The Civil War Battlefield Guide

by Frances H. Kennedy (Editor)

This new edition of the definitive guide to Civil War battlefields is really a completely new book. While the first edition covered 60 major battlefields, from Fort Sumter to Appomattox, the second covers all of the 384 designated as the "principal battlefields" in the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report. As in the first edition, the essays are authoritative and concise, written by such leading historians as James M. McPherson, Stephen W. Sears, Edwin C. Bearss, James I. Robinson, Jr., and Gary W. Gallager. The second edition also features 83 new four-color maps covering the most important battles. The Civil War Battlefield Guide is an essential reference for anyone interested in the Civil War.

Genres: History, Civil War, Travel, Nonfiction, American Civil War, Military Fiction, Reference

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Bryce A.]

I just purchased a copy of the book. I bought it because I wanted to read David Lowe‘s contribution on the battle of the White Oak Road. My edition does not contain his submission. Can someone please help me understand if there is more than one edition of this book and give me a table of contents for the different editions

Bryce

[x x x · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent guide

Nice way to start a battlefield tour vacation. Recommended! We visited the Missouri Arkansas and Oklahoma battlefield's is part of what was described in this book.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely helpful academic, pictorial, and geographic atlas of the main battles of the ACW. Invaluable companion read to Shelby Foote's epic narrative.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

(This is for the second edition of the guide.) This is a really good as an encyclopedia of individual battles, along with brief looks at various topics associated with the war (such as battlefield staff rides and the development of map making). The battles are arraigned in chronological order by campaign, sometimes with maps; however, the amount of coverage and the use of maps seems a little haphazard at times. For example, in the 1864 Tennessee campaign section, both Allatoona and Spring Hill each have a map and a few pages, while Franklin and Nashville had only a single page each and neither had a map. And for the 1864 Missouri campaign, Westport (one of the largest battles in the Trans-Mississippi) and Mine Creek had only a half page each without any maps, while Newtonia II (which looked to be smaller than Westport and Mine Creek) did have a map.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent companion for your battlefield touring. I just used it for a trip to Shiloh, Chickamauga/Lookout Mountain, and the Petersburg siege (Eastern and Western Fronts, Five Forks Battle). The book includes short summaries of each battle, written by various Civil War historians and authors along with a map(s) overlaid with Union and Confederate force dispositions and movements. I intended to use it on the various battlefield sites but I found the Park Service has excellent markers and maps onsite. I used this book to get the overall layout and summary of what to look for. I have the older version of the book with fewer battles included. 4 Stars

[William Kerrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are doing any civil war battlefield touring, and plan to visit small sites as well as major ones, this is the first book you should buy. It provides nice brief summaries of almost every civil war battle, and maps explaining the major actions, super-imposed over modern topographical maps. These are invaluable for getting your bearings at each site. If you want to set the battle in its historical context, the first book you should buy is James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, available in a cheap and handy Kindle version for referencing on site.

[Steve Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an essential companion for anyone with more than a passing interest in the American Civil War. It is comprehensive and the maps are really good, most are overlaid onto modern topographical maps and theat makes them really easy to use, particularly on site. I found it a treasure both visiting tha battlefields and in reading written accounts, many o which contain maps that leave much to be desired. Highly recommended.

[Lucia Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource of every single battle in the American Civil War. It is not an in depth detail, rather a basic guide for all 350+ battles. It helped me find other sources for the battles as well so I could produce my American Civil War Battles youtube spots.

Definitely recommend for the American civil war history buff!

[Benjamin Plume · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference.

[Liz De Coster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent detailed maps, but the descriptions were often brief.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great reference book. Nice easy layout of facts. Recommended

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Use it as a reference when teaching / reading about the Civil War. Decent topographical maps that sometimes can be a little too busy to give an exact picture of what was going on during a battle.