Recommended Reading

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This page contains a good recommended reading list organized by category.  There is general civil war knowledge books as well as books specific to the 20th Maine.  We also have a listing of "Progressive" books for those that want to go to the next level, and a listing of out of print books that are hard to find but well known for their research uses.

20th Maine Books

"The 20th Maine: A Volunteer Regiment in the Civil War" by John J. Pullen in 1957.  Dayton, Ohio: Morningside House, Inc., 1991 (ISBN: ????) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 57-10271.

"Stand Firm Ye Boys From Maine: The 20th Maine and the Gettysburg Campaign" by Thomas A. Desjardin.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1995 (ISBN: 0-19-514082-6) 

"Army Life: A Private's Reminiscences of the Civil War, A history of the 20th Maine Regiment" by Theodore Gerrish between 1878 and 1881 but originally published in the Belfast Republican Journal around 1882.  Published Jointly in 1995 by Butternut and Blue of Baltimore (410) 256-9220 and Stan Clark Military Books of Gettysburg (717) 337-1728.  ISBN 1-879664-27-5 or 1-879664-28-3.

Melcher by Stype

Rundlett Letters

Spear Diary

Chamberlain Books

Chamberlain Diary

"The Passing of the Armies" by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in 1915.  New York: Bantam Books, 1993.  ISBN: 0-553-29992-1

With a flash of his sword

"In the Hands of Providence" by Alice Rains Trulock.  Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992

Progressive Books

The Federal Civil War Shelter Tent by Frederick C. Gaede.  O'Donnell Publications in Alexandria Virginia, first edition June 2001 (ISBN 0-9670731-3-8)

General Reading for the Civil War Enthusiast

Battle Cry of Freedom by McPherson

The Civil War by Ken Burns

The Photographic History of the Civil War by Francis Trevelyn Miller (1877-1959).  Original release 1911.

Red Badge of Courage

Books on the Cause and Aftermath of the Civil War

"Why the Civil War Came" edited by Gabor S. Boritt

"Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War" by Eric Foner

"A Short History of Reconstruction" by Eric Foner

Out of Print Books (excellent resources that can be found at libraries for research)

Civil War Collector's Encyclopedia Volumes I - V, by Francis A. Lord.  New Jersey: Blue and Grey Press, 1995 (originally 1963).  ISBN: 0-7858-0467-6

Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States (Campaigns of the Civil War Series) by Frederick Phisterer, late Captain U.S. Army.  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1890.  U.C. Berkeley catalog E470.C3.  

Historical Register of the U.S. Army from 1789-1903.  Published by the Government Printing Office in 1903 and then by University of Illinois but am told it is currently out of print but may be found at the SF Public Library.  It contains info on every officer?

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