Hearts Touched by Fire

In 1883, editors at the Century Magazine asked, which Civil War battle was the bloodiest? The argument inspired an idea: Let readers opine by offering “a series of papers on some of the great battles of the war, to be written by officers in command on both sides.” The articles were written by generals, Union and Confederate alike, who had commanded the battles two decades before—or by the person most entitled to speak for him. The pieces presented both sides of each major battle and were fair and politics-free. Now, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the most enduring entries from the classic four-volume series have been edited and merged into one definitive volume. Here are the best of the immortal first-person accounts of the Civil War originally published in the pages of the Century Magazine more than a hundred years ago. Edited by Harold Holzer Introduction by Harold Holzer; contributions by James M. McPherson, James I. Robertson Jr., Stephen W. Sears, Craig L. Symonds, and Joan Waugh