Battle cry of freedom : the Civil War era / James M. McPherson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McPherson, James M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Campaigns.

United States.

History.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Physical Description:

xix, 909 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Civil War era

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2003.

Summary:

Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, this fast-paced narrative fully integrates the political, social, and military events that crowded the two decades from the outbreak of one war in Mexico to the ending of another at Appomattox. Packed with drama and analytical insight, the book vividly recounts the momentous episodes that preceded the Civil War: the Dred Scott decision: the Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. It then moves into a chronicle of the war itself, the battles, the strategic maneuvering on both sides, the politics, and the personalities. Particularly notable are new views on such matters as the slavery expansion issue in the 1850s, the origins of the Republican Party, the causes of secession, internal dissent and anti-war opposition in the North and the South, and the reasons for the Union's victory.The book's title refers to the sentiments that informed both the Northern and Southern views of the conflict: the South seceded in the name of that freedom of self-determination and self-government for which their fathers had fought in 1776, while the North stood fast in defense of the Union founded by those fathers as the bulwark of American liberty. Eventually, the North had to grapple with the underlying cause of the war--slavery--and adopt a policy of emancipation as a second war aim. This "new birth of freedom," as Lincoln called it, constitutes the proudest legacy of America's bloodiest conflict.This volume makes sense of that vast and confusing "second American Revolution" we call the Civil War, a war that transformed a nation and expanded our heritage of liberty.

Contents:

Editor's introduction

Prologue: From the Halls of Montezuma

United States at midcentury

Mexico will poison us

Empire for slavery

Slavery, rum, and Romanism

Crime against Kansas

Mudsills and greasy mechanics for A Lincoln

Revolution of 1860

Counterrevolution of 1861

Facing both ways: the upper south's dilemma

Amateurs go to war

Farewell to the Ninety Days' War

Blockade and beachhead: the Salt-water War, 1861-1862

River War in 1862

Sinews of war

Billy Yank's chickahominy blues

We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued

Carry me back to old Virginny

John Bull's Virginia reel

Three rivers in winter, 1862-1863

Fire in the rear

Long remember: the summer of '63

Johnny Reb's Chattanooga blues

When this cruel war is over

If it takes all summer

After four years of failure

We are going to be wiped off the earth

South Carolina must be destroyed

We are all Americans

Epilogue: To the shoals of victory

Afterword

Abbreviated titles

Bibliographic note

Index

Illustrations appear following pages 332 and 684.

Notes:

"Featuring a new Afterword by the author"--P. [4] of cover.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 870-887) and index.

Local Notes:

Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Sheldon Hackney.

ISBN:

019516895X

9780195168952

OCLC:

53406234