Subtitle: New Jersey's Civil War Experience
Author: Alan A. Siegel
Subject: New Jersey and Regional/Military History
Paper ISBN 0-8135-2943-3
Cloth ISBN 0-8135-2938-7
Pages: 272 pp., 24 b&w illus.
Description: A documentary history of New Jersey's participation in the Civil War in the letters, diaries, and journalism of the period.
Praise for Beneath the Starry Flag
"True to its subtitle, this is a remarkably coherent and smooth-flowing history of New Jerseys Civil War soldiers and civilians. It is composed of passagessome lengthy and others only a few linesfrom primary sources, including newspaper accounts, diaries, letters, and reminiscences, woven together with chapter introductions and connecting text. . . . Some truly first-rate primary material is compiled between these covers. All of the excerpts are valuable, and some are truly outstanding, such as John S. Knoxs account of the Lincoln assassination. Such high-quality material lifts the work above the level of local history and makes it a worthwhile book for all students of the Civil War. All levels and collections."Choice
"In all, some 80,000 New Jersey men fought in the Union army and navy and another 3,000 black Jerseyans fought in the United States Colored troops. The war took its toll: 6,400 New Jersey men died, and countless others were wounded. For the first time in one volume, Siegel brings together moving local accounts of an era that defined this country."Rutgers Magazine
"A must-read for history studentsboth young and old, as well as those interested in Jerseyana."Down Jersey Magazine
"Beneath the Starry Flag brings a unique and valuable approach to New Jersey Civil War studies. Siegel's splendid selection of newspaper articles, letters, and other first-person accounts provides readers a front-row seat as the state and its people struggle through four years of war. I recommend it highly to anyone interested in Jerseyana, the Civil War, or both."--Joseph G. Bilby, coauthor of Remember You Are Jerseymen: A Military History of New Jersey's Troops in the Civil War
Many books have been written about the War between the States, but until now none has chronicled--in their own words--the many important roles played by people from New Jersey. Beneath the Starry Flag is a collection of eyewitness accounts by New Jerseyans who lived through the Civil War. The book depicts the war years chronologically, from the days when one state, then another seceded from the Union, to the victory at Appomattox and Lincoln's funeral procession across New Jersey. Alan A. Siegel places the reader in the midst of these desperate times.
Readers will learn of the remarkable valor of New Jersey soldiers such as John Beech, a Trenton potter who won a Medal of Honor for bravery at Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle. They will learn too of the sacrifices made by civilians, such as Cornelia Hancock of Salem County, who ministered to soldiers wounded on battlefields. Siegel also tells of other people and institutions that played very different roles in the war, including the state's leading Copperhead newspapers, which denounced the draft and discouraged enlistments.
Siegel allows them all--enlisted men and officers, patriots and conspirators--to speak, in moving firsthand accounts. Their emotions and deeds are chronicled in this collection of documents, many of which have been out of print for years.
Alan A. Siegel is an attorney who enjoys writing history. He is the author of several books, including Smile: A Picture History of Olympic Park, 1887-1965 (Rutgers University Press), and For the Glory of the Union: Myth, Reality, and the Media in Civil War New Jersey.
