Armies South, Armies North: The Military Forces of the Civil War Compared and Contrasted

by Alan Axelrod author of How America Won World War I

Overview

An argument settler—and starter—for Civil War buffs who want to know which side had the better soldiers: Armies South, Armies North definitively compares the military forces of both sides.

Civil War buffs are always arguing over which side had the better soldiers. Armies South/Armies North by Alan Axelrod helps readers reconsider their understanding of America’s most harrowing war. Axelrod is the author of more than one hundred books with a passion for military history and leadership. Each chapter of his new book compares the military forces with both quantitative and qualitative measures. Axelrod analyzes the equipment, the leadership and strategies, and the men who fought in each army, with additional focus on lesser known flash points during the war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493069231
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/01/2022
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	7.35(w) x 9.04(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Alan Axelrod is the author of many books on leadership, management, history, military history, corporate history, career, general business, and more. After receiving his Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa in 1979, Axelrod taught early American literature and culture at Lake Forest College (Lake Forest, Illinois) and at Furman University (Greenville, South Carolina). He then entered scholarly publishing in 1982 as associate editor and scholar with the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum (Winterthur, Delaware), an institution specializing in the history and material culture of America prior to 1832. Axelrod was a featured speaker at the 2004 Conference on Excellence in Government (Washington, D.C.), at the Leadership Institute of Columbia College (Columbia, South Carolina), and at the 2005 Annual Conference of the Goizueta School of Business, Emory University (Atlanta), and the 2014 annual conference of Ecopetrol (Bogota, Colombia).

Table of Contents

Introduction iv

Part 1 Brothers in Arms

Chapter 1 Revolution, 1812, and Mexico 2

Chapter 2 Officer Corps 12

Chapter 3 On the Eve of Secession 26

Part 2 Brother Against Brother

Chapter 4 Esprit and Economics 36

Chapter 5 The South Mobilizes 44

Chapter 6 The North Mobilizes 51

Chapter 7 The Confederate Army 60

Chapter 8 The Union Army 66

Chapter 9 Johnny Reb and His Commanders 74

Chapter 10 Billy Yank and His Commanders 83

Chapter 11 Confederate Uniforms, Equipment, and Arms 94

Chapter 12 Union Uniforms, Equipment, and Arms 105

Chapter 13 The African-American Civil War 114

Chapter 14 Medics South, Medics North 122

Chapter 15 POWs South, POWs North 132

Part 3 The Principal Armies

Chapter 16 Army of Northern Virginia 144

Chapter 17 Army of the Trans-Mississippi 155

Chapter 18 Army of Tennessee 164

Chapter 19 Army of the Potomac 173

Chapter 20 Army of the Southwest (Army of Southwest Missouri) 192

Chapter 21 Army of the Mississippi 196

Chapter 22 Army of the Tennessee 204

Chapter 23 Army of the Cumberland 216

Chapter 24 Army of the Ohio 224

Chapter 25 Army of the James 232

Chapter 26 Army of the Shenandoah 241

Afterword: The Calculus of Victory and Defeat 250

Endnotes 251

Index 260

About the Author 273

Editorial Reviews

About Miracle at Belleau Wood (Lyons Press, 2007):

“Axelrod is one of America’s great military historians. He’s done it this time with riveting non-stop action that reads like the best of Hemingway’s frontline reports plus the Marine Corps novels of W. E. B. Griffin. Axelrod pushes you right into the action, onto the battlefield, and never lets up. You become a firsthand witness to one of the world’s great battles, proud and heart-pounding as the elite force, the Devil Dogs, are born in a small forest outside Paris. This is one book I wish I’d written!”

Paul B. Farrell

In ‘‘Miracle at Belleau Wood: The Birth of the Modern U.S. Marine Corps,” Alan Axelrod has demonstrated his mastery at portraying battle at its most brutal and bloodiest. The fight for Belleau Wood is like a bayonet in the belly every step of the way. The distant mirror that Alan Axelrod shows us reflects the fearful face of life and death in World War I.

Paul Weishaupt

About Miracle at Belleau Wood (Lyons Press, 2007):

“Axelrod is one of America’s great military historians. He’s done it this time with riveting non-stop action that reads like the best of Hemingway’s frontline reports plus the Marine Corps novels of W. E. B. Griffin. Axelrod pushes you right into the action, onto the battlefield, and never lets up. You become a firsthand witness to one of the world’s great battles, proud and heart-pounding as the elite force, the Devil Dogs, are born in a small forest outside Paris. This is one book I wish I’d written!”
—Paul B. Farrell, JD. PhD, syndicated columnist for DowJones’s MarketWatch and former staff sergeant, USMC

“Alan Axelrod has perfectly captured the embodiment of U.S. Marines and their unparalleled esprit de corps … As a former Marine, I find Axelrod’s descriptions of the combat in that bloody battle for which the Corps became legendary—and which is the foundation of its mythic lore—compelling and gut-wrenching. Miracle at Belleau Wood puts the reader in the front row, witness to the heroism and ups and downs endured by the Marines as they defeated the Germans at overwhelming odds. A must read!”
—Lt. Col. Jay Kopelman, USMCR (Ret.), best-selling author of From Baghdad with Love

“Axelrod brings us back vividly to the shocking casualties of ‘the war to end all wars,’ opening up fresh insights into the nature of the fighting and the decisions that shaped a generation.”
—Bing West, correspondent for The Atlantic, award-winning author of two books on the Iraq War, former Marine, and Assistant Secretary of Defense

In ‘‘Miracle at Belleau Wood: The Birth of the Modern U.S. Marine Corps,” Alan Axelrod has demonstrated his mastery at portraying battle at its most brutal and bloodiest. The fight for Belleau Wood is like a bayonet in the belly every step of the way. The distant mirror that Alan Axelrod shows us reflects the fearful face of life and death in World War I.
—Paul Weishaupt, Marines: The Corps’ Official Magazine, October-December 2007

About Patton’s Drive: The Making of America’s Greatest General (Lyons Press, 2009):

“Like Patton at his best: [Alan Axelrod’s writing is] polished, precise, and persuasive.”—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Alan Axelrod has perfectly captured the embodiment of U.S. Marines and their unparalleled esprit de corps … As a former Marine, I find Axelrod’s descriptions of the combat in that bloody battle for which the Corps became legendary—and which is the foundation of its mythic lore—compelling and gut-wrenching. Miracle at Belleau Wood puts the reader in the front row, witness to the heroism and ups and downs endured by the Marines as they defeated the Germans at overwhelming odds. A must read!”

Lt. Col. Jay Kopelman

Axelrod brings us back vividly to the shocking casualties of ‘the war to end all wars,’ opening up fresh insights into the nature of the fighting and the decisions that shaped a generation.”

Bing West