Background Reading and Useful Books (#InvalidCorpsFilm)

I’ve been doing quite a lot of reading to make sure we are solidly grounded in the history of these events. It has been a fun challenge in some ways. The information is split up in multiple places: Stories about men injured during the war is in one place, information on the Battle of Fort Stevens is in another, and information on the Invalid Corps itself is somewhere else again. Pulling it all together is the part that is most exciting.

I’ve looked at several websites, explored library collections, spoken to people in online forums, and perused journal articles as well as general articles for the public. But I thought it might be useful to just list some of the actual books that I’ve been reading. Granted, not all fit the topic fully, but they’ve all been very informative and have helped immensely.

So, in no particular order, to date I have read:

• Jubal Early’s Raid on Washington by Benjamin Franklin Cooling III
• The Day Lincoln was Almost Shot: The Fort Stevens Story by Benjamin Franklin Cooling III (this one is my favorite)
• Lincoln Under Enemy Fire by John Henry Cramer
• Jubal’s Raid by Frank E. Vandiver
• Maryland Voices of the Civil War edited by Charles W. Mitchell
• Desperate Engagement by Marc Leepson
• Scraping the Barrel: The Military Use of Substandard Manpower, 1860-1960 edited by Sanders Marble
• Union Soldiers and the Northern Home Front edited by Paul A. Cimbala and Randall M. Miller
• After Chancellorsville: Letters from the Heart edited by Judith A. Bailey & Robert I. Cotton
• Gone for a Soldier: The Civil War Memoirs of Private Alfred Bellard edited by David Herbert Donald (my second favorite from this list)

Although I don’t have the book yet, I’ve gone through Ronald S. Coddington’s website “Faces of the Civil War” several times. Fantastic images and he’s obviously gone through a lot of trouble to get the stories of the men behind the photos.

AND after having a GREAT phone conversation with Susan Claffey who is a past president of the Civil War Roundtable of the District of Columbia, I have a new book for my list: As I Remember: A Civil War Veteran Reflects on the War and Its Aftermath by Lewis Cass White and edited by Joseph Scopin.

I also have to give a shout-out to the National Park Service who has a wonderful brochure on the Battle of Fort Stevens.