The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac, 1861-1865

by E.B. Long, Barbara Long (Photographer)

“In all the vast collection of books on the American Civil War there is no book like this one. It has been needed for a long time, both by the student and by the man who simply likes to read about the Civil War, but until now no one had the dedication or the encyclopedic knowledge to produce it. Here it is, at last—an almanac, or day-by-day recital down to the close conflict, written by Professor E. B. Long of the University of Wyoming. If there was a battlefield in the Civil War that this man has not visited personally, I do not know where it is; if there is an important collection of papers shedding light on the war that he has not examined, it would be hard to name it. It is no exaggeration whatsoever to say that this man knows more facts about the Civil War than any other man who ever lived. To know a subject thoroughly, of course, is one thing; to put the results of that knowledge into lucid prose of manageable compass is something else again. One does not need to examine many pages of this almanac to realize that Professor Long has succeeded admirably in the second task. Crammed into the margins of each page with facts, this book is never soporific. It is for the casual reader as well as for the specialist; it can even, as a matter of fact, be read straight through as a narrative, in which the dramatic and heart-stirring events of America’s greatest time of trial pass before the eye on a day-to-day basis. A book like this has been needed for a long time, but up to now no one was able to write it. It should have a long life, and no one will ever need to do it again. It belongs on the somewhat restricted shelf of Civil War books that will be of permanent value.”Bruce Catton, from his foreword

Genres: Civil War, History, American Civil War, Reference, Military History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction

1160 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1971

Reviews

[Diana Wilder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book that has you on the edge of your seat.

...Unless you are writing something set in the American Civil War and suddenly have the sinking feeling that you may have made a colossal error in date and time that will require rewriting an entire section and, possibly, scrapping your initial idea.

The setup is excellent, useful and easy to deal with. The writing style is not at all dry. I recommend this to anyone who is either a nit-picker, likes to know the order of things, or is interested in the progress of the American Civil War.

[Singleton Mosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book over four years ago and only now come to the last couple of entries.
Reading it day by day creates a whole new appreciation of the ebb and flow of this great struggle.
From the first year in which both sides where testing the water and not much happened, same for the Peninsular campaign which lasted for a long time to the rapidly escalating events of the Overland campaign and the long siege of Petersburg which follows. In no other way you get to understand how slow our quickly events evolved.

Another inters insight is the vastness of the Westernmost theater and the large number of skirmishes, raids and scouts which where fought all over the place.

Great read indeed and highly recommended.

[Robert Boissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reference work that every Civil War amateur historian, and perhaps professional historian, will want for consultation. You move from the excellent index in the back of the book, to the date of interest in the front portion of the book. Only those with a love of diaries will want to read this in a linear fashion. It is not a narrative; it is a reference tool, an almanac. I would hesitate to get very involved in any discussion of the order of events of the U. S. Civil War without this work close at hand. The short summaries at the start of each year and month of the almanac are welcome reminders.

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history, showing what happened on each and every day of the war. There is also a special statistics section at the end of the book, covering the total number of soldiers and casualties on both sides, the economics of the war, etc. The 110 bibliography is probably not as useful nowadays, due to the number of Civil War books published in the last half in the last half century.

[Jocelyn Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great to be able to look up a certain date during the war and see what happened.