This collection of more than 100 stories from America's Civil War is drawn from the writings of soldiers, sailors, slaves, politicians, and ordinary citizens as much as from the accomplishments of military leaders. The stories present the war in historical sequence through the voices of the common people, not just military and political leaders. Best Little Stories of the Civil War includes: Soldiers describing their first experiences in battle Edward Porter Alexander, the Georgia native who was stranded in San Francisco with his wife when war broke out (he later became a Confederate general. Thomas N. Conrad, the Washington, D.C., headmaster of a boys school who spied for the South. Julia Ward Howe, who was inspired to write the words of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" after watching young troops marching through Washington to the battlefields from her balcony at the Willard Hotel. New Orleans native George Cable, who describes what it was like to see Union ships sail up the Mississippi to take command of his city. These and many more stories and anecdotes fill the pages of this fascinating book that will make the Civil War come alive with the thoughts and feelings of real people. Read Less