Savas Beatie Authors Pull off a TRIFECTA of Book Awards!

Your Award? FREE SHIPPING w/code: AWARD

Congratulations to Vic Vignola, Patrick and Dylan Brennan, and Jason Bohm (Maj. Gen., USMC) for their spectacular achievements. If you have not yet placed an order for these books, the buttons below take you to their respective pages.

FREE SHIPPING THROUGH FEBRUARY 15. Use coupon code: AWARD

THANK YOU for Your Generous Help for Eric and Susan

When Savas Beatie author and friend Eric J. Wittenberg fell sick with cancer, it looked, well, it looked really bad. He and his wife Susan were having a hard time. Friend and fellow Buckeye Phil Spaugy started a GoFundMe page to assist them. We stepped up to offer 5% back on books sold in January using a coupon code we could track and offered a 10% discount to help. We are pleased to announce that web purchases will add another $175.00 to the GoFundMe account, and people who did not need a book at this time messaged us and donated about $350 more, so the total effort generated at least $525.00 -- or and likely more.

Thank you, everyone. Eric is responding well to his chemo, and odds are he will be around a long, long time.

If you would like to add anything or share the news, click the GoFundMe link HERE

STAY TUNED FOR . . . The 6th Annual Savas Beatie

Sweet Sixteen Tournament of Books! (March 2024)

Coming next month...

1 tournament

16 Savas Beatie titles

5 Rounds

1 Championship

+ rounds of savings just for you!

Check out our prior Savas Beatie TOB Winners:

2019

Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg: A Guide to the Most Famous Attack in American History

James Hessler, Wayne Motts, Steven Stanley

2020

Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard: Longstreet, Sickles, and the Bloody Fight for the “Commanding Ground” Along the Emmitsburg Road

James Hessler and Brit Isenberg

2021

Too Much for Human Endurance: The George Spangler Farm Hospitals and the Battle of Gettysburg

Ron Kirkwood

2022

Meade and Lee After Gettysburg: The Forgotten Final Stage of the Gettysburg Campaign, from Falling Waters to Culpeper Court House, July 14-31, 1863

Jeff Hunt

2023

The Battle of Jackson, Mississippi, May 14, 1863

Chris Mackowski

2024

????

Feel free to join the 2024 Tournament of Books Facebook page!

CWRT Congress

Friday Night Virtual Events

Join SB Authors and Host Mike Movius

Since 2020, Savas Beatie and CivilWar Talk have partnered to bring dozens of authors and their newly released books to the members and guests of CivilWar Talk. This month, we have the following books presented by these well-known authors.

To join any of these Wednesday night virtual events, click below.

SIGNED Book Deals Coming This Month!

Watch Your Email!

Miss Kenya's New Creation!

TO THE PRINTER AT THE END OF THE MONTH!

James J. Pula, the author of the XI Corps award-winning 2 volumes Under the Crescent Moon, has penned the long-awaited biography of one of the most influential and important generals you know almost nothing about (other than he drank and caroused with Joe Hooker and Dan Sickles).

Pula's Union General Daniel Butterfield: A Civil War Biography offers absorbing prose, meticulous research into primary source material, and even-handed treatment of this important Civil War figure will be welcomed by historians and casual readers alike.

Read the Front Matter and Chapter 1 by clicking HERE and add it to your wish list.

Thank you!

We Need to Hear From You!

Please Keep Your Interest Emails Coming

So We Can Reprint These Classics!

HERE ARE THE NUMBERS THUS FAR. We need 120 orders to go to print! Click the red button and send us an email.



Spread the word and share this info.

78/120

Ninety-Eight Days: Geography, Strategy, Politics, and Command During the Vicksburg Campaign, by Warren E. Grabau (original subtitle was "A Geographer's View of Vicksburg Campaign").

Out of Print for a couple of decades, this book is incredible: readable, fascinating, and original. Nothing like it exists. Ed Bearss told me it was "the best single volume on Vicksburg, hands down." 68 maps, 728 pp. Proposed price: $42.95

51/120

The Maryland Campaign of September 1862: Volume II: Antietam, by Ezra Carman (Tom Clemens, ed.)

