American Civil War For Dummies (eBook)

Keith D. Dickson is Professor Emeritus of military studies, National Defense University. Dr. Dickson served in the U.S. Army as a Special Forces officer and taught at the Joint Forces Staff College, Joint Advanced Warfighting School.

Introduction 1

Part 1: The War and Its Causes 7

Chapter 1: How Did the War Happen? 9

Chapter 2: The Five Steps to War: 1850-1860 19

Chapter 3: Secession and War: 1860-1861 39

Part 2: Making War 53

Chapter 4: Civil War Armies: Structure and Organization 55

Chapter 5: Union and Confederate Strategy 73

Chapter 6: Organizing and Training the Armies 81

Chapter 7: Significant Weapons of the Civil War 85

Part 3: Opening Moves, 1861-1862 91

Chapter 8: Starting the War: Bull Run (First Manassas), July 1861 93

Chapter 9: Trouble West of the Mississippi and the Road to Shiloh, August 1861-April 1862 105

Chapter 10: Union Navy Victories and Union Army Defeats, March-July 1862 125

Chapter 11: Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign, March-June 1862 141

Chapter 12: The Seven Days of Robert E Lee, June-July 1862 151

Chapter 13: Second Bull Run (Manassas), August 1862 163

Chapter 14: The Bloodiest Day: Antietam (Sharpsburg), September 1862 173

Chapter 15: Lost Opportunities for the Confederacy in the West: September-October 1862 189

Chapter 16: War So Terrible: Fredericksburg and Murfreesboro, December 1862 201

Part 4: War to the Hilt, 1863-1865 217

Chapter 17: The Battle of Chancellorsville, May 1863 219

Chapter 18: The Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, July 1863 229

Chapter 19: The Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga, August-November 1863 255

Chapter 20: Lee and Grant: Operations in Virginia, May-October 1864 273

Chapter 21: The Atlanta Campaign and a Guarantee of Union Victory, May-December 1864 295

Chapter 22: The Destruction of Hood's Army in Tennessee, October 1864-January 1865 313

Chapter 23: A Matter of Time: Petersburg to Appomattox, January-April 1865 319

Part 5: Behind the Lines 341

Chapter 24: The Confederacy: Creating a Nation at War 343

Chapter 25: The Union at War: Creating a New Republican Future for America 365

Chapter 26: Wartime in America: Its Effect on the People 375

Part 6: The Civil War Tourist 391

Chapter 27: Getting Ready to Travel 393

Chapter 28: Visiting a Civil War Battlefield 399

Part 7: The Part of Tens 405

Chapter 29: The Ten Worst Generals of the Civil War 407

Chapter 30: The Ten Biggest "Firsts" of the Civil War 417

Chapter 31: The Ten Biggest "What Ifs" of the Civil War 425

Chapter 32: The Ten+ Best Battlefields of the Civil War and How to Visit Them 431

Index 437