Jeffry D. Wert's Books

The Heart of Hell

The Soldiers' Struggle for Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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The Heart of Hell

The Soldiers' Struggle for Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle

By: Jeffry D. Wert

The struggle over the fortified Confederate position known as Spotsylvania's Mule Shoe was without parallel during the Civil War. A Union assault that began at 4:30 A.M. on May 12, 1864, sparked brutal combat that lasted nearly twenty-four hours. By the time Grant's forces withdrew, some 55,000 men from Union and Confederate armies had been drawn into the fury, battling in torrential rain along the fieldworks at distances often less than the length of a rifle barrel. One Union private recalled the fighting as a "seething, bubbling, soaring hell of hate and murder." By the time Lee's troops established a new fortified line in the predawn hours of May 13, some 17,500 &8239;officers and men from both sides had been killed, wounded, or captured when the fighting &8239;ceased.&8239;The site of the most intense clashes became forever known as the Bloody Angle.&8239; Here, renowned military historian Jeffry D. Wert draws on the personal narratives of Union and Confederate troops who survived the fight &8239;to offer a gripping story of Civil War combat at its most difficult. Wert's &8239;harrowing tale&8239;reminds us that the war's story, often told through its commanders and campaigns,&8239;truly belonged to the common soldier.

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321

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UNC Press Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1469668432

ISBN 13

9781469668437

Custer

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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Custer

By: Jeffry D. Wert

George Armstrong Custer has been so heavily mythologized that the human being has been all but lost. Now, in the first complete biography in decades, Jeffry Wert reexamines the life of the famous soldier to give us Custer in all his colorful complexity. Although remembered today as the loser at Little Big Horn, Custer was the victor of many cavalry engagements in the Civil War. He played an important role in several battles in the Virginia theater of the war, including the Shenandoah campaign. Renowned for his fearlessness in battle, he was always in front of his troops, leading the charge. His men were fiercely loyal to him, and he was highly regarded by Sheridan and Grant as well. Some historians think he may have been the finest cavalry officer in the Union Army. But when he was assigned to the Indian wars on the Plains, life changed drastically for Custer. No longer was he in command of soldiers bound together by a cause they believed in. Discipline problems were rampant, and Custer's response to them earned him a court-martial. There were long lulls in the fighting, during which time Custer turned his attention elsewhere, often to his wife, Libbie Bacon Custer, to whom he was devoted. Their romance and marriage is a remarkable love story, told here in part through their personal correspondence. After Custer's death, Libbie would remain faithful to his memory until her own death nearly six decades later. Jeffry Wert carefully examines the events around the defeat at Little Big Horn, drawing on recent archeological findings and the latest scholarship. His evenhanded account of the dramatic battle puts Custer's performance, and that of his subordinates, in proper perspective. From beginning to end, this masterful biography peels off the layers of legend to reveal for us the real George Armstrong Custer.

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485

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439129320

ISBN 13

9781439129326

General James Longstreet

The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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General James Longstreet

The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier

By: Jeffry D. Wert

General James Longstreet fought in nearly every campaign of the Civil War, from Manassas (the first battle of Bull Run) to Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga, Gettysburg, and was present at the surrender at Appomattox. Yet, he was largely held to blame for the Confederacy's defeat at Gettysburg. General James Longstreet sheds new light on the controversial commander and the man Robert E. Lee called “my old war horse.”

