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New York in the Civil War

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Elmira: Death Camp of the North
by Michael Horigan
The Civil War prison camp at Elmira, New York, had the highest death rate of any prison camp in the North: almost 25 percent. Comparatively, the overall death rate of all Northern prison camps was just over 11 percent; in the South, the death rate was just over 15 percent. Clearly, something went wrong in Elmira. The culmination of ten years of research, this book traces the story of what happened. Author Michael Horigan also places the prison in the context of the greater Elmira community by describing the town in 1864 and explaining its significance as a military depot and draft rendezvous
Hardcover from Stackpole Books

Banished Children of Eve, A Novel of Civil War New York
by Peter Quinn
Paperback from Penguin USA (Paper)

The Union Preserved: A Guide to the Civil War Records in the New York State Archives
by Daniel Lorello, Harold Holzer, Hans L. Trefousse, James M. McPherson, New York State Archives
Hardcover from Fordham University Press

An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, Alias Private Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers
by Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, Lauren Cook Burgess
Book Description: "I don't know how long before i shall have to go into the field of battle. For my part i don't care. I don't feel afraid to go. I don't believe there are any Rebel's bullet made for me yet." 
--Pvt. Lyons Wakeman

Similar sentiments were expressed by tens of thousands of Civil War soldiers in their diaries and in their letters to loved ones at home. What transforms the letters of Pvt. Lyons Wakeman from merely interesting reading into a unique and fascinating addition to Civil War literature is who wrote them--for Private Wakeman was not what "he" seemed to be. The five-foot tall soldier's true identity was that of a simple young farm girl from central New York state named Sarah Rosetta Wakeman. Her letters, the only such correspondence known to exist, provide a rare glimpse of what life was like for a woman fighting as a common soldier in the Civil War under the guise of a man. 

Written shortly after she left home to pursue her fortune in 1862, Rosetta's letters over the next two years tell of army life in the defences of Washington, D.C. and on the march and in battle during the 1864 Louisiana Red River Campaign. She wrote frequently to her family in Afton, NY, and her letters contain feelings and observations like those expressed by the majority of her fellow soldiers. We read of her determination to perform honorably the duty required of a soldier, the trials of hard marching and combat, her pride in being able to "drill just as well as any man" in her regiment, and her eventual fatalistic attitude toward military service, and her frequent expressions of faith in God and the afterlife. Although Rosetta did not survive the war, her letters remain as an singular record of female military life in the ranks, a phenomenon largely ignored by historians and researchers. 

Private Wakeman was not alone in embarking on her strange adventure. Hundreds of women, from both the North and South, disguised themselves as men and enlisted in the armies of our nation's bloodiest war. 

The experiences of these women during the Civil War are just beginning to be recognized as elemental to understanding the life of this country during those turbulent times. Little is known about these women precisely because they enlisted and served in constant secrecy, fearful of revealing their true identities. This unique collection of letters offers a firsthand look at the personality and character of a woman who defied convention to take a man's place in the Union army. 
Paperback from Oxford Press

A Time To Dance: Virginia's Civil War Diary, Book Three (My America)
by Mary Pope Osborne, Will Osbourne
Paperback from Scholastic

The Irish Brigade in the Civil War: The 69th New York and Other Irish Regiments of the Army of the Potomac
by Joseph G. Bilby
Paperback from DaCapo Press

The Man Who Tried to Burn New York
by Nat Brandt
Paperback from iUniverse.com

Hard Breathing Days: The Civil War Letters of Cora Beach Benton, Albion, New York, 1862-1865
by Thomas R. Taber
Hardcover from Almeron Press

Stories of Freedom in Black New York
by Shane White
Hardcover from Harvard Univ Pr

Confederate Operations in Canada and New York
by John W. Headley
Paperback from University Press of the Pacific

Under the Crescent and Star : The 134th New York Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War
by George W. Conklin
Hardcover from Axworthy Publishing

Lincoln's Foreign Legion: The 39th New York Infantry, the Garibaldi Guard
by Michael Bacarella
Hardcover from White Mane Publishing Co.

