Recommended Reading: Stoneman's Raid, 1865. Description: In the spring of 1865, Federal major general George Stoneman launched a cavalry raid deep into the heart of the Confederacy. Over the next two months, Stoneman's cavalry rode across six Southern states, fighting fierce skirmishes and destroying supplies and facilities. When the raid finally ended, Stoneman's troopers had brought the Civil War home to dozens of communities that had not seen it up close before. In the process, the cavalrymen pulled off one of the longest cavalry raids in U.S. military history. Continued below...

Despite its geographic scope, Stoneman's 1865 raid failed in its primary goal of helping to end the war. Instead, the destruction the raiders left behind slowed postwar recovery in the areas it touched. In their wake, the raiders left a legacy that resonates to this day, even in modern popular music such as The Band's ''The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.'' Based on exhaustive research in 34 repositories in 12 states and from more than 200 books and newspapers, Hartley's book tells the complete story of Stoneman's 1865 raid for the first time. From the Author: George Stoneman's 1865 Union cavalry raid did much for his tattered reputation, perhaps even helping the major general to the governorship of California in 1883. But many take a darker view of Stoneman's Raid. When the first North Carolina historical markers commemorating the raid were installed over seventy years afterward, citizens tore them down and threw them in a river. Stoneman's Raid has always been like that. Some see it as a model action in which a mostly well-behaved force rode over a thousand miles and achieved important military objectives. Others say it was a brutal, unnecessary pillaging of a broad swath of six Confederate states after the Civil War was already decided. Regardless, no other such action has inspired both a classic song - The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" - and a Disney TV movie. After leading a failed raid in the Chancellorsville campaign and later earning the dubious honor of being the highest-ranking Union prisoner of war, Stoneman was described as "one of the most worthless officers in the service" by Edwin Stanton. The 1865 raid was his last chance at redemption. Beginning in Knoxville in March 1865, Stoneman led about four thousand cavalrymen over the mountains and into North Carolina and Virginia. The raiders tore up tracks, burned bridges, destroyed Confederate stores, captured towns like Christiansburg and Salisbury, fought some surprisingly sharp skirmishes, and terrified the population, achieving a sometimes exaggerated reputation. Their mission did not end until Confederate president Jefferson Davis was captured. Reconstruction would be harder in their wake. Chris J. Hartley's Stoneman's Raid, 1865 is the most detailed and complete account ever written of an action that remains as controversial today as it was in its time. About the Author: Chris J. Hartley has worked in marketing and communications for several large companies. On the side, he chases the history that has fascinated him since childhood. He has published several articles and is a frequent speaker about the Civil War. He lives in Pfafftown, N.C. To complement this exhaustive study, also consider purchasing Stoneman's 1865 Raid (DVD).

Recommended Reading: Cavalry Raids of the Civil War (Stackpole Military History Series). Description: In war, the raid is the epitome of daring. Usually outnumbered, raiders launch surprise attacks behind enemy lines, taking prisoners, destroying communications, and seizing supplies. In the Civil War, these men marauded on horseback, stunning opponents with their speed and mobility. This book covers the adventurous and often dangerous exploits of the Union and Confederate cavalry officers who had a flair for plunging into the enemy's lair. Continued below…

Covers raids from J. E. B. Stuart's 1862 ride around McClellan's army to James Wilson's crushing raids in Alabama and Georgia in 1865. About the Author: Robert W. Black, a retired U.S. Army colonel who served as a Ranger in Korea and Vietnam, is author of several books.

Recommended Reading: The Last Confederate General: John C. Vaughn and His East Tennessee Cavalry (Hardcover). Description: John Crawford Vaughn was one of the most famous men in Tennessee in the mid-nineteenth century. He was the first man to raise an infantry regiment in the state--and one of the very last Confederate generals to surrender.  History has not been kind to Vaughn, who finally emerges from the shadows in this absorbing assessment of his life and military career.  Making use of recent research and new information, Larry Gordon’s biography follows Vaughn to Manassas, Vicksburg and other crucial battles; it shows him as a close friend of Jefferson Davis, and Davis’s escort during the final month of the war. Continued below…

And it considers his importance as one of the few Confederate generals to return to Tennessee after Reconstruction, where he became President of the State Senate.  Gordon examines Vaughn’s (hitherto unknown) location on the field of crucial battles; his multiple wounds; the fact that his wife and family, captured by Union soldiers, were the only family members of a Confederate general incarcerated as hostages during the Civil War; and the effect of this knowledge on his performance as a military commander.  Finally, the book is as valuable for its view of this little understood figure as it is for the light it casts on the culture of his day. Our History Project: “The Last Confederate General is a fine read for anyone: Action, adventure, love, drama, war and perseverance. What more can you ask for in a book. Five stars for Larry Gordon for a job well done…Larry Gordon seemed to have nailed both recreational reading and historically accurate statistics in one read….a fascinating story of courage, determination and self worth.”