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564

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Simon and Schuster

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ISBN 10

1439127786

ISBN 13

9781439127780

The Sword of Lincoln

The Army of the Potomac

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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The Sword of Lincoln

The Army of the Potomac

By: Jeffry D. Wert

The Sword of Lincoln is the first authoritative, accessible, single-volume history of the Army of the Potomac from a renowned Civil War historian. From Bull Run to Gettysburg to Appomattox, the Army of the Potomac repeatedly fought -- and eventually defeated -- Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. Jeffry D. Wert, one of our finest Civil War historians, brings to life the battles, the generals, and the common soldiers who fought for the Union and ultimately prevailed. The Army of the Potomac endured a string of losses under a succession of flawed commanders -- McClellan, Burnside, and Hooker -- until at Gettysburg it won a decisive battle under a new commander, General George Meade. Within a year the Army of the Potomac would come under the overall leadership of the Union's new general-in-chief, Ulysses S. Grant. Under Grant the army would finally trap and defeat Lee and his forces. Wert's history draws on letters and diaries, some previously unpublished, to show us what army life was like. Throughout the book Wert shows how Lincoln carefully monitored the operations of the Army of the Potomac, learning as the war progressed, until he found in Grant the commander he'd long sought. Perceptive in its analysis and compellingly written, The Sword of Lincoln is the finest modern account of the army that was central to the Civil War.

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574

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

0743271920

ISBN 13

9780743271929

Mosby's Rangers

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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Mosby's Rangers

By: Jeffry D. Wert

No single battalion was more feared during the Civil War than the 43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry. As one contemporary said, “They had…all the glamour of Robin Hood…all the courage and bravery of the ancient crusaders.” Better known as Mosby’s Rangers, they were an elite guerrilla unit that operated with stunning success in northern Virginia and Maryland from 1863 to the last days of the war. In this vivid account of the famous command of John Singleton Mosby, Jeffry D. Wert explores the personality of this iron-willed commander and brilliant tactician and gives us colorful profiles of the officers who served under him. Drawing on contemporary documents, including letters and diaries, this is the most complete and vivid account to date of the fighting unit that was so hated by General Ulysses S. Grant that he ordered any captured Ranger to be summarily executed without trial.

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404

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439128847

ISBN 13

9781439128848

Gettysburg, Day Three

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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Gettysburg, Day Three

By: Jeffry D. Wert

Jeffry D. Wert re-creates the last day of the bloody Battle of Gettysburg in astonishing detail, taking readers from Meade's council of war to the seven-hour struggle for Culp's Hill -- the most sustained combat of the entire engagement. Drawing on hundreds of sources, including more than 400 manuscript collections, he offers brief excerpts from the letters and diaries of soldiers. He also introduces heroes on both sides of the conflict -- among them General George Greene, the oldest general on the battlefield, who led the Union troops at Culp's Hill. A gripping narrative written in a fresh and lively style, Gettysburg, Day Three is an unforgettable rendering of an immortal day in our country's history.

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452

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439129290

ISBN 13

9781439129296

A Glorious Army

Robert E. Lee's Triumph, 1862-1863

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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A Glorious Army

Robert E. Lee's Triumph, 1862-1863

By: Jeffry D. Wert

An “eloquent and judicious”* analysis of Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, from one of leading Civil War historians—now in paperback. From the time Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia on June 1, 1862, until the Battle of Gettysburg thirteen months later, the Confederate army compiled a record of military achievement almost unparalleled in our nation’s history. How it happened—the relative contributions of Lee, his top command, opposing Union generals, and of course the rebel army itself—is the subject of Civil War historian Jeffry D. Wert’s fascinating new history. Wert shows how the audacity and aggression that fueled Lee’s victories ultimately proved disastrous at Gettysburg. But, as Wert explains, Lee had little choice: outnumbered by an opponent with superior resources, he had to take the fight to the enemy in order to win. When an equally combative Union general—Ulysses S. Grant—took command of northern forces in 1864, Lee was defeated. A Glorious Army draws on the latest scholarship to provide fresh assessments of Lee; his top commanders Longstreet, Jackson, and Stuart; and a shrewd battle strategy that still offers lessons to military commanders today.

