One Day of the Civil War: April 10, 1863: America in Conflict [Paperback]

Robert L. Willett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1998

Fierce combat to daring raids, hideous prisons to broken families, the Civil War is captured in one dramatic day by a gifted storyteller

The Civil War spanned 1,549 days during which families, neighbors, and friends went to battle against one another. The day of April 10, 1863 was the midpoint of this national war. This dramatic portrait explores that day with a depth and profundity rarely brought to Civil War histories. This three-dimensional snapshot reveals everything from the minutiae of day-to-day life to the major events which shaped the nation.

Quoting extensively from personal journals and letters, One Day in the Civil War paints a breathtaking picture of heroes the history books never knew. Surprise train raids, lightning-fast calvary skirmishes, cold-hearted executions, fatal mishaps, deadly illnesses and daring rescues shed new light on one of this nation's most tragic periods. Revealing the real war, not just the battles, One Day of the Civil War ricochets April 10, 1863 back to the present day.
-- Compare "One Day of the Civil War" to two recent Plume rifles, Rebel Private and Voices of the Civil War.
-- Maps, photos, and a one-of-a-kind appendix listing every casualty from April 10, 1863 is included.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

On April 10, 1863, the American Civil War was half over. In this absorbing work, Civil War scholar Willett surveys the conflict on that day, on land from the nation's capital to California, and along the coast, on inland rivers and lakes and at sea. In the East, the two great armies in Virginia were still in winter camps, waiting for better weather to resume operations. So were the armies in Tennessee, although cavalry raids against Union rail lines were in progress on April 10, which also saw an attack on the Union garrison at Franklin, Tenn. Ulysses S. Grant's army was struggling through swamps to gain a foothold below Vicksburg, while minor operations were taking place in several states. Making judicious use of both published and unpublished primary sources, the author includes numerous quotations from officers and men of both sides to show how they felt, what they were doing and what happened on the fronts on April 10. When needed, Willett includes background to place in context the events of the day. One appendix cites the names of the 271 men killed, wounded and captured on April 10. Another lists all 135 hospital deaths that occurred in the Union army. At the end of each chapter, Willett lists the individuals introduced therein and their subsequent fates. This is a cleverly conceived and consistently engrossing look at the Civil War, marred only by its lack of coverage of civilians?their struggles, hopes and work to support the boys in blue and gray. Maps and photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

It is regrettable that Civil War photographs could not be large and glossy color prints, like the pictures in the Day in the Life of national portrait series--but this book leaves very little else to be regretted. It portrays a nation at war on a day when relatively little happened--no major battles, no deaths of significant people, etc. Yet minor battles and the constant scourge of camp diseases sent several hundred mostly young men to premature graves, which made it a vastly significant day in their lives. Willett surveys activities at every level from that of presidents to that of privates, and in settings including military camps and battlefields, transportation on the rails and at sea, and the home front, where the Confederacy's situation was already parlous. A useful work that saliently adduces the human dimensions of the Civil War. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Plume (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452279771
• ISBN-13: 978-0452279773
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,157,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Even though I am a retired banker, with that stodgy image, I love travel, meeting people and researching the little-known aspect of our military history. The books tell that story-
"One Day of the Civil War" - deliberately finding a day in which "nothing happened." Nothing except skirmishes, executions, raids, battles, parades, speeches and on and on.
"The Lightning Mule Brigade" - A Union brigade of four infantry regiments led by a Union Colonel, an Indiana publisher turned strategist, captured by the legendary Nathan Bedford Forrest's indefatigable cavalry regiments. Unbelievable!
"The Russian Sideshow" - America and its Allies invade Russia in North Russia and in Siberia in 1918. Hundreds of Americans die in the fierce winter combat and the Allies slink out of Russia with their dead and wounded as Russia gloats.
"An Airline at War" - the story of China National Aviation Corporation owned 55% by Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese government and 45% by Pan Am. They pioneered the famous Hump route that literally kept China in WWII, keeping one million Japanese soldiers tied up in mainland China instead of manning the defenses of the Pacific islands.

