Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston, and the Beginning of the Civil War

New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2001. CB3 - An uncorrected proof paperback book in good condition that has some bumped corners, significant bug damage on the spine, some scattered wrinkling, crease, rubbing and light stains, foxing on the page edges, patch scraped with wrinkling on a few inside pages, light discoloration and shelf wear. An original and deeply human portrait of soldiers and civilians caught in the vortex of war. 9"x6", 356 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. So vividly does Allegiance re-create the events leading to the firing of the first shot of the Civil War on April 12, 1861, that we can feel the fabric of the Union tearing apart. It is a tense and surprising story, filled with indecisive bureaucrats, uninformed leaders, hotheaded politicians, and dedicated and honorable soldiers on both sides. The six-month-long agony that began with Lincoln's election in November sputtered from one crisis to the next until Lincoln's inauguration, and finally exploded as the soldiers at Sumter neared starvation. At the center of this dramatic narrative is the heroic figure of Major Robert Anderson, a soldier whose experience had taught him above all that war is the poorest form of policy. With little help from Washington, D.C., Anderson almost single-handedly forestalled the beginning of the war until he finally had no choice but to fight. David Detzer's decade-long research illuminates the passions that led to the fighting, the sober reflections of the man who restrained its outbreak, and individuals on both sides who changed American history. No other historian has given us a clearer or more intimate picture of the human drama of Fort Sumter.. Paperback. Good/No Jacket as Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Advance Reading Copy (ARC).