A worse place than hell : how the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg changed a nation Cover Image

Book

A worse place than hell : how the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg changed a nation / John Matteson.

Summary:

"In December 1862, the Battle of Fredericksburg shattered Union forces and threatened to break apart Abraham Lincoln's government. Five extraordinary individuals experienced Fredericksburg's cataclysmic repercussions -- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Walt Whitman, Louisa May Alcott, John Pelham, and Arthur Fuller. Guided by duty, driven by desire, they moved toward lofty destinies: a young Harvard intellectual steeped in courageous ideals, a gay Brooklyn poet condemned by guardians of propriety, a struggling writer desperate to serve the cause and gain her philosopher father's admiration, a West Point cadet from Alabama excelling in artillery tactics, and a one-eyed minister seeking to prove his manhood. Because of what they saw and suffered, America, too, would never be the same."-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9780393247077
ISBN: 0393247074
Physical Description: xvii, 510 pages : illustrations, map, portraits ; 25 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2021.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

The poet's son -- The blond artillerist -- Burnside's bridge and a Broadway bar -- An army in crisis -- A man of God -- "The most beautiful girl runner" -- "Beauty" and "Sallie" -- "Believe me, we shall never lick 'em" -- Caroline Street -- Pelham does first rate -- The stone wall -- Southbound trains -- "A worse place than hell" -- The prince of patients -- "Death itself has lost all its terrors" -- "Our fearful journey home" -- The song of the hermit thrush -- St. Patrick's Day, 1863 -- "The duty of fighting has ceased for me" -- "To act with enthusiasm and faith."