This went out of print nearly a decade ago!

Vol. 2 of the magnificent trilogy is the Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg installment.

Maps, photos, 696pp. $42.95

$5.00 online credit back on each of the above books which lowers your actual price.

NO COMMITMENT, BUT PLEASE ONLY SERIOUS INQUIRIES.

CREDIT TO BE APPLIED AT TIME OF PURCHASE.

The Primary Source Publishing Projects!

These are only available from Savas Beatie.

No wholesalers, no Amazon. Here is what is under development:

The Campaign for Chancellorsville: A Strategic and Tactical Study, by John Bigelow, Jr. This desperately needs to be reprinted with all its color maps, but it is a complex job. It remains one of the finest campaign histories ever written.

We are working on it. Lots of handwork required. We will need your help.

(Ongoing, no pub date.)

The Union Generals' Reports, 4 vols., edited by M. Chris Bryan and Michael Harris. Some 320 reports (!) transcribed and annotated from longhand of wartime service (think of the Official Records, but these have never been published).

Almost no one knows about these gems, and they are rarely ever read or utilized.

(Ongoing, pub date not set.)

We Shall Conquer or Die: Partisan Warfare in 1862 Western Kentucky, by Derrick Lindow, comes out in May 2024. Author Lindow spent years researching through primary source material to write this important study. The partisan guerrilla fighting and efforts to bring it under control helped put the Civil War in the Western Theater in context and is a story long overdue.

Read the Front Matter and Chapter 1 by clicking HERE and add it to your wish list.

Thank you!

ARRIVING IN JULY

Order placed for the final reprint of

THE BACHELDER PAPERS: Gettysburg in Their Own Words

(Red and Silver Series)!

The Gettysburg Papers, Ken Bandy, editor. 2 vols.

Lovely sewn edition, high-quality library cloth binding, 50-lb. high-quality acid-free paper, head and foot bands. (Just 450 sets printed, 333 spoken for already.)

$85.00

The Antietam Official Records

2 vols. (vol. 19, pts. I and II)

Vol 1: 824 pp. and Vol. 2: 1,228 pp. Sewn edition matches the Gettysburg Official Records, high-quality library cloth binding, 50-lb. high-quality acid-free paper, head, and foot bands. With The Carman Papers on Antietam coming, the Carman full-color maps with annotations, a reprint of the Carman/ Clemens Maryland Campaign Trilogy, and a new study on the Cornfield and vicinity, you will wish you had a set. (Only 350 sets were printed.) 

$109.00

The Gettysburg Official Records

3 vols. (vol. 27, pts. I, II, and III)

Sewn edition matches Antietam Official Records. The first printing sold out immediately. High-quality library cloth binding, Smythe sewn, 50-lb. high-quality acid-free paper, head and foot bands. (From 450 sets down to about 80.)

$189.00

NOTE: We are your sole source provider.

They will not be available on Amazon or at a discount price anywhere.

Book #2 was delayed because of supply chain / cloth problems. Unfortunately, the cloth we use on the front and back has been discontinued, and the paper delayed for a least 30 days. We found what we need and are back on track! Thank you for your patience.

"Strong Men of the Regiment Sobbed Like Children": The Defeat of John Reynolds’ I Corps at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863

HAND NUMBERED COLLECTOR'S SERIES: These books will sell out, so it is highly suggested you get a copy of the first book in the series (Bliss Farm) because you won't be finding them on the secondary market anytime soon for a reasonable price, if ever.

This month, our Five Things column features author Rick Hatcher of Thunder in the Harbor. This book was just released this month! Here, Rick shares five facts he discovered while working on this book.

Take it away, Rick...

