Before the robber barons there were Civil War barons--a remarkable yet largely unknown group of men whose contributions won the war and shaped America's future. The Civil War woke a sleeping giant in America, creating unprecedented industrial growth that not only supported the struggle but reshaped the nation. Energized by the country's dormant potential and wealth of natural resources, individuals of vision, organizational talent, and capital took advantage of the opportunity that war provided. Their innovations sustained Union troops, affected military strategy and tactics, and made the killing fields even deadlier. Their ranks included men such as: John Deere, whose plows helped feed large armies Gail Borden, whose condensed milk nourished the Union army The Studebaker Brothers, whose wagons moved war supplies from home front to war front Robert Parrott, whose rifled cannon was deployed on countless battlefields and many others. Individually, these men came to dominate industry and amass great wealth and power; collectively, they helped save the Union and refashion the economic fabric of a nation. Utilizing extensive research in manuscript collections, company records, and contemporary newspapers, historian Jeffry D. Wert casts a revealing light on the individuals most responsible for bringing the United States into the modern age.

Civil War Barons: The Tycoons, Entrepreneurs, Inventors, and Visionaries Who Forged Victory and Shaped a Nation

Biographies & Memoirs

Wert, Jeffry D.

Historical

Da Capo Press

From Winchester to Cedar Creek: The Shenandoah Campaign of 1864

History

Americas

Simon&Schuster

The author of Mosby's Rangers shatters traditional views of the Gettysburg defeat in a revealing examination of the commander of the Confederacy's First Corps, featuring letters and unpublished Southern archive materials.

General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier : A Biography

Traces the activities of a Confederate guerrilla unit that operated with amazing success in northern Virginia and Maryland

Mosby's Rangers

General James Longstreet fought in nearly every campaign of the Civil War, from Manassas (the first battle of Bull Run) to Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga, Gettysburg, and was present at the surrender at Appomattox. Yet, he was largely held to blame for the Confederacy's defeat at Gettysburg. General James Longstreet sheds new light on the controversial commander and the man Robert E. Lee called “my old war horse.”

General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier

Draws on previously overlooked documents to probe the puzzles that have continued to mark the legendary general's life and career

CUSTER: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer

A renowned historian brings a rare perspective to the Civil War in this dual portrait of two of its greatest fighting units, one each from the Confederate and Union armies, who faced each other in some of the war's biggest battles, including Gettysburg. 30,000 first printing.

A Brotherhood of Valor: The Common Soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade, C.S.A., and the Iron Brigade, U.S.A

Leaders & Notable People

George Armstrong Custer has been so heavily mythologized that the human being has been all but lost. Now, in the first complete biography in decades, Jeffry Wert reexamines the life of the famous soldier to give us Custer in all his colorful complexity. Although remembered today as the loser at Little Big Horn, Custer was the victor of many cavalry engagements in the Civil War. He played an important role in several battles in the Virginia theater of the war, including the Shenandoah campaign. Renowned for his fearlessness in battle, he was always in front of his troops, leading the charge. His men were fiercely loyal to him, and he was highly regarded by Sheridan and Grant as well. Some historians think he may have been the finest cavalry officer in the Union Army. But when he was assigned to the Indian wars on the Plains, life changed drastically for Custer. No longer was he in command of soldiers bound together by a cause they believed in. Discipline problems were rampant, and Custer's response to them earned him a court-martial. There were long lulls in the fighting, during which time Custer turned his attention elsewhere, often to his wife, Libbie Bacon Custer, to whom he was devoted. Their romance and marriage is a remarkable love story, told here in part through their personal correspondence. After Custer's death, Libbie would remain faithful to his memory until her own death nearly six decades later. Jeffry Wert carefully examines the events around the defeat at Little Big Horn, drawing on recent archeological findings and the latest scholarship. His evenhanded account of the dramatic battle puts Custer's performance, and that of his subordinates, in proper perspective. From beginning to end, this masterful biography peels off the layers of legend to reveal for us the real George Armstrong Custer.

Custer

Jeffry D. Wert re-creates the last day of the bloody Battle of Gettysburg in astonishing detail, taking readers from Meade's council of war to the seven-hour struggle for Culp's Hill -- the most sustained combat of the entire engagement. Drawing on hundreds of sources, including more than 400 manuscript collections, he offers brief excerpts from the letters and diaries of soldiers. He also introduces heroes on both sides of the conflict -- among them General George Greene, the oldest general on the battlefield, who led the Union troops at Culp's Hill. A gripping narrative written in a fresh and lively style, Gettysburg, Day Three is an unforgettable rendering of an immortal day in our country's history.

Gettysburg, Day Three

This unusual and moving chronicle covers some of the most important battles of the Civil War -- Sharpsburg (Antietam), Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville -- through the stories of the two brigades who confronted each other on the bloody fields of battle. Drawing on original source material, Jeffry Wert reconstructs the drama and terrors of war through the eyes of the ordinary men who became members of two of the most respected fighting units of their respective armies, the Stonewall Brigade of the Confederacy and the Iron Brigade of the Union. There are tales of grueling marches and almost unbearable deprivations; eyewitness accounts of ferocious fighting and devastating losses on both sides; and portraits of acts of courage and valor performed by soldiers and officers who, despite the difficulties they faced, remained dedicated to the cause for which they were fighting.

A Brotherhood of Valor: The Common Soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade, C. S. A. and the Iron Brigade, U. S. A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wert, Jeffry D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Wert, Jeffry D.