Item Tag: Harold Holzer

In July 1883, just a few days after the twentieth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, a group of editors at theCenturymagazine engaged in a lively argument: Which Civil War battle was the bloodiest battle of them all? One claimed it was Chickamauga, another Cold Harbor. The argument inspired a brainstorm: Why not let the magazine’s 125,000 readers in on the conversation by offering “a series of papers on some of the great battles of the war, to be written by officers in command on both sides.”The articles would be written by generals, Union and Confederate alike, who had commanded the engagements two decades earlier–“or, if he were not living,” by “the person most entitled to speak for him or in his place.” The pieces would present both sides of each major battle and would be fair and free of politics. Now, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the most enduring entries from the classic four-volume seriesBattles and Leaders of the Civil Warhave been edited and merged into one definitive volume. Here are the best of the immortal first-person accounts of the Civil War originally published in the pages of theCenturymagazine more than a hundred years ago.Hearts Touched by Fireoffers stunning accounts of the war’s great battles written by the men who planned, fought, and witnessed them, from leaders such as General Ulysses S. Grant, General George McClellan, and Confederate captain Clement Sulivane to men of lesser rank. This collection also features n