Special: Weider History Group, “1861”

I received a copy of Weider History Groups 1861: Hell Breaks Loose in the mail a couple of weeks ago. This $9.99, 106 page magazine features “31 stories of the Civil War’s first year by those who lived it.” Other than Harold Holzer’s introduction, all of the articles are either contemporary accounts or memoirs. I’m guessing that we’ll be seeing additional issues for each year of the sesquicentennial.

The articles cover a road range of subjects, and appear in chronological order. The usual suspects appear: The Anaconda Plan; Sumter Under Attack; Ugly Defeat at Bull Run; A Victor Remembers Ball’s Bluff. But some less well-known stories are told as well: Buchanan Blames the North; Sam Huston Defies Confederacy; Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wish; Woman Jailed Without Trial. The final article looks back on 1861 in review.

Nicely illustrated with many full-page images, 1861: Hell Breaks Loose is a nice overview of the first year of the war.