Passenger Arrivals at the Port of New York, 1820-1829
by Elizabeth P. Bentley
Hardcover from Genealogical Publishing Company

History of the 124th Regiment of New York State Volunteers: The Orange Blossom Regiment
by Charles H. Weygant, Garry E. Adelman, Lt. Col. Charles H. Weygant
Hardcover from Ironclad Publishing

Colonels in Blue: Union Army Colonels of the Civil War - New York
by Roger Hunt
Hardcover from Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Special Order

'Him on the One Side and Me on the Other' : The Civil War Letters of Alexander Campbell, 79th New York Infantry Regiment, and James Campbell, 1st South Carolina Battalion
by Terry A. Johnston, Alexander Campbell, James Campbell
Hardcover from University of South Carolina Press

72 Days at Gettysburg: Organization of the Tenth Regiment, New York Volunteer Cavalry & Assignment to the Town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (December 1861 to March 1862)
by George A., Iii Rummel
Hardcover from White Mane Publishing Co.

Turn Them Out To Die Like a Mule: The Civil War Letters of John N. Henry, 49th New York, 1816-1865
by John M. Priest
Hardcover from Gauley Mount Press

War Journal of Louis N. Beaudry, Fifth New York Cavalry: The Diary of a Union Chaplain, Commencing February 16, 1863
by Louis N. Beaudry, Richard E. Beaudry
Book Description: From the time of his departure on February 16, 1863, to join the Union Army until he returned home on July 18, 1865, Louis N. Beaudry kept a detailed diary of the day-to-day events of the Fifth New York Cavalry. The unit was a participant in the Battle of Gettysburg, and Beaudry writes of it in great detail. As the unit's chaplain, Beaudry was very observant of those factors that influenced morale, such as fighting, disease, boredom, hunger and weather conditions; his diary is thus uniquely focused on the daily routine of the Fifth New York. 
Hardcover from McFarland & Company

The Civil War Papers of Lt. Colonel Newton T. Colby, New York Infantry
by Newton T. Colby, William E. Hughes
Hardcover from McFarland & Company

We Came to Fight: The History of the 5th New York Veteran Volunteer Infantry Duryee's
by Patrick A. Schroeder, Brian C. Pohanka
Hardcover from Schroeder Publications

One Surgeon's Private War: Doctor William W. Potter of the 57th New York
by William W. Potter, John Michael Priest
Hardcover from White Mane Publishing Co.

The Business of Captivity in the Chemung Valley: Elmira and Its Civil War Prison
by Michael P. Gray
Hardcover from Kent State Univ Pr

Step to the Music
by Phyllis A. Whitney
Library Binding from Center Point Pub

Special Order

Subdued by the Sword: A Line Officer in the 121st New York Volunteers
by James M. Greiner
Hardcover from State Univ of New York Pr

Tibbits' Boys
by Thomas J. Reed
Paperback from University Press of America

Special Order

Bridge Building in Wartime: Colonel Wesley Brainerd's Memoir of the 50th New York Volunteer Engineers (Voices of the Civil War Series)
by Wesley Brainerd, Ed Malles
Hardcover from Univ of Tennessee Pr

Gotham at War: New York City, 1860-1865 (The American Crisis Series, No. 9)
by Edward K. Spann
Paperback from Scholarly Resources

Mr. Bristol's Barn: With Excerpts from Mr. Blinn's Diary
by John Szarkowski, John Bigelow Taylor, Gilbert Tapley Vincent, Philo Blinn
Hardcover from Harry N Abrams

Out of Print - Try Used Books

New York City Draft Riots: Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War
by Iver Bernstein
Hardcover from Oxford University Press
1989
Out of Print - Try Used Books

James Gordon Bennett and the New York Herald: A Study of Editorial Opinion in the Civil War Era, 1854-1867 (Royal Historical Society Studies in Hist)
by Douglas Fermer
Hardcover from Palgrave Macmillan
1986
Out of Print - Try Used Books

The Civil War and New York City
by Ernest A. McKay
Paperback from Syracuse University Press
1991
Out of Print - Try Used Books

Desolating This Fair Country: The Civil War Diary and Letters of Lt. Henry C. Lyon, 34th New York
by Henry C. Lyon, Emily N. Radigan
Hardcover from McFarland & Company

Out of Print - Try Used Books
 
 

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