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.
Stonewall's Man: Sandie Pendleton
Stonewall's Man: Sandie Pendleton
First published by UNC Press in 1959, this biography tells the story of Alexander (Sandie) Swift Pendleton, a high-spirited and intelligent Confederate staff officer from Virginia who, at the age of twenty-two, won the confidence, admiration, and affection of Stonewall Jackson. Pendleton began as ordnance officer of the Stonewall Brigade of the Army of the Shenandoah in the spring of 1861. By January of 1863, he had become chief of staff of the famed Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia and was recognized as a brilliant staff officer--even as "Stonewall's Man." Wounded in the battle of Fisher's Hill, Pendleton died five days before his twenty-fourth birthday.
Based on diaries, letters, and manuscripts, the poignant and revealing story of Pendleton's life and Civil War experiences is set against a background of the campaigns in which he participated.