On the hot summer evening of July 2, 1863, at the climax of the struggle for a Pennsylvania hill called Little Round Top, four Confederate regiments charge up the western slope, attacking the smallest and most exposed of their Union foe: the 16th Michigan Infantry. Terrible fighting has raged, but what happens next will ultimately—and unfairly—stain the reputation of one of the Army of the Potomac’s veteran combat outfits, made up of men from Detroit, Saginaw, Ontonagon, Hillsdale, Lansing, Adrian, Plymouth, and Albion. In the dramatic interpretation of the struggle for Little Round Top that followed the Battle of Gettysburg, the 16th Michigan Infantry would be remembered as the one that broke during perhaps the most important turning point of the war. Their colonel, a young lawyer from Ann Arbor, would pay with his life, redeeming his own reputation, while a kind of code of silence about what happened at Little Round Top was adopted by the regiment’s survivors. From soldiers’ letters, journals, and memoirs, this book relates their experiences in camp, on the march, and in battle, including their controversial role at Gettysburg, up to the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House.

Here is the narrative history of the 16th Michigan, from its formation as Stocktons Independent Regiment on through its service in the Eastern Theater of the war, beginning in the spring of 1861when Col. Thomas B.W. Stockton, attempting to answer the direct call of President Abraham Lincoln, found his path to command a state regiment blocked by Michigan Governor Austin Blair. Also presented is the previously untold story of the ill-fated Michigan Lancer Regiment, and how nearly 200 men who had originally wanted to fight in the manner of knights of old ended up in Stocktons command. Recounted too is the regiments role in the nightmarish battles that took place in darkness at Gaines Mill, Fredericksburg and Laurel Hill at Spotsylvania Court House, and in daylight attacks and charges across open ground at the Second Battle of Bull Run and Peebles Farm.

On the hot summer evening of July 2, 1863, at the climax of the struggle for a Pennsylvania hill called Little Round Top, four Confederate regiments charge up the western slope, attacking the smallest and most exposed of their Union foe: the 16th Michigan Infantry. Terrible fighting has raged, but what happens next will ultimately—and unfairly—stain the reputation of one of the Army of the Potomac’s veteran combat outfits, made up of men from Detroit, Saginaw, Ontonagon, Hillsdale, Lansing, Adrian, Plymouth, and Albion. In the dramatic interpretation of the struggle for Little Round Top that followed the Battle of Gettysburg, the 16th Michigan Infantry would be remembered as the one that broke during perhaps the most important turning point of the war. Their colonel, a young lawyer from Ann Arbor, would pay with his life, redeeming his own reputation, while a kind of code of silence about what happened at Little Round Top was adopted by the regiment’s survivors. From soldiers’ letters, journals, and memoirs, this book relates their experiences in camp, on the march, and in battle, including their controversial role at Gettysburg, up to the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House.

This fascinating narrative tells the story of a remarkable regiment at the center of Civil War history. The real-life adventure emerges from accounts of scores of soldiers who served in the 4th Michigan Infantry, gleaned from their diaries, letters, and memoirs; the reports of their officers and commanders; the stories by journalists who covered them; and the recollections of the Confederates who fought against them. The book includes tales of life in camp, portraying the Michigan soldiers as everyday people—recounting their practical jokes, illnesses, political views, personality conflicts, comradeship, and courage. The book also tells the true story of what happened to Colonel Harrison Jeffords and the 4th Michigan when the regiment marched into John Rose's wheat field on a sweltering early July evening at Gettysburg. Beyond the myths and romanticized newspaper stories, this account presents the historical evidence of Jeffords's heroic, yet tragic, hand-to-hand struggle for his regiment's U.S. flag.

The Michigan 16th Infantry Regiment was organized at Detroit and was originally known as "Stockton's Independent Regiment" as it was organized by Colonel Thomas B.W. Stockton, Flint, but it was afterward given the numerical number of the Sixteenth. It was mustered into service Sept. 8, 1861 with an enrollment of 761 officers and men. In February of 1862 a company of marksmen was recruited at Detroit known as "Brady's Sharpshooters" named after a Frontier General. The 16th served throughout the war in Virginia, participating in most all of the major battles. Of a total enrollment of 2,691 men, it suffered a 25% casualty rate. Companies of the Michigan 16th Infantry Regiment Company A - Ontonagon County Company B - Ionia County Company C - Genesee County Company D - Saginaw County Company E - Wayne County Company F - Wayne County and Calhoun County Company G - Wayne County Company H - Wayne County Company I - Wayne County Company K - Wayne County 1st Company of Sharpshooters or "Dygert's Sharpshooters"- Wayne County and Kent County

In the summer of 1862, a group of volunteer soldiers joined the Twenty-First Michigan Volunteer Infantry in western Michigan. For the next two and a half years, these men saw extensive combat against the Confederacy in Americas most brutal and bloody war. Drawn from hundreds of letters, diaries, and memoirs, Into the Tornado of War is the complete history of this Union regiment as seen through the soldiers eyes. James Genco traces their movements from their first major battle at Perryville, Kentucky, through Tennessee, Georgia, and finally, the Carolinas. In addition to Perryville, the regiment was severely tested in the landmark battles of Stones River, Chickamauga, and Bentonville, and participated in Union General William T. Shermans March to the Sea in November and December of 1864. As the war wound down in 1865, the regiment was part of the Union Army that cut its way through the Carolinas, ultimately finding itself in the forefront of one of the last major battles of the war. In a valuable contribution to the scholarship on the American Civil War, Into the Tornado of War paints a picture of the realities of the war through the words of real soldiers.