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402

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1416593357

ISBN 13

9781416593355

Cavalryman of the Lost Cause

A Biography of J. E. B. Stuart

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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Cavalryman of the Lost Cause

A Biography of J. E. B. Stuart

By: Jeffry D. Wert

Now in paperback, this major biography of J.E.B. Stuart—the first in two decades—uses newly available documents to draw the fullest, most accurate portrait of the legendary Confederate cavalry commander ever published. • Major figure of American history: James Ewell Brown Stuart was the South’s most successful and most colorful cavalry commander during the Civil War. Like many who die young (Stuart was thirty-one when he succumbed to combat wounds), he has been romanticized and popular- ized. One of the best-known figures of the Civil War, J.E.B. Stuart is almost as important a figure in the Confederate pantheon as Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. • Most comprehensive biography to date: Cavalryman of the Lost Cause is based on manuscripts and unpublished letters as well as the latest Civil War scholarship. Stuart’s childhood and family are scrutinized, as is his service in Kansas and on the frontier before the Civil War. The research in this biography makes it the authoritative work.

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522

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

0743278240

ISBN 13

9780743278249

Custer

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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Custer

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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485

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439129320

ISBN 13

9781439129326

A Brotherhood Of Valor

The Common Soldiers Of The Stonewall Brigade C S A And The Iron Brigade U S A

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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A Brotherhood Of Valor

The Common Soldiers Of The Stonewall Brigade C S A And The Iron Brigade U S A

By: Jeffry D. Wert

This unusual and moving chronicle covers some of the most important battles of the Civil War—Sharpsburg (Antietam), Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville—through the stories of the two brigades who confronted each other on the bloody fields of battle. Drawing on original source material, Jeffry Wert reconstructs the drama and terrors of war through the eyes of the ordinary men who became members of two of the most respected fighting units of their respective armies, the Stonewall Brigade of the Confederacy and the Iron Brigade of the Union. There are tales of grueling marches and almost unbearable deprivations; eyewitness accounts of ferocious fighting and devastating losses on both sides; and portraits of acts of courage and valor performed by soldiers and officers who, despite the difficulties they faced, remained dedicated to the cause for which they were fighting.

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344

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1501128302

ISBN 13

9781501128301

General James Longstreet

The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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General James Longstreet

The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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564

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439127786

ISBN 13

9781439127780

The Heart of Hell

The Soldiers' Struggle for Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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The Heart of Hell

The Soldiers' Struggle for Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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321

Publisher

UNC Press Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1469668432

ISBN 13

9781469668437

Cavalryman of the Lost Cause

A Biography of J. E. B. Stuart

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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Cavalryman of the Lost Cause

A Biography of J. E. B. Stuart

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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Page Count

522

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

0743278240

ISBN 13

9780743278249

Gettysburg, Day Three

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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Gettysburg, Day Three

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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452

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439129290

ISBN 13

9781439129296

Civil War Barons

The Tycoons, Entrepreneurs, Inventors, and Visionaries Who Forged Victory and Shaped a Nation

By: Jeffry D. Wert

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Civil War Barons

The Tycoons, Entrepreneurs, Inventors, and Visionaries Who Forged Victory and Shaped a Nation

By: Jeffry D. Wert

Before the robber barons there were Civil War barons--a remarkable yet largely unknown group of men whose contributions won the war and shaped America's future. The Civil War woke a sleeping giant in America, creating unprecedented industrial growth that not only supported the struggle but reshaped the nation. Energized by the country's dormant potential and wealth of natural resources, individuals of vision, organizational talent, and capital took advantage of the opportunity that war provided. Their innovations sustained Union troops, affected military strategy and tactics, and made the killing fields even deadlier. Their ranks included men such as: John Deere, whose plows helped feed large armies Gail Borden, whose condensed milk nourished the Union army The Studebaker Brothers, whose wagons moved war supplies from home front to war front Robert Parrott, whose rifled cannon was deployed on countless battlefields. and many others. Individually, these men came to dominate industry and amass great wealth and power; collectively, they helped save the Union and refashion the economic fabric of a nation. Utilizing extensive research in manuscript collections, company records, and contemporary newspapers, historian Jeffry D. Wert casts a revealing light on the individuals most responsible for bringing the United States into the modern age.

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