- Full title: The History of the Civil War in America; Comprising a Full and Impartial Account of the Origin and Progress of the Rebellion. of the Various Naval and Military Engagements, of the Heroic Deeds Performed by Armies and Individuals. And of the Touching Scenes in the Field, the Camp, the Hospital, and the Cabin
- Author: John S. C. Abbott
- Publisher: Gurdon Bill
- Estimated year of printing: 1863
Notes:
Inscription: S. J. Zaimakis(?), M.D.
This is a book about the Civil War, published during the Civil War. Volume 1 of a 2-volume set, this is a fascinating snapshot of history, capturing the lead up to the war and details about key battles, without yet knowing what the outcome would be. This book covers events up through the end of 1862.
When published, this was covering an important current event, not history. As a result, it does not read like a dry textbook, but rather is a colorful and lively narrative written for a popular audience. Nor does the author pretend to be neutral — he is adamantly pro-Union, as he makes clear in the preface:
“There never was a clearer case of right and of wrong, than in the conflict now raging throughout our land. The question is to be settled [. . .] whether aristocratic usurpation, in its most low, vulgar and groveling form, that of the slaveholder wielding the plantation lash, is to be established upon the ruins of our free Constitution — or whether that glorious charter of human rights, destined to lift up all the down- trodden to dignity, culture and religion, shall make the United States the pioneer nation in ushering in the dawn of millennial glory.”
Besides being a historical time capsule, it’s also simply a beautiful book: the cover features a patriotic gilt illustration, marbled endpapers and edges, and numerous engravings of battle scenes, maps, and key people, including Abraham Lincoln on the frontispiece.
John S. C. Abbott (1805 – 1877) was an American historian and Congregational pastor born in Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825, notably being in the same graduating class as Henry Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne. He wrote a large number of books, both religious and popular histories.
Historical context:
When this book was printed in 1863, Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States. The Civil War had begun in 1861 with an attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. 1863 saw the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in January, followed the Battle of Gettysburg in July, widely seen as the turning point of the war. Two years later in 1865, the war ends, Lincoln is assassinated, and slavery is abolished with the 13th Amendment.
Further Reading: