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The battle for the southern slope of Little Round Top at Gettysburg is one of the most studied battles of the American Civil War. In this text, Thomas Desjardin presents 70 first-hand accounts of the battle, told by veterans from both sides.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Rare recollections of combat and camaraderie from the Army of the Potomac. Thomas W. Hyde, a native of Maine who rose rapidly through the Union ranks and eventually received the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Antietam, published his portrait of the Army of the Potomac in 1894. More than a mere personal remembrance, "Following the Greek Cross" tells the story of an illustrious army unit and offers rare glimpses into the Northern perspective on the war and its significance in U.S. history. One of the most cited - and most difficult to find - Union memoirs, this volume returns to print with an expanded edition featuring new information about the author, more than a dozen photographs, and a complete index. Hyde began his military career in 1861 as a major of the Seventh Maine Infantry Regiment. When that unit became part of the Sixth Corps of the massive Army of the Potomac, Hyde was promoted to a staff post. He served on the staffs of several prominent Union officers, including John Sedgwick and Horatio G. Wright, major generals who between them commanded the Sixth Corps in several important campaigns in the Virginia theater. Hyde's unit was also among those who followed General Lee's army into Pennsylvania and fought at Gettysburg. In his correspondence Hyde writes engagingly about the war, his fellow soldiers, strategy and tactics, and daily life in the Union forces. He elaborates on their motivation for fighting, the strength of their camaraderie, and their unflagging determination to preserve the Union. Eric J. Mink's new introduction provides fresh insights on Hyde's origins, perspectives, and postwar achievements, which include the establishment of one of North America's most important shipyards, in Hyde's hometown of Bath, Maine.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

A dramatic real-life adventure story, "Unspoiled Heart" chronicles the Civil War experiences of Charles P. Mattocks, a major in the Union Army of the Potomac. From 1863 to 1865, Mattocks kept a diary in which he meticulously recorded the everyday details of army politics and camplife and the excitement of commanding men in battle. At the tender age of twenty-three, this Bowdoin College graduate took successive command of the Seventeenth Maine and the famous First United States Sharpshooters. With an "unspoiled heart, " he fearlessly led his troops in the crucial battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg as well as in several minor skirmishes. During the Battle of the Wilderness, Mattocks was captured, imprisoned by the Confederates, and escaped into the mountains of North Carolina, where he was recaptured by Confederate Indians. After nine months in different Confederate prisons, Mattocks was exchanged in time to participate in the Battle of Sayler's Creek, in which his bravery earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor. Mattocks's journals are rich with insightful commentary, including details about the officers' prisons in Georgia and the Carolinas and about the anti-Confederate slaves and white Unionists who aided him in his escape. Of particular interest are his invaluable descriptions of Sayler's Creek, the last great battle involving the Army of the Potomac and one that has often been neglected in Civil War literature.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction: Joshua Chamberlain returns to Gettysburg
• Maine goes to war
• Maine spills blood
• McClellan makes his move
• Howard loses his arm
• Ames gets a regiment
• The 7th Maine makes a charge
• The 19th Maine smells powder
• Hooker takes command
• Howard gets flanked
• The army moves north
• The 16th Maine gets sacrificed
• The 17th Maine finds a wall
• The 20th Maine holds the left
• The Army of the Potomac triumphs
• Aftermath.

• Preface
• Foreword by John Pullen
• Introduction
• 1. North From the Rappahannock
• 2. The Death-Strewn Slope
• 3. The Bigger Hill
• 4. Seared by the Horrors of War
• 5. In Great Deeds Something Abides
• 6. American Legend, American Shrine
• Twentieth Maine Roster of Participants
• Appendix 1: Number of Combatants
• Appendix 2: Recollections of the Participants
• Appendix 3: 20th Maine Casualties
• Appendix 4: 15th Alabama Casualties
• Appendix 5: 47th Alabama Casualties
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Fought amid rocks and trees, in thick blinding smoke, and under exceedingly stressful conditions, the battle for the southern slope of Little Round Top on July 2, 1863 stands among the most famous and crucial military actions in American history, one of the key engagements that led to the North's victory at Gettysburg. In this powerfully narrated history, Maine historian Tom Desjardin tells the story of the 20th Maine Regiment, the soldiers who fought and won the battle of Little Round Top. This engaging work is the culmination of years of detailed research on the experiences of the soldiers in that regiment, telling the complete story of the unit in the Gettysburg Campaign, from June 21 through July 10, 1863. Desjardin uses more than seventy first-hand accounts to tell the story of this campaign in critical detail. He brings the personal experiences of the soldiers to life, relating the story from both sides and revealing the actions and feelings of the men from Alabama who tried, in vain, to seize Little Round Top. Indeed, ranging from the lowest ranking private to the highest officers, this book explores the terrible experiences of war and their tragic effect. Following the regiment through the campaign enables readers to understand fully the soldiers' feelings towards the enemy, towards citizens of both North and South, and towards the commanders of the two armies. In addition, this book traces the development of the legend of Gettysburg, as veterans of the fight struggle to remember, grasp, and memorialize their part in the largest battle ever fought on the continent. With a new preface and updated maps and illustrations, Stand Fast Ye Boys of Maine offers a compelling account of one of the most crucial small engagements of the Civil War.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface
• Foreword by John Pullen
• Introduction
• 1. North From the Rappahannock
• 2. The Death-Strewn Slope
• 3. The Bigger Hill
• 4. Seared by the Horrors of War
• 5. In Great Deeds Something Abides
• 6. American Legend, American Shrine
• Twentieth Maine Roster of Participants
• Appendix 1: Number of Combatants
• Appendix 2: Recollections of the Participants
• Appendix 3: 20th Maine Casualties
• Appendix 4: 15th Alabama Casualties
• Appendix 5: 47th Alabama Casualties
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Fought amid rocks and trees, in thick blinding smoke, and under exceedingly stressful conditions, the battle for the southern slope of Little Round Top on July 2, 1863 stands among the most famous and crucial military actions in American history, one of the key engagements that led to the North's victory at Gettysburg. In this powerfully narrated history, Maine historian Tom Desjardin tells the story of the 20th Maine Regiment, the soldiers who fought and won the battle of Little Round Top. This engaging work is the culmination of years of detailed research on the experiences of the soldiers in that regiment, telling the complete story of the unit in the Gettysburg Campaign, from June 21 through July 10, 1863. Desjardin uses more than seventy first-hand accounts to tell the story of this campaign in critical detail. He brings the personal experiences of the soldiers to life, relating the story from both sides and revealing the actions and feelings of the men from Alabama who tried, in vain, to seize Little Round Top. Indeed, ranging from the lowest ranking private to the highest officers, this book explores the terrible experiences of war and their tragic effect. Following the regiment through the campaign enables readers to understand fully the soldiers' feelings towards the enemy, towards citizens of both North and South, and towards the commanders of the two armies. In addition, this book traces the development of the legend of Gettysburg, as veterans of the fight struggle to remember, grasp, and memorialize their part in the largest battle ever fought on the continent. With a new preface and updated maps and illustrations, Stand Fast Ye Boys of Maine offers a compelling account of one of the most crucial small engagements of the Civil War.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction
• The Diary
• 1862: 6 October to 31 December
• 1863: 1 January to 12 May
• 1864: 12 October to 24 December
• Notes
• Appendixes
• Transcriptions of Letters and Newspaper Items
• Biographical Dictionary
• Bibliography
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