1. Who is Fort Sumter named after? 

On April 18, 1833, the Adjutant General’s Office issued Order No. 33, naming nine forts under construction. It included the “new work now constructing in the Harbor of Charleston – South Carolina.” Named Fort Sumter in honor of Thomas Sumter, the Virginian had moved to South Carolina before the Revolutionary War, rose to the rank of state militia brigadier general during the war, earning the nickname “Gamecock” for his daring and tenacious fighting. Post war he served in the state’s legislature, the U.S. Congress and Senate. When Sumter died in 1832, two months short of his 98^th birthday, he was the Revolution’s last surviving general officer.

2. Cos. E & H, 1^st U.S. Artillery Regiment service after Fort Sumter:

About six weeks after Fort Sumter’s surrender, Cos. E & H, commanded by Maj. Abner Doubleday, joined Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson’s command at Chambersburg, PA. After Patterson’s failed effort to keep Gen. Joesph E. Johnston from reinforcing Brig. Gen. G. T. Beauregard at the 1^st battle of Manassas, both companies were ordered to Washington, DC, and assigned to the Army of the Potomac.

Battery E:

Elements of Battery G were added to Battery E. Designated Battery E-G it served with the Army of the Potomac until June 1864:

Peninsular Campaign                        Seven Days Battles

Second Manassas Campaign             Antietam Campaign   

Battle of Fredericksburg                    Chancellorsville Campaign 

Gettysburg Campaign                       Bristoe Campaign

Mine Run Campaign                         Overland Campaign

Fts. Willard & Strong, Washington, DC. In garrison June 1864-Oct. 1865.

May 31, 1863 – The battery was mounted and attached to the Cavalry Corps

Battery H:

March 1862 – May 1865 with the Army of the Potomac.

Peninsular Campaign                        Seven Days Battles 

Battle of Fredericksburg                    Chancellorsville Campaign

Gettysburg Campaign                       Bristoe Campaign

Mine Run Campaign                         Overland Campaign

Trevillian Station                              Siege of Petersburg

Appomattox Campaign                    Grand Review, Washington, DC

Battery H, holds the distinction as the only U.S. unit to have served from the bombardment of Fort Sumter to the surrender at Appomattox followed by the Grand Review.

Note: The above listings do not include numerous smaller actions in which both units participated.

3. The war’s best after-action account:

On April 7, 1863, nine U.S. warships (7-monitors, 1-ironclad, and 1-ironclad frigate) aligned themselves to attack Fort Sumter. During this “Ironclad Attack,” these ships fired concentrating most of their heavy guns on Fort Sumter. C.S. heavy cannon and mortars at Sumter, on Morris and Sullivan’s Islands, and Ft. Johnson on James Island responded. When all 101 guns fell silent after 2 1/2 hours, approximately 89½ tons of projectiles (139 U.S., 2,527 C.S. rounds, total: 2,666) had been fired.

On April 21^st, Lt. William Grimball’s letter to his sister Elizabeth included this most succinct after battle report account: “To sum it up shortly, We fired[,] They fired, they fired[,] We fired. When they left[,] we were glad, When they did not come back, We claimed a wonderful victory.”

4. The heaviest bombarded wartime 2½ acres in the nation:

While the April 12-13, 1861, C.S. bombardment of Fort Sumter is one of the most significant events in American history, its intensity pales in comparison to those by the U.S. Army and Navy from mid-1863 to late 1864. Three “Major Bombardments,” seven “Minor Bombardments,” and ten periods of “Desultory fire” accounted for a total of almost 45,000 rounds fired at the Fort.

Major Bombardments:

August 17-September 2, 1863:   6,828 rounds

October 26-December 6, 1863: 18,677 rounds

July 7-September 4, 1864:        14,666 rounds

Minor Bombardments: (average a few days to a week):

Seven 1863-64: 3,475 rounds

Desultory Fire:

Out of ten reports, only four included numbers: 979

GRAND TOTAL: 44,625.

The total of more than 46,000 rounds cited in the book includes the number above

plus, the author’s low estimate of the missing desultory rounds fired and number of

U.S. Navy rounds fired.

