On May 8, 1861, Matt Ransom resigned from the North Carolina House of Commons and accepted a commission as a Confederate officer. Like many North Carolinians, Ransom had been reluctant to see his state leave the Union; though he owned slaves at the onset of the war, he strongly believed that slavery was a doomed institution. However, the action at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, had made his course of action all but inevitable. Despite the fact he was without military experience or training, Ransom saw it as his duty to join the Confederate forces. He left behind a young family and courageously fought Union forces until the end of the war; his brigade was present at Appomattox for Robert E. Lee's surrender. He was twice wounded in battle and was widely recognized as an effective and highly competent leader by enlisted men and officers alike. After the war, he returned to his beloved North Carolina, and following considerable hardship, rebuilt his plantation.

In the space of a few hours on the night of April 2, 1865, Richmond, the Confederate capital, was evacuated and burned, the government fled, slavery was finished in North America, Union forces entered the city and the outcome of the Civil War was effectively sealed. No official documents tell the story because the Confederate government was on the run. First there were newspaper accounts--mostly confused--then history books based on those accounts. But much of what we know about the fall of Richmond comes from "eyewitnesses" like Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory, whose tale became history. A great deal of what has been presented over the years by historians has been plagiarized, invented or misconstrued, and nearly all we have learned of Jefferson Davis's flight from Richmond to Danville is wrong. This book closely examines all relevant source material--much of it newly discovered by the author--as well as the writers, diarists and eyewitnesses themselves, and constructs a minutely detailed new account that comes closer to what Abraham Lincoln had in mind when he said, "History is not history unless it is the truth."

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor.

compiled and written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration for the state of North Carolina. Sponsored by North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development.

Wait details the division of the Union from Lincoln's election day in November of 1860 to the middle of June 1861. He describes the various phases of secession, centering the action on Fort Sumter. Lincoln is his main character, but Buchanan plays a prominent role and Lee and McClellan are also highlighted. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Details the organization of the Philips Georgia Legion Cavalry Battalion unit and its combat odyssey. This book tells the story of this battalion.