Recommended Viewing: Civil War Terror (History Channel) (DVD). Description: This is the largely untold story of a war waged by secret agents and spies on both sides of the Mason Dixon Line. These are tales of hidden conspiracies of terror that specifically targeted the civilian populations. Engineers of chemical weapons, new-fangled explosives and biological warfare competed to topple their enemy. Continued below…

With insight from Civil War authorities, we debunk the long-held image of a romantic and gentlemanly war. To revisit the past, we incorporate written sources, archival photographs and newspaper headlines. Our reenactments bring to life key moments in our historical characters' lives and in each of the horrific terrorist plots.

Recommended Reading: Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography. Description: Nathan Bedford Forrest was the only soldier to rise from the rank of private to general during the U.S. Civil War. At once "a soft-spoken gentleman of marked placidity and an overbearing bully of homicidal wrath," Forrest is best remembered for the combination of brilliant military leadership and flamboyant bravery that drove his Confederate cavalry troops from victory to victory on the battlefield. His subordinates feared him (he shot those who turned tail), as did his enemies (he rarely lost a fight). Continued below…

General Sherman once said that Forrest must be "hunted down and killed if it costs 10,000 lives and bankrupts the [national] treasury." Detractors point out that Forrest never has been exonerated from the Fort Pillow massacre, in which many Union soldiers, most of them black, were slaughtered after attempting to surrender. Following the war, he went on to found the Ku Klux Klan. Late in life, however, Forrest disavowed racial hatred and called for black political advancement. Author Jack Hurst has written the essential biography of a complex and compelling man who was arguably the Civil War's most remarkable soldier. (Movie trivia: Forrest Gump's mother named her son after this general.)

Recommended Reading: Mosby's Rangers. Description: Confederate cavalry leader John Mosby is among the most romantic characters in the Civil War, and with good reason. From 1863 to the end of the conflict, Mosby's raiders were a constant headache for the North. Although more than 1,000 men served under Mosby, they usually acted in small detachments of several dozen, sacking supply depots, attacking railroads, and harassing federal troops. Continued below…

They seemed to move behind enemy lines almost at will, and in what is perhaps their most celebrated exploit, a handful of them led by Mosby himself rode into Fairfax Station, Virginia, in the dead of the night and kidnapped a Union general. When they were not on missions, Mosby's riders simply melted into the countryside, finding safe haven in the homes of sympathetic civilians. Theirs was a guerilla war. The frustrated North eventually assigned a special contingent of cavalry to combat them, and a price was ultimately put on Mosby's head. Nobody reined him in, however, and his command enjoyed the proud distinction of never having formally surrendered to the bluecoats. Shortly after Appomattox, Mosby simply disbanded his unit. This is another fine book from the prolific Civil War historian Jeffry D. Wert, who hardly could have picked a more intriguing subject.

Recommended Reading: I Rode With Jeb Stuart: The Life And Campaigns Of Major General J. E. B. Stuart. Description: Major General J. E. B. Stuart (1833–1864) was one of the Confederacy’s greatest horsemen, soldiers, and heroes. As early as First Manassas (Bull Run) he was contributing significantly to the Confederate victory; he subsequently displayed his daring and brilliance in the battles of Second Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Brandy Station—the most significant cavalry battle of the war, and Stuart’s finest moment. General Lee depended on Stuart for knowledge of the enemy, for, as he said, Stuart never brought him a piece of false information. Continued below…

But Stuart was mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern in May 1864. Not since the death of Stonewall Jackson had the South sustained so great a personal loss; his rollicking, infectious gaiety and hard fighting were sorely missed in the grim last days of Lee’s army. By all accounts, I Rode with Jeb Stuart is the most reliable and persuasive portrait of Stuart offered by a contemporary, and it is indispensable for any thorough knowledge of the great Confederate cavalryman. About the Author: Major Henry Brainerd McClellan (1840-1904) was adjutant general to Stuart and wrote of "the signal gallantry displayed by him in the field and his efficiency and zealous devotion to duty as a staff officer."

Editor's Recommended Viewing: Secrets of the Civil War (A&E) (DVD) (593 minutes). Description: Nearly a century and half have passed since Lee surrendered at Appomattox, but the words and images created during the Civil War still bring home the impact of the bloodiest conflict seen on American shores. Continued below...