Called upon to take a hill at the 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, the untested 22nd Michigan Infantry helped to save General George H. Thomas' right flank. Formed in 1862, the regiment witnessed slavery and encountered runaways in the border state of Kentucky, faced near starvation during the siege of Chattanooga and marched to Atlanta as General Thomas' provost guard. This history explores the 22nd's day-to-day experiences in Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. The author describes the challenges faced by volunteer farm boys, shopkeepers, school teachers and lawyers as they faced death, disease and starvation on battlefields and in Confederate prisons.

The American Civil War divided the United States from 1861-1865. During those years, over two million soldiers served in both the Union and Confederate Armies. What is little known is that not only the numerous children, some as young 12, enlisted on both sides, but also women who disguised themselves as men in an attempt to make a difference in the epic struggle to determine the future of the United States of America.

The hard-fighting 11th Michigan Volunteer Infantry was recruited from sparsely settled southwest Michigan shortly after the Civil War broke out. Mainly composed of young farmers and tradesmen, the regiment rapidly evolved into one of the Army of the Cumberland's elite combat units, tenaciously fighting its way through some of the war's bloodiest engagements. This book--featuring a complete unit roster--chronicles the regiment through the words of the veterans, tracing their development from a rabble of idealists into a fine-tuned fighting machine that executed successful bayonet charges against superior numbers. The narrative continues into the postwar period, discussing the ex-soldiers' careers through Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Photographs, maps, illustrations and a statistical analysis round out the work.

Poremba approaches the state's history from many angles: the stories of the peoples who have made Michigan home, from Native Americans to French explorers, European immigrants, and African Americans; the rise of its industries; and the intricacies of its politics, from the Civil War through the recent election of Michigan's first woman governor.