Presbyterian minister Nicholas A. Davis joined the Fourth Regiment of Texas Volunteers as chaplain in 1861. Soon after, the unit moved to Virginia, where they fought in the Seven Days Campaign, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg. Rev. Davis wrote his memoir two years into battle, drawing upon keen observational skills and a diary he kept faithfully. He delves deeply into little known topics such as religion in the field, the duties of army chaplains, the appalling condition of wounded men, and war-time Richmond. First published in 1863 and expanded by historian Donald E. Everett in 1962, this present volume has won acclaim from both scholars and history buffs.

Ordained a Presbyterian minister in the late 1840s, Nicholas A. Davis joined the Fourth Regiment of Texas Volunteers as chaplain in 1861. Soon after, the unit moved to Virginia, where they fought in the Seven Days Campaign, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg. Davis wrote his memoir two years into battle, drawing upon keen observational skills and a diary he kept faithfully. He delves deeply into little known topics such as religion in the field, the duties of army chaplains, the appalling condition of wounded men, and war-time Richmond.Originally published in 1863 and expanded by Donald Everett in 1962, the volume has won acclaim from both scholars and buffs. To Everett's muster rolls, casualty list, editor's notes, and encompassing index, Robert Krick now adds a new foreword discussing the unsurpassed standing of this work.

The Texas Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia was one of the best units to fight on either side in the American Civil War. Three factors made that success possible: their strong self-identity as Confederates, the mutual respect shared between the brigade's junior officers and their men, and a constant desire to maintain their reputation not just as Texans, but also as the best soldiers in Robert E. Lee's army and all the Confederacy. Hood's Texas Brigade is a study of the soldiers and families of this elite unit that challenges key historical arguments about soldier motivation, volunteerism and desertion, home front morale, and veterans' postwar adjustment.

Of the many infantry brigades in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade earned the reputation as perhaps the premier unit. From 1862 until Lee's surrender at Appomattox, the brigade fought in most of the major campaigns in the Eastern Theater and several more in the Western, including the Seven Days, Second Manassas (Second Bull Run), Sharpsburg (Antietam), Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Knoxville, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, the siege of Richmond and Petersburg, and Appomattox. Distinguished for its fierce tenacity and fighting ability, the brigade suffered some of the war's highest casualties. This volume chronicles Hood's Texas Brigade from its formation through postwar commemorations, providing a soldier's-eye view of the daring and bravery of this remarkable unit.

Most Civil War generals were graduates of West Point, and many of them helped transform the U.S. Army from what was little better than an armed mob that performed poorly during the War of 1812 into the competent fighting force that won the Mexican War. Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh demonstrates how the "old army" transformed itself into a professional military force after 1814, and, more important, how "old army" methods profoundly shaped the conduct of the Civil War.

During the crucial three days of combat at Gettysburg, the most nightmarish place on the entire battlefield was appropriately named the Devil's Den. This jumble of huge boulders situated at the southern end of Houck's Ridge was truly a hell on earth during the decisive afternoon of July 2, 1863. The tenacious struggle that raged beyond control at the battle-line's southern end was all-important, because the Devil's Den and Houck's Ridge anchored the left flank of the over-extended Union battle-line, before Federal troops occupied Little Round Top to the east. The battle-hardened veterans of Lieutenant General James Longstreet's First Corps captured this vital sector— the first Union left flank—in one of the few Southern successes of the second day, after some of the war's most bitter fighting. Nevertheless, the dramatic story of the successful turning of the first Union left flank has been long overlooked and ignored largely because of the giant historical shadow cast by the more famous struggle at Little Round Top, which was only the second and last fight for the southern flank of both armies on July 2. Therefore, the important contest for possession of the first Union left flank at the Devil's Den and Houck's Ridge was crucial on the bloody afternoon that decided the fate of America. • Includes 22 colour and sepia-tinted photographs