After the battle of Antietam in 1862, Harriet Eaton traveled to Virginia from her home in Portland, Maine, to care for soldiers in the Army of the Potomac. Portland's Free Street Baptist Church, with liberal ties to abolition, established the Maine Camp Hospital Association and made the widowed Eaton its relief agent in the field. One of many Christians who believed that patriotic activism could redeem the nation, Eaton quickly learned that war was no respecter of religious principles. Doing the work of nurse and provisioner, Eaton tended wounded men and those with smallpox and diphtheria during two tours of duty. She preferred the first tour, which ended after the battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, to the second, more sedentary, assignment at City Point, Virginia, in 1864. There the impositions of federal bureaucracy standardized patient care at the expense of more direct communication with soldiers. Eaton deplored the arrogance of U.S. Sanitary Commissioners whom she believed saw state benevolent groups as competitors for supplies. Eaton struggled with the disruptions of transience, scarcely sleeping in the same place twice, but found the politics of daily toil even more challenging. Conflict between Eaton and co-worker Isabella Fogg erupted almost immediately over issues of propriety; the souring working conditions leading to Fogg's ouster from Maine state relief efforts by late 1863. Though Eaton praised some of the surgeons with whom she worked, she labeled others charlatans whose neglect had deadly implications for the rank and file. If she saw villainy, she also saw opportunities to convert soldiers and developed an intense spiritual connection with a private, which appears to have led to a postwar liaison. Published here for the first time, the uncensored nursing diary is a rarity among medical accounts of the war, showing Eaton to be an astute observer of human nature and not as straight-laced as we might have thought. This hardcover edition includes an extensive introduction from the editor, transcriptions of relevant letters and newspaper articles, and a thoroughly researched biographical dictionary of the people mentioned in the diary.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction
• The Diary
• 1862: 6 October to 31 December
• 1863: 1 January to 12 May
• 1864: 12 October to 24 December
• Notes
• Appendixes
• Transcriptions of Letters and Newspaper Items
• Biographical Dictionary
• Bibliography
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

After the battle of Antietam in 1862, Harriet Eaton traveled to Virginia from her home in Portland, Maine, to care for soldiers in the Army of the Potomac. Portland's Free Street Baptist Church, with liberal ties to abolition, established the Maine Camp Hospital Association and made the widowed Eaton its relief agent in the field. One of many Christians who believed that patriotic activism could redeem the nation, Eaton quickly learned that war was no respecter of religious principles. Doing the work of nurse and provisioner, Eaton tended wounded men and those with smallpox and diphtheria during two tours of duty. She preferred the first tour, which ended after the battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, to the second, more sedentary, assignment at City Point, Virginia, in 1864. There the impositions of federal bureaucracy standardized patient care at the expense of more direct communication with soldiers. Eaton deplored the arrogance of U.S. Sanitary Commissioners whom she believed saw state benevolent groups as competitors for supplies. Eaton struggled with the disruptions of transience, scarcely sleeping in the same place twice, but found the politics of daily toil even more challenging. Conflict between Eaton and co-worker Isabella Fogg erupted almost immediately over issues of propriety; the souring working conditions leading to Fogg's ouster from Maine state relief efforts by late 1863. Though Eaton praised some of the surgeons with whom she worked, she labeled others charlatans whose neglect had deadly implications for the rank and file. If she saw villainy, she also saw opportunities to convert soldiers and developed an intense spiritual connection with a private, which appears to have led to a postwar liaison. Published here for the first time, the uncensored nursing diary is a rarity among medical accounts of the war, showing Eaton to be an astute observer of human nature and not as straight-laced as we might have thought. This hardcover edition includes an extensive introduction from the editor, transcriptions of relevant letters and newspaper articles, and a thoroughly researched biographical dictionary of the people mentioned in the diary.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)