New Book Releases

Like every other red-blooded American, East Tennessee residents did all they could to help end World War II. Locals like "Petie" Siler signed up for service, despite having fought in World War I. Oak Ridge residents worked expeditiously on the Manhattan Project, gathering uranium-235 to fuel the first atomic bomb. Knoxville's Rohm & Haas Chemical Company branch furnished Plexiglas for aircraft. Military veterans Dewaine A. Speaks and Dr. Ray Clift detail the unified sacrifices and contributions of East Tennessee's honorable soldiers and civilians.

Striking out from Knoxville, Tennessee in late March of 1865, Major General George Stoneman unleashed his cavalry division upon Southern Appalachia intent on leaving nothing for the Rebellion to stand upon. The raiders wreaked havoc on government stores, civilian property and indispensable infrastructure, dashing all hope for the dying Confederacy's stand on the rugged peaks of the Blue Ridge. They eventually trampled through five southern states, reduced to ashes one of the last major prisons in the south and helped pursue the renegade president. But much more than wanton destruction, their story is one of hardship, redemption and retribution. Taking into account the local folklore of the Raid, this volume traces the column's course as it departed Tennessee, penetrated Southwestern Virginia and stormed the North Carolina Piedmont.

With firsthand accounts, letters and diary entries from the Carter House Archives, local historian James R. Knight paints a vivid picture of the gruesome Battle of Franklin.

In late November 1864, the last Southern army east of the Mississippi that was still free to maneuver started out from northern Alabama on the Confederacy's last offensive. John Bell Hood and his Army of Tennessee had dreams of capturing Nashville and marching on to the Ohio River, but a small Union force under Hood's old West Point roommate stood between him and the state capital. In a desperate attempt to smash John Schofield's line at Franklin, Hood threw most of his men against the Union works, centered on the house of a family named Carter, and lost 30 percent of his attacking force in one afternoon, crippling his army and setting it up for a knockout blow at Nashville two weeks later.

Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau played host to some of the most dramatic military maneuvering of the Civil War. Straddling the entire state of Tennessee, the formidable tableland proved to be a maze of topographical pitfalls and a morass of divided loyalties. As Federal forces sought to capitalize on the capture of Nashville, they moved into a region split by the most vicious guerrilla warfare outside Missouri, including the colorful and intensely violent rivalry between Confederate Champ Ferguson and Unionist "Tinker" Dave Beaty. The bitter conflict affected thousands of ordinary men and women struggling to survive in the face of a remorseless war of attrition, and its legacy continues to be felt today.

The Tennessee Campaign of November and December 1864 was the Southern Confederacy's last significant offensive operation of the Civil War.

General John Bell Hood of the Confederate Army of Tennessee attempted to capture Nashville, the final realistic chance for a battlefield victory against the Northern juggernaut. Hood's former West Point instructor, Major General George Henry Thomas, led the Union force, fighting those who doubted him in his own army as well as Hood's Confederates. Through the bloody, horrific battles at Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville and a freezing retreat to the Tennessee River, Hood ultimately failed. Civil War historian James R. Knight chronicles the Confederacy's last real hope at victory and its bitter disappointment.

Join author James B. Jones Jr. on an exciting journey through the unknown and hidden history of Civil War Tennessee.

Tennessee's Civil War history is an oft-told narrative of famous battles, cunning campaigns and renowned figures. Beneath this well-documented history lie countless stories that have been forgotten and displaced over time.

Discover how Vigilance Committees sought to govern cities such as Memphis, where law was believed to be dead. See how Nashville and Memphis became important medical centers, addressing the rapid spread of "private diseases" among soldiers, and marvel at Colonel John M. Hughes, whose men engaged in guerrilla warfare throughout the state.

During the Civil War, Tennessee was perhaps the most conflicted state in the Confederacy. Allegiance to either side could mean life or death, as Union militia captain and longtime Tennessee resident William K. Byrd discovered in the fall of 1861 when he and his men were attacked by a band of Confederate sympathizers and infantrymen. This unauthorized raid led to the arrest of thirty-five men and the death of several others. Details of this mysterious skirmish have remained buried in archives and personal accounts for years. Now, for the first time, A Unionist in East Tennessee uncovers a dramatic yet forgotten chapter of Civil War history.

Go inside the story of the battles for Midle Tennessee in late 1862-63 through letters, reports and memoirs.

After the Battle of Perryville in October 1862, the focus of the Civil War in the West shifted back to Tennessee. The Union Army of the Cumberland regrouped in Nashville, while the Confederate Army of Tennessee camped 30 miles away in Murfreesboro. On December 26 the Federals marched southward and fought a three-day brawl at Stones River with their Confederate counterparts. The Confederates withdrew, and both armies spent the winter and spring harassing each other and regrouping for the next round. In the Confederate camp, dissention corroded the army's high command. The critical engagement at Stones River (by percentage of loss the Civil War's bloodiest battle) and the masterful Tullahoma operation will receive detailed attention in this journey through the historic moment in time.