Battles and Leaders of the Civil War is volume one in a four-part series about the American Civil War. Edited by Robert Underwood Johnson, an American diplomat and writer, the book contains a collection of accounts and stories written by a variety of authors, primarily those who served in the Civil War. This book is a treasure trove of information for the history enthusiast. The book is divided into sections that each detail a major event, battle, or prominent individual of the war. The book opens with a brief introduction, which sets the stage for the entire collection by examining the organisation of the two governments, the United States Government and the Confederate States Government. From there, the book proceeds to detail signs of the impending conflict and the first military operations of the war. Prominent events of the war, from the Campaign of the First Bull Run, to The Battle of Shiloh, to the gunboat campaign are all discussed in tremendous detail. Contributors are both historians and notable participants in the war, including several sections written by Ulysses S. Grant. Maps and images accompany much of the text and enrich the written word. Volume one of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War is a remarkably comprehensive account of the early days of the Civil War. The battles are examined from the perspective of both sides, and the sources included by Johnson are rich in detail and truly fascinating in content. History students and enthusiasts will surely appreciate the tremendous scope of this collection. If you are looking for a thorough and exhaustive treatment of the Civil War, Robert Underwood Johnson's Battles and Leaders of the Civil War will surely appeal to you. Volume one sets the stage for the ongoing conflict, which is examined in even greater detail over the course of the final three volumes of this fantastic collection.
Johnson joined the staff of The Century Magazine in 1873. He became the magazine's associate editor in 1881, and in 1909, on the death of Richard Watson Gilder, succeeded to the editorial chair, which he occupied until May 1913. Johnson was also a longtime writer and editor for Scribner's Monthly. Using the influence of The Century Magazine, Underwood, in conjunction with famed naturalist John Muir, was one of the driving forces behind the creation of Yosemite National Park in the California in 1890. In 1889, Johnson also encouraged Muir to "start an association" to help protect the Sierra Nevada, inspiring the formation of the Sierra Club in 1892. He married Katherine McMahon. They had a son, Owen McMahon Johnson (1878 - 1952), who became an American writer in his own right. In the 1890s, he and his wife Katharine became very close friends with the inventor Nikola Tesla. Underwood became noted early for his work on international copyright. As secretary of the American Copyright League, he helped get the Law of 1891 passed, for which he was decorated by the French and Italian governments. He had a hand in many important publishing undertakings, and it was on his persuasion that Ulysses S. Grant wrote his Memoirs. He became permanent secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was a driving force for the effort to acquire and preserve as a museum the rooms in Rome where the poet John Keats and his friend Joseph Severn spent Keats's final months in 1821. You can visit this Keats Shelley Memorial in Rome today, where its windows look out over the Spanish Steps. In 1916 he acted as pallbearer for the funeral of Alexander Wilson Drake. In 1917 he organized and was chairman of the American Poets' Ambulance in Italy. This organization presented 112 ambulances to the Italian army in four months. In 1918–19 he was president of the New York Committee of the Italian War Relief Fund of America. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Italy from April 1920 to July 1921, and represented the United States as observer at the San Remo conference of the Supreme Council of the League. He was decorated by the Italian government in recognition of his work in behalf of good relations between Italy and the United States.
What an amazing book! This collection of articles compiled by Century Magazine in the 1880s takes us back to some of the U.S. Civil War's most important moments, all from the eyes and remembrances of generals, soldiers, and statesmen who were there (or in the case of leaders like Albert Sydney Johnston, the writings of their descendants). This first of four volumes provides the views of Grant, Buell, and Beauregard on the battle of Shiloh, Beauregard and Joseph Johnston on the first battle of Bull Run, John Erricson on the creation of the Monitor, Walke and Ellet on the river fleet, and so much more. I so look forward to volume 2!