The American Civil War & Reconstruction
Whistlestop Bookshop’s first store opened in Gettysburg in 1985. Eventually, over 19 years there, our Civil War section grew to be three large wall cases. A disproportionate percentage of it, naturally, was about the battle of Gettysburg and biographies of those who fought there. In addition to this book selling experience, my southern upbringing and Army family life created a lifelong interest in the War Between the States and all of its complexities. It is an understandable national obsession, considering how the first half of our nation’s history contributed to its ferocity, and the second half of our history has been the struggle to live with and understand the consequences.
Military Memoirs of a Confederate
Military Memoirs of a Confederate
General Edward Porter Alexander was the master gunner of the Confederacy, and undeniably one of the great American artillerists. He was involved in nearly all of the great battles of the East, from First Manassas through Appomattox; on the second day at Gettysburg, Alexander’s battalion executed one of the greatest artillery charges of the war; Longstreet relied upon him for reconnaissance, and Stonewall Jackson wanted him made an infantry general.
Alexander wrote two books: a personal memoir intended for his children, which remained unnoticed until 1989, when it was published to enormous critical acclaim as Fighting for the Confederacy; and this book, Military Memoirs of a Confederate, which was first published in 1907 and immediately recognized as a classic. Unlike Fighting for the Confederacy, which was based largely on Alexander’s own recollections, Military Memoirs relies on a vast amount of research. It is undoubtedly the most accurate and most important first-hand general history of the Civil War.