward Canada is murdered. Overwhelmed by remorse (he had wandered away to hunt a moose), he sets off on an odyssey in search of his older brother, Pilgrim, who was reported missing from the Union army. With the slave's murderers on his trail and carrying a mysterious stone he found in the murdered man's pockets, Morgan meets up with a wild variety of characters as his path leads him toward the Great Smokey Mountains. Verdict A colorful re-creation of the era and a likable and engaging protagonist recommend this book to lovers of classically told adventure tales.
Children's Fiction>
Rifles for Watie by Call Number: J KEIISBN: 0690701810Publication Date: 1957-01-01This full-length novel should hold a place with the best Civil War fiction for young people. The fighting takes place in the West and portrays the dilemma of the Indian tribes caught up in the conflict. For upper grades and YA.
This Month's Non-Fiction
Adult Nonfiction
War Like the Thunderbolt by Call Number: 973.7 BONISBN: 9781594161001Publication Date: 2009-09-02In War Like the Thunderbolt, Russell Bonds presents the epic story of what one observer calls "The greatest event of the Civil War" - the struggle for the city of Atlanta. It was the conflict that secured the re-election of Abraham Lincoln, sealed the fate of the Confederacy, and set a precedent for military campaigns across the world. Based on new research into diaries, previously unpublished letters, newspapers, and other archival sources, this superb volume takes readers across the smoky battlefield and into the lives of fascinating characters, both the famous and the forgotten, including the diminutive young Benjamin Harrison, later to become 23rd President of the USA, and Carrie Berry, a gifted diarist who belied her ten years of age.
Footprints of a Regiment by Call Number: 973.7 ANDISBN: 1563520303Publication Date: 1992-05-25This is an absorbing, first-person Civil War memoir, based on the journals he kept at the time, from the perspective of a foot soldier looking back some thirty years later. Sergeant Andrews appears to have been a good soldier, but one with a cynical eye. His account is also notable since it covers some little written about areas including north Florida.
Atlanta 1864 by Call Number: 973.7 MCMISBN: 0803232128Publication Date: 2000-07-01This concise volume closely examines this significant military campaign, places the struggle in its social and political contexts, and includes useful topical appendixes and a bibliographical essay. Given its brevity, focus, and the author's unique insights, this readable and well-documented volume will be welcomed by Civil War enthusiasts and scholars alike.
General Stand Watie's Confederate Indians by ISBN: 9780806130354Publication Date: 1998-09-15While there are more recent books and articles on the role of the Native American tribes on both sides during the Civil War, this older title is still a good starting point for those interested in the Cherokees.
Children's Nonfiction
William Sherman by Call Number: jB ShermanISBN: 0791060055Publication Date: 2001-01-01This book looks at the role William Sherman played in the Civil War, while offering readers a glimpse into the personal side of this historic figure. One of a series of easy to read biographies with interesting and informative sidebars, a glossary and timelines.
