Cox: Personal Recollections of the Civil War-Siege of Knoxville, East Tennessee, Atlanta Campaign, the Nashville Campaign & the North Carolina Campaign - Volume 2

by Jacob Dolson Cox

From Atlanta to victory In this second volume of General Cox's personal view of the great American Civil War, we join him as a divisional commander concluding his part in the operations in East Tennessee prior to a change of theatre as the campaign about Atlanta commences. Cox's close contact with the principal figures of the Union Army, and his in depth knowledge of the opposing soldiers of the Confederate forces, combine with his historian's ability to relate events in which he was personally involved in a wider historical context to create a unique memoir. So it is that the reader is able to follow the campaigns against Hood at Nashville and the ultimate collapse of the Confederate States, whilst sharing the phenomenon of remedying the filling of one's boots with water whilst remaining mounted for long periods. For those fascinated by the American Civil War, Cox is a highly companionable narrator throughout his essential memoirs.

452 pages, Hardcover

First published May 22, 2007

About the author

Cox was born in Montreal, Canada, to American parents, Jacob Dolson Cox and Thedia Redelia Kenyon Cox. Cox married Helen Clarissa Finney, whom he met at Oberlin College in Ohio.

He became superintendent of the Warren, Ohio, school system as he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1853. As a strong abolitionist, in 1855 he helped to organize the Republican Party in Ohio and stumped for its candidates in counties surrounding Warren. He entered the Ohio State Senate in 1860 and formed a political alliance with Senator and future President James A. Garfield, and with Governor Salmon P. Chase. While in the legislature, he accepted a commission with the Ohio Militia as a brigadier general and spent much of the winter of 1860–61 studying military science.

After Cox fought in the Civil War he became the Governor of Ohio from 1866-1867. He was appointed Secretary of the Interior by Ulysses S. Grant upon his inauguration in March 1869, serving until November 1870.

During his later years, Cox was a prolific author. His works include Atlanta (published in 1882); The March to the Sea: Franklin and Nashville (1882); The Second Battle of Bull Run (1882); The Battle of Franklin, Tennessee (1897); and Military Reminiscences of the Civil War (1900).
Cox died on summer vacation at Gloucester, Massachusetts. He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati.