Gene Schmiel

Civil War Trailblazers and Troublemakers Gene Schmiel

Lincoln and Harriet Tubman. Sherman and Frederick Douglass. Matthew Brady and John Wilkes Booth. These and 44 other significant Civil War era personalities are featured in this book. In short essays, the author explains why and how each individual was either a trailblazer or a troublemaker -- or sometimes both! (Mark Twain was one of those!!). By adding to each short essay contemporary photographs, political cartoons, and placards, the author hoped to elucidate to both the general reader and the Civil War "buff" how these men and women changed the face and flow of history. You will know many of these people, as noted above. But you will also learn about other significant personalities who made a difference: Clara Barton, the "Angel of the Battlefield;" Jonathan Letterman, the "Father of Battlefield Medicine;" Thaddeus Lowe and his military observation balloons; Richard Gatling and his infamous gun; Rose Greenhow, Confederate spy; and Henry Hunt, the artillery genius who destroyed "Pickett's charge. And many others. In a final section you will learn about the anonymous trailblazers of the era, the nurses, the telegraph operators, the military bands, the drummer boys, and many others. We don't know their names, but we have their images to look at, thanks to the magnificent holdings of the Library of Congress. Whether you know very little or a great deal about the Civil War, you will learn a great deal from this book. The author guarantees that as you read, after almost every page you will say, "I didn't know that!" Enjoy!