5. The first soldier to die in the war – Private Daniel Hough



On December 6, 1859, 34-year-old Daniel Hough re-enlisted for his third five-year term in the 1^st US Artillery at Fort Moultrie. From Tipperary, Ireland, he stood 5’8” and was described as tall, with a tan complexion, blue eyes, and fair hair. 

Sixteen months later, on April 14, 1861, Hough was serving one of the guns on Ft. Sumter’s parapet. That day, Co. E had been given the honor of firing the 100 blank round salute during the fort’s surrender ceremony. As sparks from the barracks and quarters set afire during the bombardment “were floating around everywhere,” the powder charges were in temporary shelters near the guns. However, they proved inadequate. I was reported that while Hough rammed the 47^th round, it discharged prematurely, followed by a spark/sparks which ignited nearby cartridges tearing the shelter, “into fragments . . . scattering them abroad” and the report continued, “. . . one of our brave fellows was dead —quite dead—rent almost in two.”

Hough was that brave fellow, first soldier to lose his life in the war. The salute ceased, a coffin was constructed, and he was buried in the parade ground. Capt. Stephen Dill Lee reported his burial as one with military honors, with members of the S.C. Artillery Battalion, presenting arms. Soldiers of the Palmetto Guard “placed a . . .head-piece over the grave.” In the accident, five more men had been wounded. Pvt. Edward Galway, mortally wounded, died in Charleston on the fourteenth, and was buried in St. Lawrence Cemetery. Three slightly wounded soldiers left with the garrison. The fourth, severely wounded, was allowed passage north six weeks later upon his recovery.

To date, the location of Hough’s remains has not been found.

Click HERE to read more on the book.

Detour to Disaster: General John Bell Hood's "Slight Demonstration" at Decatur and the Unravelling of the Tennessee Campaign, by author Noel Carpenter

Fallen Leaders: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War, edited by Chris Mackowski

It was another busy month for Savas Beatie authors, the hardest-working writers in the industry! Check out their happenings last month!

Did you know you can bookmark our author event calendar?

Click HERE. 

A packed house at the Brunswick Civil War Round Table for publisher Ted Savas. He almost broke out his bass.

The Fort Sumter Civil War Round Table opened its 2024 program with author Vic Vignola. Vic was honored to give a talk on his recently released book Contrasts in Command.

Surrounded in an authentic pub in Virginia, co-author Kevin Pawlak gave a thorough and informative presentation on his book John Brown's Raid for the Old Town Civil War Round Table of Alexandria.

Photo cred: OTCWRT of Alexandria

The 1st Annual Gettysburg Battle of the Bulge Conference brought together many historians and veterans. Leon Reed (L), standing next to veteran Harry Miller (R) gave a presentation and had his book A Combat Engineer with Patton’s Army available.

Now that's a proud and happy smile! Last month, author John Hopkins received copies of his new book The World Will Never See the Like.

Did you know we have excerpts posted on our website? Here are a few, and from now on we will have a list right here for you to view. Happy previewing!

Click here to read an excerpt from We Shall Conquer or Die.

Click here to read an excerpt from Unforgettables.

Click here to read an excerpt from J.E.B Stuart.

Click here to read an excerpt from Never Such a Campaign.

Click here to read an excerpt from A Fine Opportunity Lost.

Click here to read an excerpt from The World Will Never See the Like.

Corporal Kenya: The Cartoon

About Greg Sweatt: Greg has been drawing "Co. A" since 2003 to illustrate the humorous side of the Civil War soldier, both North and South--the missteps, absurdities, and impossibilities of their daily lives. The cartoons show the humor in the common soldier. Greg is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, with a BA and Teaching Credential and has written for Civil War Times, Illustrated, Civil War News, The Civil War Courier, and other periodicals.

GIVEN THE SUBJECT OF CORPORAL KENYA . . .

The Battle of Brawner's Farm, by Lance Herdegen and Bill Backus

Grant Lays Siege to Lee: Petersburg, June 18-July 1, 1864, by John Horn