An anthology of excerpts from the four-volume classic "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War" features first-hand recollections by the Civil War's commanders and subordinates on both sides, with commentary by such leading scholars as James McPherson and Joan Waugh.

"The essays in this work, some of which appeared over the years in The Century Magazine, were originally published in the various volumes of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, edited by Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel and published between 1887 and 1888."--T.p. verso. Includes selections from "The Century war series" published from Nov. 1884 to Nov. 1887 in the Century magazine as well as modern scholarly contributions by James M. McPherson, James I. Robertson, Jr., Stephen W. Sears, Craig L. Symonds, and Joan Waugh.

1861.Introduction / Craig L. Symonds -- Inside Sumter in '61 / James Chester -- The first step in the war / Stephen D. Lee -- War preparations in the North / Jacob D. Cox -- The Confederate Government at Montgomery / R. Barnwell Rhett -- Going to the front: recollections of a private by Warren Lee Goss -- The first battle of Bull Run / P. G. T. Beauregard -- Responsibilities of the First Bull Run / Joseph E. Johnston -- Arkansas troops in the Battle of Wilson's Creek / N. B. Pearce -- The flanking column at Wilson's Creek / Franz Sigel -- 1862. Introduction / Stephen W. Sears -- The gun-boats at Belmont and Fort Henry / Henry Walke -- The Western Flotilla at Fort Donelson, Island Number Ten, Fort Pillow and Memphis / Henry Walke -- The capture of Fort Donelson / Lew Wallace -- The Battle of Shiloh / Ulysses S. Grant -- Surprise and withdrawal at Shiloh / S. H. Lockett -- The Shiloh Battle: order and the withdrawal Sunday evening / Alexander Robert Chisolm -- The plan and construction of the "Merrimac" / John M. Brooke and John L. Porter -- The building of the "Monitor" / John Ericson -- The first fight of iron clads [ironclads] / John Taylor Wood -- Farragut's capture of new Orleans / William T. Meredith -- Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah / John D. Imboden -- The peninsular campaign / George B. McClellan -- The second battle of Bull Run / John Pope -- The invasion of Maryland / James Longstreet -- The Battle of Antietam / Jacob D. Cox -- The Battle of Fredericksburg / James Longstreet -- 1863. Introduction / James M. McPherson -- The Chancellorsville campaign / Darius N. Couch -- Stonewall Jackson's last battle / James Power Smith -- Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania / James Longstreet -- The first day at Gettysburg / Henry J. Hunt -- The second day at Gettysburg / Henry J. Hunt -- The third day at Gettysburg / Henry J. Hunt -- The Confederate retreat from Gettysburg / John D. Imboden -- The Vicksburg campaign / Ulysses S. Grant -- Naval operations in the Vicksburg Campaign / James Russell Soley -- The capture of Port Hudson / Richard B. Irwin -- Chickamauga: the great battle of the West / Daniel H. Hill -- Chattanooga / Ulysses S. Grant -- 1864. Introduction / Joan Waugh -- From the wilderness to Cold Harbor / E. M. Law -- Hand-to-hand fighting at Spotsylvania / G. Norton Galloway -- Sheridan's Richmond raid / Theo. F. Rodenbough -- General Lee in the wilderness campaign / Charles S. Venable -- The battle of the Petersburg crater / William H. Powell -- The duel between the "Alabama" and the "Kearsarge" / John M. Browne -- The colored troops at Petersburg / Henry Goddard Thomas -- Preparing for the campaigns of '64 / Ulysses S. Grant -- The struggle for Atlanta / Oliver O. Howard -- Farragut at Mobile Bay / John Coddington Kinney -- The invasion of Tennessee / J. B. Hood -- Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley / Wesley Merritt -- Repelling Hood's invasion of Tennessee / Henry Stone -- Early's march to Washington in 1864 / Jubal A. Early -- Sherman's advance from Atlanta / Oliver O. Howard -- Marching through Georgia and the Carolinas / Daniel Oakey -- 1865. Introduction / James I. Robertson, Jr. -- Sherman's march from Savannah to Bentonville / Henry W. Slocum -- The navy at Fort Fisher / Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr. -- The recapture of Fort Stedman / John F. Hartanft -- Five forks and the pursuit of Lee / Horace Porter -- The fall of Richmond: 1. The evacuation / Clement Sulivane -- II. The occupation / Thomas Thatcher Graves -- The surrender at Appomattox Court house / Horace Porter -- General Lee's farewell address to his army / Charles Marshall -- Final operations of Sherman's army / H. W. Slocum -- Last days of the Confederacy / Basil W. Duke, with notes on the Union and Confederate armies.