Best Little Stories of the Blue and the Gray

by Kelly, C. Brian

• ISBN13: 9781581825022
• ISBN10: 1581825021
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-31
• Publisher: Cumberland House

Summary

A journalistic history of America's Civil War, it records the war largely in terms of human-interest aspects. In more than 100 vignettes, the writings of soldiers, sailors, slaves, politicians, and ordinary people are featured. Illustrated.Best Little Stories from the Blue and the Gray is a journalistic history of America's Civil War and the people who fought it. Drawn from the writings of soldiers, sailors, slaves, politicians, and ordinary citizens as much as from the accomplishments of military leaders, it records the war largely in terms of its human-interest aspects. In more than 100 vignettes, it gives voice to the common people - soldiers and civilians alike - not just military and political leaders, featuring stories about: - The Confederacy's Patton brothers, whose heroics inspired their descendant, George S. Patton Jr., of World War II fame. - A general who served faithfully and honorably under Stonewall Jackson even though as a cadet he had been expelled from VMI for talking back to Professor Jackson. - The true story behind the song, "Dixie," which was written in the North and was one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite songs. - The Confederate veteran who erected a monument in New England to his former enemy, the soldiers of the Union army. - The onetime Union drummer who apparently was the only Civil War veteran lost when the Titanic sank nearly five decades later. - The Confederate veteran who wrote nearly 1,000 novels and novelettes after the Civil War and was buried at Jefferson Davis's postwar home in Mississippi. - The Southern cemetery in which forty generals - all Union - are buried. - An obscure Confederate general who is honored by a statue in Washington, D.C. - How California won the Civil War for the Union...sort of...and how Texas gave the Confederacy a boost, even though Gov. Sam Houston did not intend to do so. - The Union submarine that sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras while under tow to Charleston, South Caroline, not in battle. - The final - but unsought - sentimental journey for Varina Howell Davis and her husband, Jefferson Davis, aboard a Mississippi River steamboat just days before his death.

Table of Contents

Introduction	11	(2)
Acknowledgments	13	(6)
Part 1: Beginnings...
Gray: First a Military Man	19	(1)
Blue: First Love Remembered	20	(1)
Blue & Gray: Portents of Drama	21	(2)
Gray: Takes a Wife	23	(2)
Blue: True Soldier's Son	25	(1)
Gray: First a Bishop	26	(1)
Blue: Duel Canceled, Wedding On	27	(3)
Gray: Helpmate for Life	30	(2)
Blue: "Uncle Sam" Grant	32	(1)
Gray: Ascending the Career Ladder	33	(1)
Blue: Cows and Sheep Grazing	34	(2)
Gray: "Damned Traitors!"	36	(4)
Blue & Gray: Cast of Thousands	40	(2)
Gray: A Virginia Whoop	42	(1)
Blue: Self-Appointed Bodyguard	43	(3)
Gray: Song Is Born	46	(2)
Blue & Gray: Double Leave-Takings	48	(7)
Part 2: War Under Way
Gray: "Pawnee Sunday"	55	(2)
Blue: Ringed by Rebellion	57	(5)
Gray: Lectures Suspended	62	(4)
Blue & Gray: Painful Interview	66	(2)
Blue: "Little Mac" in Town	68	(5)
Gray: Sibley's Ubiquitous Tent	73	(3)
Blue: Air "Thick" with Balls	76	(2)
Gray: One of the "Immortal 600"	78	(3)
Blue: A Name to Live On	81	(3)
Gray: Patton's Gritty Forebears	84	(5)
Blue & Gray: "Brave Fellow"	89	(1)
Gray: "Prince" John's Fall	90	(5)
Blue: Lucky Pair	95	(4)
Gray: Monument to a Reb General	99	(3)
Blue: Jules Verne and an Alligator	102	(5)
Gray: Dogged by Poor Health	107	(7)
Blue: Enduring Family Ties	114	(5)
Gray: Wesley Culp's Return	119	(5)
Blue: "Secession Is Rebellion"	124	(1)
Gray: Dispute with Stonewall	125	(4)
Blue: Honors for an Englishman	129	(2)
Gray: President's Son at War	131	(3)
Blue: California's Crucial Role	134	(3)
Gray: War Baby	137	(4)
Blue: Cheers for the Enemy	141	(1)
Gray: Prayed with Stonewall	142	(3)
Blue: At Home in Gettysburg	145	(8)
Blue & Gray: Gettysburg Aftermath	153	(5)
Gray: Texas at War	158	(3)
Blue: Unexpected Yankee Legacy	161	(4)
Gray: Brother William's War	165	(3)
Blue: Out of Uniform	168	(3)
Gray: Agony for Atlanta	171	(4)
Blue: Tie Askew	175	(3)
Gray: Cadets to the Defense	178	(4)
Blue: Secret Ally in Richmond	182	(5)
Gray: Distaff Defenders Ready	187	(3)
Blue: Plantation Spared	190	(2)
Neither Blue nor Gray: Lunged with a Knife	192	(5)
Part 3: And After...
Blue: Return to Sumter	197	(4)
Gray: "Yankee George's" Secret Love	201	(5)
Blue & Gray: Working for the Khedive	206	(3)
Gray: A Most Prolific Author	209	(3)
Blue: Valor Seemingly Ignored	212	(4)
Gray: His Last Home	216	(6)
Blue: Lost at Sea	222	(3)
Gray: His Faithful Companion	225	(3)
Blue: Not Really a General	228	(5)
Gray: His Last Trip	233	(3)
Blue: Confusion over Reno	236	(3)
Gray: "That Vagabond Soldier"	239	(4)
Blue: Graveyard for Generals	243	(5)
Gray: Forever Unreconstructed	248	(4)
Blue: Amazing Postwar Résumé	252	(3)
Gray: "Fighting Bishop"	255	(4)
Blue & Gray: A Soldier's Legacy	259	(6)
Part 4: Final Glimpses
Blue: The Long Way Home	265	(5)
Gray: Final Chapter for Jefferson Davis	270	(2)
Blue: Grant's Last Battle	272	(4)
Blue & Gray: Last Great Reunion	276	(7)
Part 5: Generals' Wives by Ingrid Smyer
Gray: Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee	283	(14)
Blue: Julia Dent Grant	297	(15)
Gray: Mary Anna Morrison Jackson	312	(15)
Blue: Ellen Ewing Sherman	327	(18)
Bibliography	345	(2)
Index	347