America's Civil War in Miniature

(color image book)

For nearly four-score and seven years prior to the Civil War, America existed as a free and independent nation.  Yet, compared to the centuries-old empires, kingdoms, and republics of Europe, the American nation in the mid-1880s was still in its adolescence.  Although united by a Constitution, there remained serious sectional disputes and differences in regional economies and politics that smoldered over the decades following Independence.  It would take a bloody, four-year civil war and a much longer reconstruction period to settle these differences and transform America into a “mature” nation, truly united in spirit and purpose.

            Though lasting just four years, the War Between the States remains indelibly etched into our national psyche.  It is impossible to truly understand the character of the United States of America without some understanding of its history. 

            Tens of thousands of books on the subject of the American Civil War attest to its broad and lasting appeal.  Perhaps the subject is so fascinating because it can be studied on so many levels.  One can study the incendiary political issues that divided the country, such as States’ Rights, Secession, Abolition, and Slavery.  Texts have been written contrasting the stark differences in economy, industry, and lifestyles of the North and South.  Students of war colleges and military academies still study the battlefield tactics and strategies of the leaders of the Blue and Gray armies and navies.  Genealogists find fascination in tracing family lines back to veterans of the Union and Confederacy.  Collectors of antiques and historical memorabilia thrill to the discovery of some small artifact that has relevance to the war.  On almost any given weekend, hundreds to thousands of reenactors, or “living historians” refight the battles of the Civil War with unloaded muskets, but with the same zeal as the original combatants.

            The inspiration for this two-volume book comes from my lifelong interest in the Civil War.  Like many Americans, I have ancestors who fought on both sides of the conflict and I’ve enjoyed researching the details of their companies and regiments.  I’ve combined a cherished hobby of painting scale, miniature soldiers in authentic uniforms with detailed summaries of their fighting units, their flags, and weapons to give dimension to the Johnny Reb and Billy Yank that are often only starkly described in historical texts.  While not exhaustive in detail, the battle summaries are intended to give the casual student of the Civil War or a younger historian a feel for the excitement of the war.  I’ve borrowed extensively, the quotes of eyewitnesses to the Civil War--the soldiers, officers, and correspondents, whose words best describe the fear, chaos, triumphs, and tragedies of the battlefield.

            I hope that novice students of the War Between the States might, after reading these books, develop a thirst for further knowledge on the subject that will send them in search of the many great works of historians past and present who have written more extensively than I have, on this most exciting and meaningful chapter in our nation’s history.

                                                                                                Dennis C. Long