| PORTRAITS
OF CONFLICT
A Photographic History of Tennessee in
the Civil War
Richard B. McCaslin
A
compelling look into the eyes of war
It’s
one thing to understand that over twenty-thousand Confederate
and Union soldiers died at the Battle of Murfreesboro. It’s
quite another to study an ambrotype portrait of twenty-year-old
private Frank B. Crosthwait, dressed in his Sunday best, looking
somberly at the camera. In a tragically short time, he’ll
be found on the battlefield, mortally wounded, still clutching
the knotted pieces of handkerchief he used in a hopeless attempt
to stop the bleeding from his injuries.
Private
Crosthwait’s image is one of more than 250 portraits—many
never before published—to be found in the much anticipated
Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Tennessee
in the Civil War. The eighth in the distinguished Portraits
of Conflict series, this volume joins the personal and the
public to provide a uniquely rich portrayal of Tennesseans—in
uniforms both blue and gray—who fought and lost their
lives in the Civil War.
Here is
the story of a widow working as a Union spy to support herself
and her children. Of a father emerging from his house to find
his Confederate soldier son dying at his feet. Of a nine-year-old
boy who attached himself to a Union regiment after his mother
died. Their stories and faces, joined with personal remembrances
from recovered letters and diaries and ample historical information
on secession, famous battles, surrender, and Reconstruction,
make this new Portraits of Conflict a Civil War treasure.
Richard
B. McCaslin is an associate professor of history
at the University of North Texas. He is the author of Lee
in the Shadow of Washington; Tainted Breeze: The
Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas; and two volumes
in the Portraits of Conflict series. He is the winner
of the Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal, United Daughters
of the Confederacy, and a fellow in the Texas State Historical
Association.
The general
editors for the series are Carl Moneyhon
and Bobby Roberts.
Praise
for Other Volumes in This Award-Winning Series:
“A
major contribution and welcome addition to . . . Civil War
history.”
—The Journal of Southern History
“A sensibly priced, beautifully
produced photographic history.”
—Civil War History
“A splendid addition to the graphic
literature of the sectional conflict.”
—Choice
“We now have another window to
view America’s bloodiest war.”
—Raleigh News and Observer
“A must for the shelves of any
serious student of the war.”
—Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
“Destined to become a collector’s
item . . . first class.”
—The Civil War News
“Authoritative, handsome volumes
of this kind are a pure delight.”
—Southwestern Historical Quarterly
May
2007
8 1/2 x 11, 430 pages, 250 illustrations, index
$75.00 cloth (s)
978-1-55728-831-8
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