J. Patton Anderson was from Florida, the seceding state that was referred to as the "tadpole" of the Confederate states, but nevertheless he was one of the Confederacy's great military leaders. Anderson oversaw a large plantation, Casa Bianca, and his views meshed with secessionist views sufficiently for him to be elected as a delegate to the Secession Conference held in Montgomery, Alabama. After Florida seceded, President Davis appointed Anderson as a Brigadier General. Anderson engaged the enemy in the Western theater for four years under his mentor, General Braxton Bragg, who advanced him to Major General in command of the District of Florida. This is a complete biography of Anderson's life, including his service in the Mexican War, his appointment as United States Marshal to the distant Washington Territory, his adventure (with his wife, Etta Adair) of taking the 1853 Washington Territory census by canoe, his election as territorial delegate to Washington City, and his entire Civil War service. J. Patton and Etta Anderson's affectionate correspondence is an important aspect of this biography, revealing what it was like to be alive at this time and what it took to keep their family intact.

Dig into a treasure trove of nearly forgotten Sunshine State Civil War history. At the outset of the Civil War, Florida's entire population was only a bit larger than present-day Gainesville. Still, the state played an outsized role in the conflict. Floridians fought for the Union and Confederate armies. Sunshine State farmers provided beef and other foodstuffs for the Confederacy, rations that proved increasingly consequential as the years wore on. The battles of Olustee and Natural Bridge, where boys from the West Florida Seminary entered the fray, helped keep Tallahassee as the only Confederate-held capital east of the Mississippi River. Even the conspirators involved in Lincoln's assassination wove a trail that led to Florida. Join author Robert Redd on a tour of the lesser-known aspects of Florida in the Civil War.

Volume 1 profiles the lives and military careers from Daniel Weisiger to Howell Cobb.

This expansive, multivolume reference work provides a broad, multidisciplinary examination of the Civil War period ranging from pre-Civil War developments and catalysts such as the Mexican-American War to the rebuilding of the war-torn nation during Reconstruction. The Civil War was undoubtedly the most important and seminal event in 19th-century American history. Students who understand the Civil War have a better grasp of the central dilemmas in the American historical narrative: states rights versus federalism, freedom versus slavery, the role of the military establishment, the extent of presidential powers, and individual rights versus collective rights. Many of these dilemmas continue to shape modern society and politics. This comprehensive work facilitates both detailed reading and quick referencing for readers from the high school level to senior scholars in the field. The exhaustive coverage of this encyclopedia includes all significant battles and skirmishes; important figures, both civilian and military; weapons; government relations with Native Americans; and a plethora of social, political, cultural, military, and economic developments. The entries also address the many events that led to the conflict, the international diplomacy of the war, the rise of the Republican Party and the growing crisis and stalemate in American politics, slavery and its impact on the nation as a whole, the secession crisis, the emergence of the "total war" concept, and the complex challenges of the aftermath of the conflict.

A tale of ordinary Florida citizens who, during extraordinary times, were called to battle against their fellow countrymen Over the past twenty years, historians have worked diligently to explore Florida’s role in the Civil War. Works describing the state’s women and its wartime economy have contributed to this effort, yet until recently the story of Florida’s soldiers in the Confederate armies has been little studied. This volume explores the story of schoolmates going to war and of families left behind, of a people fighting to maintain a society built on slavery and of a state torn by political and regional strife. Florida in 1860 was very much divided between radical democrats and conservatives. Before the war the state’s inhabitants engaged in bitter political rivalries, and Sheppard argues that prior to secession Florida citizens maintained regional loyalties rather than considering themselves “Floridians.” He shows that service in Confederate armies helped to ease tensions between various political factions and worked to reduce the state’s regional divisions. Sheppard also addresses the practices of prisoner parole and exchange, unit consolidation and its effects on morale and unit identity, politics within the Army of Tennessee, and conscription and desertion in the Southern armies. These issues come together to demonstrate the connection between the front lines and the home front.

Native Tennessee generals, about forty Confederate and six Union, are profiled here with brief biographies. Forrest, Polk, Stewart, and many more are discussed with regard to their childhoods, prewar vocations, participation in battles around the country, and life after the war if they survived.