Although Robert E. Lee, surrendered at Appomattox Court House in April, 1865, some Confederates refused to abandon their cause. Fallen Guidon, originally published in 1962 by Jack Rittenhouse's Stagecoach Press, described the adventures of a Confederate brigade that, rather than surrender, decided to transplant its vision of Southern Empire in the troubled soils of Mexico. General Jo Shelby had led the Missouri Cavalry Division through numerous battles in the Trans-Mississippi theater. "We will stand together, we will keep our organization, our arms, our discipline, our hatred of oppression." He planned to march his brigade to Mexico and fight alongside the guerrillas against Emperor Maximilian's French army of occupation. They would come to Mexico's aid and, at the same time, save their honor and perhaps gain riches in a new land. Shelby and his men marched through Texas, burying their Confederated battle flag in the murky waters of the Rio Grande. But the men did not want to fight Maximilian's French soldiers. Identifying themselves as "imperialists," they instead fought the opposition Juaristas, spilling blood from Piedras Negras to Mexico City. This popularly written history, based on archival sources and the reminiscences of Shelby's adjunct, brings vividly to life a little-remembered episode of the Civil War period and of American incursions in Mexico -- Back cover.

Includes - 18 maps and 6 illustrations “The role of the field artillery in the Civil War is often overlooked in favor of the more romantic views of great cavalry commanders or infantrymen. But the reality was that without the field artillery, many of the decisive battles won by the Army of the Potomac most likely would have resulted in defeat and/or destruction. Grape and Canister, first published in 1960, has since become a classic and remains the definitive study of the field artillery of the Army of the Potomac.”-Print ed.

Confederate general Joseph O. Shelby and his legendary Iron Brigade refused to acknowledge the end of the Civil War. Instead, they fought their way to Mexico in search of a place where they could continue to defy the U.S. government. These veteran Missouri cavalrymen clawed their way for fifteen hundred miles, fighting Juaristas, Indians, desperados, and disgruntled gringos. They disbanded only after they had offered their services to Emperor Maximilian and were turned down. Shelby’s adjutant, journalist John N. Edwards, first published his story of the exploits of this superb mounted brigade and its quixotic final march in 1872. Conger Beasley provides a lively introduction that includes the first biographical sketch of the author. The 1969 movie The Undefeated starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson was based upon Shelby’s expedition.

Includes Part 1, Number 1: Books and Pamphlets, Including Serials and Contributions to Periodicals (January - June)

This is the first major illustrated book to examine the life and death of General Custer.

"Custer found himself in the one dilemma all soldiers most dread—he was outnumbered and completely surrounded. With disaster looming in every quarter and no chance of escape. . . ." So Gregory J. W Urwin pulls the reader into a scene describing not the Battle of the Little Big Horn but a Civil War engagement that George Armstrong Custer and his troop survived, thanks to strategy as much as naked courage. Many books have focused on Custer's Last Stand in 1876, making legend of total defeat. Custer Victorious is the first to examine at length, with attention to primary sources, his brilliant Civil War career. Urwin writes: "None of Custer's exploits against the Plains Indians could compare with those he performed while with the Army of the Potomac." The leader of a brigade called "the Wolverines," Custer was promoted to major general and the helm of the Third Cavalry Division when he was only twenty-four. Urwin describes the Boy General's vital contributions to Union victories from Gettysburg to Appomattox.

The American Civil War began with a laying down of arms by Union troops at Fort Sumter, and it ended with a series of surrenders, most famously at Appomattox Courthouse. But in the intervening four years, both Union and Confederate forces surrendered en masse on scores of other occasions. Indeed, roughly one out of every four soldiers surrendered at some point during the conflict. In no other American war did surrender happen so frequently. David Silkenat here provides the first comprehensive study of Civil War surrender, focusing on the conflicting social, political, and cultural meanings of the action. Looking at the conflict from the perspective of men who surrendered, Silkenat creates new avenues to understand prisoners of war, fighting by Confederate guerillas, the role of southern Unionists, and the experiences of African American soldiers. The experience of surrender also sheds valuable light on the culture of honor, the experience of combat, and the laws of war.