Preview: Three Recent Releases from Savas Beatie

I apologize for the delay in posting this, but here are recaps for three recent Savas Beatie publications.

From the jacket:

“When Hell Came to Sharpsburg” investigates how the battle and its armies wreaked emotional, physical, and financial havoc on the people of Sharpsburg. For proper context, the author explores the savage struggle and its gory aftermath and explains how soldiers stripped the community of resources and spread diseases. Cowie carefully and meticulously follows fortunes of individual families like the Mummas, Roulettes, Millers, and many others—ordinary folk thrust into harrowing circumstances—and their struggle to recover from their unexpected and often devastating losses.”

What you get:

• 464 pages of text in 12 chapters
• 34 page bibliography, including numerous manuscript and newspaper sources.
• Index
• Bottom of page footnotes
• Forewords by Dennis Frye and John Schildt
• 8 Hal Jesperson maps, including town plat map and list of lot owners
• Photos and illustrations throughout

From the jacket:

Scott L. Mingus Sr. and Eric J. Wittenberg, the authors of more than forty Civil War books, have once again teamed up to present a history of the opening moves of the Gettysburg Campaign in the two-volume study “If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania”: The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg. This compelling study is one of the first to integrate the military, media, political, social, economic, and civilian perspectives with rank-and-file accounts from the soldiers of both armies as they inexorably march toward their destiny at Gettysburg. This first installment covers June 3–21, 1863, while the second, spanning June 22–30, completes the march and carries the armies to the eve of the fighting.

You get:

• 409 pages of text in 19 chapters, by day
• Appendix on the itineraries of the armies
• Bibliography to follow in volume 2
• 14 page Dramatis Personae
• Index
• Bottom of page footnotes
• Foreword by Dr. Jennifer Murray
• 31 Edward Alexander maps
• Photos and illustrations throughout

From the jacket:

In Six Miles from Charleston, Five Minutes to Hell: The Battle of Secessionville, June 16, 1862, historian Jim Morgan examines the James Island campaign and its aftermath. By including several original sources not previously explored, he takes a fresh look at this small, but potentially game-changing fight, and shows that it was of much more than merely local interest at the time.

You get:

• 151 pages of text in 12 chapters
• 2 appendixes: driving tour and the Campbell brothers of the 79th New York Volunteers
• Order of Battle
• 14 page Dramatis Personae
• Foreword by Dr. Kyle Sinisi
• 10 Edward Alexander maps
• Photos and illustrations throughout

A Few Charleston Civil War Sites April, 2021

Here are a few photos from James Island I took while on my recent trip to Charleston, S.C.  Click the images for larger versions. I apologize for the format – still trying to figure out WordPress’s “new” editor, and it’s clumsy. Next post I think I’ll just insert thumbnails.

Secessionville Manor, a short boat ride from my brother’s dock. The impressive dwelling and grounds played a role in the 1862 battle of the same name.

Morris Island Lighthouse, a longer boat ride. The lighthouse can orient you in the general direction of the site of Ft. or Battery Wagner, now under water. And the lighthouse was designed at least in part by First Bull Run first-shot-firer, Peter Conover Hains. There is an active preservation group working on the lighthouse, and you can learn more about it here.

Monuments and displays at the Ft. Lamar Heritage Preserve. (EDIT: I did not notice the vandalism until I posted these photos.)

These are self explanatory, and are found in the yard of the James Island Presbyterian Church.