Journey back Inside The Blanket Fort as we honor National Military Appreciation Month and dive into some of SIU Press’s excellent military history titles.
Of some twelve thousand Union Civil War surgeons, only fourteen were Black men. Without Concealment, Without Compromise: The Courageous Lives of Black Civil War Surgeons, by Jill L. Newmark, is the first-ever comprehensive exploration of their lives and service.
The Bonds of War: A Story of Immigrants and Esprit de Corps in Company C, 96th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, by Diana L. Dretske, uncovers the common soldier from the cataclysm that is the American Civil War by offering a collective biography of five soldiers of the 96th in the Western Theater.
The Spirits of Bad Men Made Perfect: The Life and Diary of Confederate Artillerist William Ellis Jones, tells the man by the same name, an artillerist in Crenshaw’s Battery, Pegram’s Battalion, the Army of Northern Virginia, through his diary and a biography by his descendant Constance Hall Jones.
The Prairie Boys Go to War: The Fifth Illinois Cavalry, 1861-1865, by Rhonda M. Kohl, pulls the Fifth Illinois out of historical oblivion, elucidating the highs and lows of the soldiers’ service as well as their changing attitudes toward war goals, religion, liberty, commanding generals, Copperheads, and alcoholism.
In Lincoln and the Civil War, from the Concise Lincoln Library series, Michael Burlingame explores the experiences and qualities that made Abraham Lincoln one of America’s most revered leaders.
Learn more about these titles and more on this edition of Inside The Blanket Fort.