Those four efforts have led to extensive travel in doing the research, visiting every theater of the Civil War; following the exact route of Streight in his abortive Alabama raid; cruising into the ports of Archangel and Murmansk, then spending a month in Vladivostok in Far East Russia. Finally, trips to China to see Shanghai, Nanking, Chungking, Kunming, Dali and the wreckage of a WWII CNAC C-53. And in addition I was fortunate to have done 20 volunteer bank consulting assignments in 11 countries including, Romania, Moldovia, Poland, Uganda, Russia, Jordan, Iraq, Shanghai, and Vietnam. It has kept me busy since retiring in 1993!

It was all possible because of a wonderful wife, Donna, who loves to travel and research as well as being a proof reader and editor without par. And three great kids who live near us in Merritt Island, Florida (although one has the wanderlust, too)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, October 14, 1998

By 

D. C. Carrad "augustabookman" (Augusta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One Day of the Civil War: April 10, 1863: America in Conflict (Paperback)

This is a well-researched and very well-written book. I think you will enjoy it if you have any interest at all in history. I am not a Civil War buff, though I have read a few books on it, but found this one terrifically interesting. The author gets into the details of soldiering -- picket (sentry) duty with its long periods of boredom and tedium interspersed with moments of attack and terror, garrison life, drills, train raids, naval maneuvers, and makes it all come alive. Unlike a lot of worm's eye only books, this on does also get into higher strategy among the generals and even Lincoln and his cabinet. If you like this book, you'll like "The Long Surrender" and vice versa. I was fascinated by the soldiers on each side sending toy sailboats across rivers, taking tobacco one way and real coffee the other, and also exchanging newspapers and catcalls between the Yankees and the Rebels. A really fascinating slice of life, and an interesting contrast, for me as a former soldier, in how America's armies fought wars in 1863 and 1968.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A day in the life.., May 25, 2001

By 

Randall L. Golden "randy_golden" (Woodstock, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Day of the Civil War: April 10, 1863: America in Conflict (Paperback)

April 10, 1863. No major battles were fought. No generals died. The summer's major offensives had not yet begun. So why did Robert Willett choose this day to write about? It was the day the Civil War was half over. The beauty of the book is that without the complex nature of battle we get to read what few others detail -- the complex nature of men at war. And it works! He quotes heavily from personal diaries (a refreshing break from authors who think that rewriting the Official Records qualifies as research). One lengthy quote describes, for example, the election of a Confederate officer by his men. Another, a letter from a suitor to his girlfriend. Other pieces of non-war life abound throughout. And just because there were no major battles, there is plenty of action. Skirmishes, a siege, and the deadiliest enemy of all - disease. I have read many Civil War epochs, and there are many good ones, but Willett's choice of a quiet (relatively) day gives the reader a chance to get to know the men who were fighting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One day, like most others, which may be as interesting as any, October 25, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Day of the Civil War: April 10, 1863: America in Conflict (Paperback)

When I first saw this book my initial thought was this is the kind of book you should expect on a topic that has been written about in a thousand different ways and where there are no new ways apparently to look at it, so come up with a gimmick. And Willett's gimmick was to simply pick the exact midpoint on the calendar of the Civil War, which turns out to be April 10, 1863, and then to relate as much detail as he could find regarding events on that day. Not that that day might have any significance over April 9th or May 5th, etc., just that it's the half-way point. A convenient nail to hang one's hat on.

But I was wrong, and as I began reading the book I saw the gimmick worked, and Willett was able to make something meaningful out of it. On April 10th, a sharp engagement took place at Franklin, Tennessee, when Confederates under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn attacked Federals stationed there (unsuccessfully); this is Willett's major event of the day: he devotes a full chapter to it (nothing about it appears in BATTLES AND LEADERS and Shelby Foote doesn't mention it in his 3-volume narrative history). Willett, of course, gives almost an hour-by-hour account, along with its after effects up through the 12th. For all its details and minutiae (included are excerpts from soldier's letters of that day, newspaper accounts, and, of course, official reports) he makes it interesting.

Willett truly leaves nothing out. He describes what was going on that day in Washington, Richmond, with Lincoln reviewing troops at Falmouth, on the seas and the Mississippi, in the Far West (Humboldt and Cottonwood, Kansas), and scores of other places. He relies on letters to make events human and personal, for participants as well as the folks back home. Certainly unique is his inclusion of an appendix that records every casualty of that Friday long ago.

So this book deserves a spot on the shelf of respectable works on the Civil War, and not on the ever-growing pile of superfluous tomes it's title might imply. Well done!