William Cowper Nelson's Books

The Hour of Our Nation's Agony

The Civil War Letters of Lt. William Cowper Nelson of Mississippi

By: William Cowper Nelson

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The Hour of Our Nation's Agony

The Civil War Letters of Lt. William Cowper Nelson of Mississippi

By: William Cowper Nelson

The Hour of Our Nation's Agony offers a revealing look into the life of a Confederate soldier as he is transformed by the war. Through these literate, perceptive, and illuminating letters, readers can trace Lt. William Cowper Nelson's evolution from an idealistic young soldier to a battle-hardened veteran. Nelson joined the army at the age of nineteen, leaving behind a close-knit family in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He served for much of the war in the Third Corps of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. By the end of the conflict, Nelson had survived many major battles, including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness, as well as the long siege of Petersburg. In his correspondence, Nelson discusses in detail the soldier's life, religion in the ranks, his love for and heartbreak at being separated from his family, and Southern identity. Readers will find his reflections on slavery, religion, and the Confederacy particularly revealing. Seeing and participating in the slaughter of other human beings overpowered Nelson's romantic idealism. He had long imagined war as a noble struggle of valor, selflessness, and glory. But the sight of wounded men with "blood streaming from their wounds," dying slow, lonely deaths showed Nelson the true nature of war. Nelson's letters reveal the conflicting emotions that haunted many soldiers. Despite his bitter hatred of the "ruthless invaders of our beloved South," the sight of wounded Union prisoners moved him to compassion. Nelson's ability to write about irreconcilable moments when he felt both kindness and cruelty toward the enemy with introspection, candor, and sensitivity makes The Hour of Our Nation's Agony more than just a collection of missives. Jennifer Ford places Nelson squarely in the middle of the historiographic debate over the degree of disillusionment felt by Civil War soldiers, arguing that Nelson-like many soldiers-was a complex individual who does not fit neatly into one interpretation. Jennifer W. Ford is head of special collections and associate professor at the J. D. Williams Library at the University of Mississippi, where the where the collection containing Lt. Nelson's letters and other family documents is held.

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372

Publisher

Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

157233567X

ISBN 13

9781572335677

River of Death--The Chickamauga Campaign

Volume 1: The Fall of Chattanooga

By: William Glenn Robertson

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River of Death--The Chickamauga Campaign

Volume 1: The Fall of Chattanooga

By: William Glenn Robertson

The Battle of Chickamauga was the third bloodiest of the American Civil War and the only major Confederate victory in the conflict's western theater. It pitted Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee against William S. Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland and resulted in more than 34,500 casualties. In this first volume of an authoritative two-volume history of the Chickamauga Campaign, William Glenn Robertson provides a richly detailed narrative of military operations in southeastern and eastern Tennessee as two armies prepared to meet along the "River of Death." Robertson tracks the two opposing armies from July 1863 through Bragg's strategic decision to abandon Chattanooga on September 9. Drawing on all relevant primary and secondary sources, Robertson devotes special attention to the personalities and thinking of the opposing generals and their staffs. He also sheds new light on the role of railroads on operations in these landlocked battlegrounds, as well as the intelligence gathered and used by both sides. Delving deep into the strategic machinations, maneuvers, and smaller clashes that led to the bloody events of September 19@–20, 1863, Robertson reveals that the road to Chickamauga was as consequential as the unfolding of the battle itself.

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Page Count

697

Publisher

UNC Press Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1469643138

ISBN 13

9781469643137

The Confederate Resurgence of 1864

By: William Marvel

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The Confederate Resurgence of 1864

By: William Marvel

William Marvel’s The Confederate Resurgence of 1864 examines a dozen understudied Confederate and Union military operations carried out during the spring of 1864 that, taken cumulatively, greatly revived white southerners’ hopes for independence. Among the pivotal moments during this period were the sinking of the USS Housatonic by the CSS Hunley; Nathan Bedford Forrest’s defeat of William Sooy Smith’s cavalry raid; and the Confederate army’s victory at Olustee, Florida. The repulse of Union advances on Dalton, Georgia; botched Union raids on Richmond; and the capture of the Union garrison in Plymouth, North Carolina, likewise suggested that the tide of fighting had turned toward the Confederate cause. These events boosted the morale of southern troops and citizens, and caused grave concerns about the war effort in the North and in the mind of Abraham Lincoln. In late 1863 and early 1864, dejection and despair prevailed in the South: Union soldiers had vanquished Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg, the Confederate nation had been cut in two, Tennessee was lost, and Braxton Bragg’s army had been utterly routed at Chattanooga. Defeatism loomed in the South during the first weeks of 1864, and the ease with which William T. Sherman rampaged across Mississippi illustrated the dominance of Union forces, while Confederates’ ineffectual assault on New Bern accentuated their weakness. Yet between February 20 and April 30, southern troops enjoyed an unbroken string of successes that included turning back a concerted Union offensive during the Red River campaign as well as Forrest’s triumphant incursions into Union City, Paducah, and Fort Pillow. Aided by flawed strategy implemented by Union army officers, the achievements of Confederate forces restored hope and confidence in camp and on the southern home front. The Confederacy’s battlefield successes during the early months of 1864 remained almost unnoticed by Civil War scholars until recently and have never been investigated in detail until now. The victories invigorated southern combatants, demonstrating how abruptly the most dismal military prospects could be reversed. Without that experience, Marvel argues, the Confederates who faced Sherman and Grant in the spring of that year would certainly have displayed less ferocity and likely would have succumbed more quickly to the demoralization that ultimately led to the collapse of Confederate resistance.

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336

Publisher

LSU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807183040

ISBN 13

9780807183045

The Hour of Our Nation's Agony

The Civil War Letters of Lt. William Cowper Nelson of Mississippi

By: William Cowper Nelson

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The Hour of Our Nation's Agony

The Civil War Letters of Lt. William Cowper Nelson of Mississippi

By: William Cowper Nelson

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372

Publisher

Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

157233567X

ISBN 13

9781572335677

Brann The Iconoclast

Volume 10

By: William Cowper Brann

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Brann The Iconoclast

Volume 10

By: William Cowper Brann

Reproduction of the original: Brann The Iconoclast by William Cowper Brann

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206

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BoD – Books on Demand

Published Date

ISBN 10

373408203X

ISBN 13

9783734082030

Book's by William Cowper Nelson

The Hour of Our Nation's Agony

The Hour of Our Nation's Agony

River of Death--The Chickamauga Campaign

River of Death--The Chickamauga Campaign

The Confederate Resurgence of 1864

The Confederate Resurgence of 1864

The Hour of Our Nation's Agony

The Hour of Our Nation's Agony

Brann The Iconoclast

Brann The Iconoclast

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