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Highly
Recommended Reading
for Thomas’s Legion
Recommended
Reading: The Civil War Battlefield
Guide: The Definitive Guide, Completely Revised, with New Maps and More Than 300 Additional Battles (Second Edition)
(Hardcover). Description: 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
American Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report. As in the first edition, the essays are authoritative
and concise, written by such leading Civil War 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. "Reading this book is like being at the bloodiest battles of the war..."
Recommended Reading: The
History Buff's Guide to the Civil War (400 pages). Description: Exploring
the Civil War can be fascinating, but with so many battles, leaders, issues, and more than 50,000 books on these subjects,
the task can also be overwhelming. Was Gettysburg the most important battle? Were Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis so different
from each other? How accurate is re-enacting? Who were the worst commanding generals? Thomas R. Flagel uses annotated lists
organized under more than thirty headings to see through the powder smoke and straighten Sherman’s neckties, ranking
and clarifying the best, the worst, the largest, and the most lethal aspects of the conflict. Continued
below...
Major sections are fashioned around the following topics:
• Antebellum: Investigates the critical years before the war, in particular
the growing crises, extremists, and slavery.
• Politics: Contrasts the respective presidents and constitutions
of the Union and Confederacy, the most prominent politicians, and the most volatile issues of the times.
• Military Life: Offers insights into the world of the common soldiers,
how they fought, what they ate, how they were organized, what they saw, how they lived, and how they died.
• The Home Front: Looks at the fastest growing field in Civil War
research, including immigration, societal changes, hardships and shortages, dissent, and violence far from the firing lines.
• In Retrospect: Ranks the heroes and heroines, greatest victories
and failures, firsts and worsts.
• Pursuing the War: Summarizes Civil War study today, including films,
battlefield sites, books, genealogy, re-enactments, restoration, preservation, and other ventures.
From the antebellum years to Appomattox and beyond, The History Buff’s
Guide to the Civil War is a quick and compelling guide to one of the most complex and critical eras in American history.
Recommended Reading: Touring
the Carolina's Civil War Sites (Touring the Backroads Series). Description:
Touring the Carolina's Civil War Sites helps travelers find the Carolinas' famous Civil War battlefields, forts, and memorials,
as well as the lesser skirmish sites, homes, and towns that also played a significant role in the war. The book's 19 tours,
which cover the 'entire Carolinas,' combine riveting history with clear, concise directions and maps, creating a book that
is as fascinating to the armchair reader as it is to the person interested in heritage travel. Below are some examples from
this outstanding book:
1.
Fort Fisher - the largest sea fort in the war that protected the vital town of Wilmington N.C., and the blockade runners so
important for supplying Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
2. Charleston - where the whole shootin'
match started.
3. Bentonville - the last large scale battle of the war.
4.
Outer Banks - early Union victories here were vital to capturing many parts of Eastern North Carolina from which the Union
could launch several offensives.
5. Sherman's March - the destruction of certain towns in both
Carolinas (particularly South Carolina) further weakened the South's will to continue the struggle.
I also enjoyed reading
about the locations of various gravesites of Confederate generals and their Civil War service. Indeed, if not for this book,
this native North Carolinian and long-time Civil War buff may never have learned of, and visited, the locations of some of
the lesser-known sites other than those mentioned above.
Johnson's writing style is smooth--without being overly simplistic--and
contains several anecdotes (some humorous ones too) of the interesting events which took place during the Civil War years.
Highly recommended!
NEW! North Carolina
Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster (Volume XVI: Thomas's Legion) (Hardcover: 537 pages), North Carolina Office of Archives and
History (June 26, 2008). Description: The volume begins with an authoritative
246-page history of Thomas's Legion. The history, including Civil War battles and campaigns, is followed by a complete
roster and service records of the field officers, staff, and troops that served in the legion. A thorough index completes
the volume. Continued...
Volume XVI of North Carolina Troops: A Roster contains the
history and roster of the most unusual North Carolina Confederate Civil War unit, significant because of the large number
of Cherokee Indians who served in its ranks. Thomas's Legion was the creation of William Holland Thomas, an influential businessman,
state legislator, and Cherokee chief. He initially raised a small battalion of Cherokees in April 1862, and gradually
expanded his command with companies of white soldiers raised in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and Virginia. By
the end of 1862, Thomas's Legion comprised an infantry regiment and a battalion of infantry and cavalry. An artillery battery
was added in April 1863. Furthermore, in General Early's Army of the Valley, the Thomas Legion was well-known for its fighting
prowess. It is also known for its pivotal role in the last Civil War battle east
of the Mississippi River. The Thomas Legion mustered more than 2,500 soldiers and it closely resembled a brigade. With troop roster, muster records, and Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) this volume is
also a must have for anyone interested in genealogy and researching Civil War ancestors. Simply stated, it is
an outstanding source for genealogists.
Also Consider
Editor's Choice: Storm
in the Mountains: Thomas' Confederate Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers (Thomas' Legion: The Sixty-ninth
North Carolina Regiment). Vernon H. Crow, Storm in the Mountains, spent 10 years conducting extensive Thomas Legion's
research. Crow was granted access to rare manuscripts, special collections, and privately held diaries which add
great depth to this rarely discussed Civil War legion. He explores and discusses the unit's formation, fighting
history, and life of the legion's commander--a Cherokee chief and Confederate colonel--William Holland Thomas. Continued...
Numerous detailed maps and rare photographs allow the reader to better understand
and relate to the subjects discussed. It also contains rosters which is an added bonus for researchers and genealogists. Crow,
furthermore, left no stone unturned while examining the many facets of the Thomas Legion and his research is conveyed on a
level that scores with Civil War students and scholars alike.
FIVE STARS! Mountain
Myth: Unionism in Western North Carolina (Hardcover), by Terrell T. Garren. Description: Civil
War historian Terrell T. Garren and author of acclaimed The Secret of War: A Dramatic History of Civil War Crime in Western North Carolina , delivers another masterpiece and challenges previous 'historical assumptions' regarding Unionism in Western North
Carolina. Garren, who spent thousands of hours researching Mountain Myth, states that readers of his new book
"may be surprised to learn that Western North Carolina citizens of that day were as much or more dedicated to the Confederate
cause than the people of any other area in the entire South." It is RATED 5 STARS, the highest rating, by thomaslegion.net
William Holland Thomas, Thomas’ Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders of North Carolina,
History, List of Battles, Troop Rosters, Muster Records, List of Soldiers, Civil War Ancestors, Relatives
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