The first book of its kind to appear in a generation, this comprehensive study details the experiences of the black men, women, and children who lived in the South during the traumatic time of secession and civil war.
 • A helpful introduction provides background on Southern blacks before the war and on how slavery was maintained
• Photographs of black Southerners in the Civil War years illustrate the various aspects of their wartime experience
• A bibliographical essay discusses other studies of the black Civil War experience for readers who want to explore the subject further

The Black Experience in the Civil War South (Reflections on the Civil War Era)

History

Ash, Stephen V.

Americas

Praeger

A nearly forgotten Civil War episode is restored to history in this masterful account. In March 1863, nine hundred black Union soldiers, led by white officers, invaded Florida and seized the town of Jacksonville. They were among the first African American troops in the Northern army, and their expedition into enemy territory was like no other in the Civil War. It was intended as an assault on slavery by which thousands would be freed. At the center of the story is prominent abolitionist Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who led one of the regiments. After waging battle for three weeks, Higginson and his men were mysteriously ordered to withdraw, their mission a seeming failure. Yet their successes in resisting the Confederates and collaborating with white Union forces persuaded President Abraham Lincoln to begin full-scale recruitment of black troops, a momentous decision that helped turned the tide of the war. Using long-neglected primary sources, historian Stephen V. Ash’s stirring narrative re-creates this event with insight, vivid characterizations, and a keen sense of drama.

Firebrand of Liberty: The Story of Two Black Regiments That Changed the Course of the Civil War

W.W.Norton&Company

Middle Tennessee Society Transformed, 1860-1870: War and Peace in the Upper South

Louisiana State Univ Pr

Southerners whose communities were invaded by the Union army during the Civil War endured a profoundly painful ordeal. For most, the coming of the Yankees was a nightmare become real; for some, it was the answer to a prayer. But as Stephen Ash argues, for all, invasion and occupation were essential parts of the experience of defeat that helped shape the southern postwar mentality. When the Yankees Came is the first comprehensive study of the occupied South, bringing to light a wealth of new information about the southern home front. Among the intriguing topics Ash explores are guerrilla warfare and other forms of civilian resistance; the evolution of Union occupation policy from leniency to repression; the impact of occupation on families, churches, and local government; and conflicts between southern aristocrats and poor whites. In analyzing these topics, Ash examines events from the perspective not only of southerners but also of the northern invaders, and he shows how the experiences of southerners differed according to their distance from a garrisoned town.

When the Yankees Came: Conflict and Chaos in the Occupied South, 1861-1865 (Civil War America)

The University of North Carolina Press

An unprecedented account of one of the bloodiest and most significant racial clashes in American history
In May 1866, just a year after the Civil War ended, Memphis erupted in a three-day spasm of racial violence that saw whites rampage through the city's black neighborhoods. By the time the fires consuming black churches and schools were put out, forty-six freed people had been murdered. Congress, furious at this and other evidence of white resistance in the conquered South, launched what is now called Radical Reconstruction, policies to ensure the freedom of the region's four million blacks―and one of the most remarkable experiments in American history. Stephen V. Ash's A Massacre in Memphis is a portrait of a Southern city that opens an entirely new view onto the Civil War and its aftermath. A momentous national event, the riot is also remarkable for being "one of the best-documented episodes of the American nineteenth century." Yet Ash is the first to mine the sources available to full effect. Bringing postwar Memphis to vivid life, he takes us among newly arrived Yankees, former Rebels, boisterous Irish immigrants, and striving freed people, and shows how Americans of the period worked, prayed, expressed their politics, and imagined the future. And how they died: Ash's harrowing and profoundly moving present-tense narration of the riot has the immediacy of the best journalism. Told with nuance, grace, and a quiet moral passion, A Massacre in Memphis is Civil War–era history like no other.

A Massacre in Memphis: The Race Riot That Shook the Nation One Year After the Civil War

Hill and Wang

An unprecedented account of one of the bloodiest and most significant racial clashes in American history
In May 1866, just a year after the Civil War ended, Memphis erupted in a three-day spasm of racial violence that saw whites rampage through the city's black neighborhoods. By the time the fires consuming black churches and schools were put out, forty-six freed people had been murdered. Congress, furious at this and other evidence of white resistance in the conquered South, launched what is now called Radical Reconstruction, policies to ensure the freedom of the region's four million blacks―and one of the most remarkable experiments in American history. Stephen V. Ash's A Massacre in Memphis is a portrait of a Southern city that opens an entirely new view into the Civil War and its aftermath. A momentous national event, the riot is also remarkable for being "one of the best-documented episodes of the American nineteenth century." Yet Ash is the first to mine the sources available to full effect. Bringing postwar Memphis to vivid life, he shows us newly arrived Yankees, former Rebels, boisterous Irish immigrants, and striving freed people, and how Americans of the period worked, prayed, expressed their politics, imagined the future, and how they died. Ash's harrowing and profoundly moving present-tense narration of the riot has the immediacy of the best journalism. Told with nuance, grace, and a quiet moral passion, A Massacre in Memphis is Civil War–era history like no other.

Past times: A daybook of Knoxville history

Knoxville News-Sentinel

In the spring of 1861, Richmond, Virginia, suddenly became the capital city, military headquarters, and industrial engine of a new nation fighting for its existence. A remarkable drama unfolded in the months that followed. The city's population exploded, its economy was deranged, and its government and citizenry clashed desperately over resources to meet daily needs while a mighty enemy army laid siege. Journalists, officials, and everyday residents recorded these events in great detail, and the Confederacy's foes and friends watched closely from across the continent and around the world. In Rebel Richmond, Stephen V. Ash vividly evokes life in Richmond as war consumed the Confederate capital. He guides readers from the city's alleys, homes, and shops to its churches, factories, and halls of power, uncovering the intimate daily drama of a city transformed and ultimately destroyed by war. Drawing on the stories and experiences of civilians and soldiers, slaves and masters, refugees and prisoners, merchants and laborers, preachers and prostitutes, the sick and the wounded, Ash delivers a captivating new narrative of the Civil War's impact on a city and its people.

Rebel Richmond: Life and Death in the Confederate Capital (Civil War America)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ash, Stephen V.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Ash, Stephen V.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ash, Stephen V.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Black Experience in the Civil War South (Reflections on the Civil War Era)

Firebrand of Liberty: The Story of Two Black Regiments That Changed the Course of the Civil War

Firebrand of Liberty: The Story of Two Black Regiments That Changed the Course of the Civil War

Middle Tennessee Society Transformed, 1860-1870: War and Peace in the Upper South

When the Yankees Came: Conflict and Chaos in the Occupied South, 1861-1865 (Civil War America)

When the Yankees Came: Conflict and Chaos in the Occupied South, 1861-1865 (Civil War America)

A Massacre in Memphis: The Race Riot That Shook the Nation One Year After the Civil War

A Massacre in Memphis: The Race Riot That Shook the Nation One Year After the Civil War

Past times: A daybook of Knoxville history

Rebel Richmond: Life and Death in the Confederate Capital (Civil War America)