The agony and anguish of the War Between the States affected all aspects of American life. Many quarters suffered, but one in particular seemed to prosper in the postwar aftermath: the publishing industry. Though the success of Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant (as published by Mark Twain) is a clear milestone in publishing's history of bestsellers, it was only one of many highly successful Civil War memoirs penned and published by veterans in the postwar years. Never before in America had such a plethora of eyewitness accounts of a war existed, nor so many by those in a position of command. Drawing on the best of these accounts, most of them long out of print, Commanding Voices of Blue & Gray presents in a single volume the personal words of these leaders and provides an overview of the command experience in the Civil War. Selections include: General William Tecumseh Sherman on his infamous march through Georgia General George B. McClellan on the battle of Antietam and the legendary lost order that should have tipped him off to Lee's plans General George Armstrong Custer's experience of going straight from studying at West Point to the Battlefield General (CSA) James Longstreet on serving under Robert E. Lee General (CSA) G. Moxley Sorrel on serving under General James Longstreet Major (CSA) J. S. Mosby on the South's guerrilla campaign General (CSA) Jubal Early's memoir of the last year of the war For this anthology of Civil War leaders' writings, editor Thomsen has ferreted out revealing and informative pieces that can't be plucked off the average bookshelf, such as Jefferson Davis' first inaugural address and two of Lincoln's 1861 policy statements. Plunging onto the field, he includes an excerpt from John Mosby's memoirs about the delights of being a Confederate Robin Hood who got to keep the loot and Captain Abner Doubleday's account of his third day at Gettysburg. George McClellan shows no awareness of how his own failures prevented the execution of a fine plan to quash Lee's army, and Lew Wallace tells the story of his command at Monocacy Junction, Virginia, in one of the most obscure decisive battles in American history. The penultimate contribution comes from Jubal Early, fighting rebel and founder of the lost-cause myth; he argues like the good lawyer he was, and in a way that won the erstwhile Confederacy much of what had been lost on the battlefield. Fine, readable fodder for Civil War mavens. Roland Green Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "For this anthology of Civil War leaders writings, editor Thomsen has ferreted out revealing and informative pieces that can't be plucked off the average bookshelf, such as Jefferson Davis's first inaugural address and two of Lincoln's 1861 policy statements. Plunging onto the field, he includes an excerpt from John Mosby's memoirs about the delights of being a Confederate Robin Hood who got to keep the loot and Captain Abner Doubleday's account of his own third day at Gettsyburg. George McClellan shows no awareness of how his own failures prevented the execution of a fine plan to quash Lee's army, and Lew Wallace tells the story of his command at Monocacy Junction, Virginia, in one of the most obscure decisive battles in American history ...Fine, readable fodder for Civil War mavens" - Booklist Brian M. Thomsen is a Tor Consulting editor who dropped out of pursuing a Ph.D. in English in favor of a career in publishing. He was one of the founding editors of Warner/Popular Library's Questar Science Fiction & Fantasy line, and the editor of C.J.Cherryh's Hugo Award winning novel Cyteen . He has also been a Hugo nominee, has served as a World Fantasy Award judge, and is the author of two novels and numerous short stories for such publishers as Tor, Daw, Ace, TSR, and others. He was born in the borough of Brooklyn where he currently resides with his wife, Donna, and two talented cats named Sparky and Minx. From the Message to Congress in Special Session BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN July 4, 1861 Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives: Having been convened on an extraordinary occasion, as authorized by the Constitution, your attention is not called to any ordinary subject of legislation. At the beginning of the present presidential term, four months ago, the functions of the Federal Government were found to be generally suspended within the several States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, excepting only those of the Post Office Department. Within these States, all the forts, arsenals, dockyards, custom-houses, and the like, including the movable and stationary property in and about them, had been seized, and were held in open hostility to this government, excepting only Forts Pickens, Taylor, and Jefferson, on and near the Florida Coast, and Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The forts thus seized had been put in improved condition, new